Engender blog
Making women safer in Scotland: the case for a standalone misogyny offence
Today Engender has released a report calling for misogyny to be considered as a criminal offence in Scotland in order to challenge the epidemic of harassment and abuse facing women and girls.
The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the law around hate crime in Scotland, and is deciding between introducing a ‘gender hostility’ aggravation - adding gender or sex to the list of characteristics already covered by hate crime legislation- and the creation of a standalone offence. Our report shows that a ‘gender hostility’ aggravation will not solve the problem of misogyny, and may in fact undermine existing policy designed to tackle domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women.
For example, a gender aggravation
might be applied to one incidence of domestic abuse, but not another,
meaning that one would be treated more seriously by the court. This is
inconsistent with feminist analysis, echoed in Equally Safe, Scotland’s violence against women strategy, which says that gender inequality is inextricably linked with violence.
GUEST POST: Abortion Legislation in Latin America
Belén González Leggire is an Uruguayan journalist with a master's degree in gender studies and public policy. She was born in Montevideo, and is been living in Edinburgh since 2017. The topics she has investigated over the past years have included sexual violence against women during military coups and the design of social care services in Europe and South America. She is a member of WomenBeing, a research network for the promotion of gender studies.
Here, she writes about abortion legislation in Latin America, where women can be sent to prison for illegally terminating a pregnancy or even for suffering a spontaneous miscarriage.
-400.png)
2018 was yet another year with much to think about for the feminist. In May, Ireland finally repealed the Eighth Amendment, a subsection of their 1983 Constitution that gave the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the fetus. This cruel law has made termination illegal in the country for the last 35 years. Simultaneously, in South America, Argentina had the chance to join the small group of countries in the region which legalise abortion. Unfortunately, this did not happen. And despite the “#EleNão” (#NotHim) campaign - a social media movement of women rallying against inequality and the election of Far Right a presidential candidate - Jair Bolsonaro won the elections in Brazil, resulting in the country giving the far right more power in the region as a whole.
Women’s organisations disappointed by Lord Bracadale’s recommendations, seek further dialogue with Scottish Government
Engender, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Scottish Women’s Aid are disappointed by the recommendations in the inquiry’s report. The question of how to tackle misogynistic online abuse, sexual harassment in public spaces, and incitement to misogyny is one being raised worldwide. Women and girls face epidemic levels of misogynistic hate in schools, in the workplace, on city streets, and online. We called for a standalone misogynistic hate crime to be created in Scotland as a way of disrupting this epidemic.
On the Engender: Women in Scotland's criminal justice system
This month I was privileged to host our podcast recording on women in the criminal justice system. Even though Scotland incarcerates more women than almost any other country in Northern Europe, this is an area which I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t given much thought before working for Engender*.
Gender matters in the criminal justice system: 5 years of progress?
Ahead of an event tonight at the Scottish Parliament, Engender's Policy Manager Emma Trottier reflects on the five years since the publishing of a report by the Commission on Women Offenders, and asks where Scotland stands on the issue of women in the criminal justice system.
When we look at the criminal justice system, it can be hard to know where to begin. It’s immense. We have the police, crown office, sentencers, the prison service, and community organisations, who all play a role in building and maintaining a just, peaceful and safe society. To slightly narrow our focus, we’re looking at women in the criminal justice system. In particular, we’re looking back over the last five years to see whether we’ve progressed in supporting women through and out of the criminal justice system.
RSSDownloads
Engender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement Changes
From 15 May 2019, new changes will be introduced which will require couples where one partner has reached state pension age and one has not (‘mixed age couples’) to claim universal credit (UC) instead of Pension Credit.
Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism
Engender welcomes this Scottish Parliament Debate on Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism and the opportunity to raise awareness of the ways in which women in Scotland’s inequality contributes to gender-based violence.
Gender Matters in Social Security: Individual Payments of Universal Credit
A paper calling on the Scottish Government to automatically split payments of Universal Credit between couples, once this power is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Gender Matters Manifesto: Twenty for 2016
This manifesto sets out measures that, with political will, can be taken over the next parliamentary term in pursuit of these goals.
Scottish NGO Briefing for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
Joint briefing paper for the UN Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.
Newsletter
Sign up to receive our newsletter here:
Sign up to our mailing list
Receive key feminist updates direct to your inbox:
