How the 'abhorrent' women are fighting back

The latest figures for domestic violence are also a concern. Reports have risen by 26 per cent, suggesting a country where violence against women, if not the norm, is far more widespread than most people would like to admit.

Police Scotland should, of course, be a woman’s first line of defence against this rising tide of sexual brutality, but a secret police report, uncovered by independent policy analysts Murray Blackburn Mackenzie (MBM) a few days ago, shows that the force itself is riddled with misogyny and sexism.

The report makes difficult reading, revealing a toxic culture where female officers have to be careful what they wear or even how they style their hair, for fear of “provoking’ sexist remarks. It says that some senior male officers are engaged in “predatory” relationships with junior members of staff, and that women who raise concerns risk retaliation, including stalled promotions. And even when a woman manages to rise through the ranks, junior male officers will sometimes ignore their female superiors, opting to seek confirmation of orders from male colleagues. What faith then can a female survivor of sexual assault or domestic violence have in a national police force where, by its own admission, women are treated as second class citizens?

And the week started with an astonishing attack on women’s rights campaigners from an unlikely source – a senior charity leader who calls herself a feminist. In a newspaper interview, Rebecca Don Kennedy, head of the Equality Network, accused women who had campaigned against the Scottish Government’s failed gender reforms as being members of an “imported culture war”. She said they were part of “a rise in right-wing rhetoric, the rise of fascist tendencies...” And she lashed out against the grassroots women’s groups which have emerged in the last decade, saying, “…other people who are hateful are lauded and lifted up as heroes – and worse than that, painted as heroes for feminism. It’s just abhorrent.”

Ms Don Kennedy, whose organisation receives significant funding from the Scottish Government, is entitled to her opinion. But her attack on women campaigning for their rights as set out in the 2010 Equality Act goes beyond mere commentary. As feminist author Victoria Smith wrote in the Critic magazine, Don Kennedy caricatures women right’s campaigners as “outsiders”. Smith added, “She [Don Kennedy] speaks of ‘manufactured fear and anxiety’, as though women who adopt a more consistent line on safeguarding than she does must be stupid, weak-minded or faking it.”

How many times in history have women been told their fear was “manufactured” when they tried to report a rape or escape an abusive relationship? It is damaging enough when accusations of this kind come from misogynists, but for a senior female charity leader, one with the ear of government ministers, to accuse women of making up their concerns in order to pursue a far-right political agenda, is surely a sign that our country is not the progressive, feminist haven some would lead us to believe.

But as the new session of the Scottish Parliament gets underway, those “abhorrent” women are fighting back, whether it is against slurs by charity leaders or tackling the scourge of domestic abuse and sexual exploitation that still scars our country. Two women from the across the political divide hope to steer their respective Members’ Bills through parliament to become law.

Ash Regan, Alba’s only MSP, wants to make the purchase of sex a crime. Her ‘Unbuyable’ Bill offers women escaping sexual exploitation support to build a new life, as well as punishing men who try to buy sex. Pam Gosal of the Scottish Conservatives has a bill that will introduce a register for perpetrators of domestic abuse, similar to the sex offenders register, as well as making it mandatory for schools to teach young people about the prevention of domestic abuse.

Police Scotland will surely come under increased political pressure to get its own house in order, particularly in the wake of the Scottish Government's consultation to add "biological sex" as a protected characteristic under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. Ministers had previously insisted that there was insufficient time to draw up a law reflecting April’s Supreme Court judgment that the term ‘woman’ referred to biological sex for the purposes of equality law, so their change of mind received a guarded welcome from women’s rights campaigners. Marion Calder of For Women Scotland (FWS) said, “We welcome this proposal now, so that everyone is protected and there is no hierarchy, although it is something we believe should have been included from the start."

And in an effort to keep up the pressure on Holyrood, hundreds of women are expected at a rally outside the parliament on Thursday morning (September 4) to remind decision makers of FWS’s Supreme Court victory and the legislative and policy changes that still need to happen to properly protect women and girls.

Johann Lamont, one of the founding members of the Scottish Parliament and a leading figure in the women’s rights campaign, wrote in a feminist newsletter this week that the last few years have seen the growth of a "creative, informed, educated and challenging women’s movement". Some may find that “abhorrent”, but for the majority of women it is a lifeline. The fight for equality continues.