Hansard

The Scottish Government’s definition of violence against women and girls views gender inequality as a root cause of such violence. Does the Scottish Government mean sex—biological sex—or gender? The two are completely different. The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee discovered that the public sector equality duty—with sex, not gender, as one of the nine protected characteristics—was not being monitored correctly, and that risk assessments are hit and miss in Scotland. Language matters, data matters and outcomes matter.

Female genital mutilation affects only girls and women. FGM is a painful procedure that involves cutting or altering the external female genitalia. Like all other forms of violence against women, FGM is practised because of deep-rooted systemic inequalities that discriminate against women and girls, and, because it is frequently done to girls, it is child abuse.

The Female Gentle Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020 has not been implemented. The Women’s Support Project said that the Alnisa service in NHS Lothian reported a 50 per cent increase in FGM cases in 2023. The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 made it an offence to have FGM carried out abroad, with a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment. The 2020 act aimed to strengthen the legal protection for women and girls at risk of FGM, and yet, as we heard during today’s topical questions, five years on, the act is still not in force, and no one has been convicted in Scottish courts for offences under the act. No one has been prosecuted in this country.

As Rebecca McCurdy said in The Herald only yesterday, the failure to enforce the legislation is a five-year betrayal of women. Women who contributed to the bill are right to be disappointed, and that is an understatement. Women experiencing abuse struggle to get justice, and the legal aid system is broken. We are at a crisis point. Scotland faces problems with misogyny, while the SNP has dropped plans for misogyny legislation. Earlier this year, a report found that there is evidence of sexism, misogyny and violence against women in Police Scotland, at both institutional and individual level. Misogyny has been identified in Scotland’s schools, with a report finding that female teachers and pupils face frequent abuse and sexual taunts.

I want to pick up on a point that the cabinet secretary made about schools. She said that we must have a positive and safe culture in our schools, but the situation is getting worse, rather than better. This is a crisis in our school system, and child-accessible pornography has become a huge issue.

In April, the Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Government’s interpretation of “sex” was wrong. In the case of For Women Scotland v the Scottish Ministers, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. The SNP Government is still refusing to amend its policy, which allows biological men in women’s prisons. SNP ministers are defending their policy to allow criminals who identify as women to serve sentences in female jails.

The Sullivan review noted that conflating sex and gender identity undermines trust in public services. Not recording biological sex accurately particularly affects women who rely on single-sex spaces for safety and dignity. Such spaces include domestic abuse refuges, prisons and hospital wards.

Safety matters. Women are being let down when they are at their most vulnerable. In the Women’s Rights Network report on safety in our hospitals, of the 198 hospitals that were the subject of freedom of information requests to Police Scotland, 133 were unable to respond, stating that the data was not kept. That is shocking. It is also deeply troubling that, in the 57 hospitals that retained data, 276 sexual assaults and 12 rapes were recorded. Sexual assaults were recorded in at least 13 of the 18 psychiatric hospitals. The incidence of assaults in psychiatric hospitals was highlighted as a major concern, and I have two spine-chilling cases in my constituency.

Non-fatal strangulation—NFS—is increasing as a severe form of domestic abuse. In June 2022, England and Wales made NFS a stand-alone crime, followed by Ireland in 2023. US legislation has made strangulation a serious stand-alone criminal offence, which has been linked to reduced intimate partner homicide rates, with 14 per cent fewer women killed. NFS can cause brain damage, organ failure, mental ill health and death. The evidence indicates that non-fatal strangulation laws reduce intimate partner homicides, yet the Scottish Government still will not have NFS as a stand-alone crime. Why not, when the evidence is so compelling?

We support making NFS a stand-alone crime. Dr Pam Gosal’s Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill must be supported. We must have an inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland. In 2026, there must be a prosecution for female genital mutilation, and the Scottish Government needs to deliver single-sex spaces to keep women safe.

The vast majority of people in Scotland now see that the cult of gender ideology is harmful to women and girls, and no one—not even the Scottish Government—is above the law.

I will end with the words of the treasured Scottish poet Magi Gibson, as a thank you to all the courageous women who are fighting for the rights and safety of women and girls in Scotland today:

“Thankfully this crazy spinning globe is blessed with women holding up their half of the sky, and more Warrior women, battle wearied, bone tired, soul sore, while systems form to keep them down, oppressed, powered by politicians dumbed as Clydesdale ponies Ploughing ever deeper the same old furrows as they lumber onward, blinkered, never turning, to see exhausted women’s bodies piling up behind”.

Immediate action is required. Women will not wait.

I move amendment S6M-19970.2, to insert at end:

“; recognises, however, that violence against women and girls takes place both online and offline, and that clear action is needed from the Scottish Government to tackle it; emphasises that reported crimes against women and girls in Scotland are rising; welcomes Dr Pam Gosal MBE MSP’s Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, which, if passed, will tackle violence against women; questions the lack of Scottish Government support and legislative deliverance to tackle violence against women and girls; urges all public bodies to ensure that they are following the Supreme Court’s judgment on the definition of ‘sex’; raises concern about the reports of grooming gangs in Scotland, and calls, therefore, on the Scottish Government to urgently establish an inquiry to understand the extent of the abuse and the action necessary to tackle it.”