How party politics has allowed violence against women to soar in Scotland – Susan Dalgety
Reports of sexual violence against women are at an historic high in Scotland, with a similar story on domestic abuse
Gloria Steinem, who died aged 92 earlier this week, was arguably the face and voice of second wave feminism – the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s that swept America and Europe. Steinem, along with Germaine Greer, came to personify freedom for millions of women: bold, brave, fearless writers and activists who changed the world for all of us.
In recent years, Steinem’s standing among many of today’s women's rights activists was damaged when she expressed her support for the notion that men who identify as female are indeed women. In 2021, she signed an open letter that declared: “We acknowledge with clarity and strength that transgender women are women and that transgender girls are girls.” But in a career that spanned more than 60 years, her contribution to the social and economic liberation of women far outstrips the impact of her latter-day adherence to the social justice agenda of liberal America.
Central to her thinking about feminism was the cause and effect of violence against women. She argued that inequality between the sexes was sustained by violence or the threat of it, whether it was domestic abuse in a woman’s own home, female genital mutilation, child marriage, or terrorism and conflict, where women and girls are so often the biggest victims, yet their fate ignored.
She didn’t just write about violence. She acted. Her New York Times obituary describes how she helped establish rape crisis centres and shelters for battered women. And in a 2015 interview with CNN’s Christine Amanpour, she argued that one of the fundamental problems facing the world is that violence against women and girls is “continuing and accelerating”. She added: “We are not paying attention to that.”
READ MORE: Amid soaring levels of male violence, SNP must ditch its unconscionable early release plan
A living hell
Nowhere is that more true than here in Scotland, where reports of sexual violence against women are at an historic high. But according to Rape Crisis Scotland, because sex offending is “overwhelmingly perpetrated” by someone known to the survivor, many sex crimes are simply not reported.
It is a similar story on domestic abuse, where the number of reported incidents is also rising but the true prevalence remains unknown. Behind far too many closed doors in Scotland, women are living in hell.
Yet even when a woman reports a crime, justice is slow. The average wait between a woman first reporting rape and a verdict is currently three years, a delay that adds significantly to a survivor’s trauma.
The Scottish Government’s response to the accelerating violence has, so far, been a masterclass in performative politics. While the First Minister promises national leadership to change the culture of male violence, this newspaper revealed earlier this week that the Crown Office has not been given the resources to establish the special sexual offences court promised in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Act.
Hardcore pornography and ancient patriarchy
And at First Minister’s Questions this week, Swinney was challenged on a range of issues from bail conditions to automatic release, by not one, but three, party leaders. Labour’s interim chief, Jackie Baillie, raised the terrible deaths of Claire Inglis and Stacy Hunter, both murdered by men released on bail.
Alex Cole-Hamilton reminded the First Minister that when Edinburgh woman Vikki Soloman was attacked by her former partner earlier his year, she called the police for help. They did not respond and hours later she was killed. And Tory leader Russell Findlay quoted the government’s own consultation paper on the early release of prisoners, which states baldly that the plan could have “an impact for… victims of violence against women and girls”.
Violence against women is a terrible fact of our everyday life, whether fuelled by the rise in freely available, violent, hardcore pornography or steeped in the ancient culture of patriarchy, where men feel the need to control women’s bodies.
Swinney is correct when he says there is a need to communicate to men and boys “through every aspect of the work of the state” that violence against women and girls is unacceptable. As Steinem famously asserted: “We have to stop talking about how many women are raped – and we have to talk about how many men rape.”
But as well as the long-term campaign to change male attitudes, we urgently need a robust legislative and judicial system in place to protect women, as well as properly funded, sustainable support services for survivors. And that requires party politics to be left outside the chamber.
Petty politics
I remember sitting in the parliament chamber only a few months ago when Ash Regan’s Unbuyable Bill to make the purchase of sex a crime was rejected by the SNP government, I suspect for all the wrong reasons. Regan had had the temerity to resign as a SNP minister over a matter of principle, and in politics revenge is always a dish best served cold.
Conservative MSP Pam Gosal was forced to withdraw her member’s bill on domestic violence in January. It would have created a register of domestic abusers in Scotland, but she could not get government backing for her plans.
Gosal said at the time: “John Swinney’s refusal to back my plans effectively destroyed its chances of progressing in this parliament.” Eight months later, Swinney insists he “looks forward to working with colleagues across the political spectrum” to tackle the violence against women. Time will tell.
In her 2015 CNN interview, Steinem insisted women’s fight for equality “had barely begun”. Looking at the rise of violence against women in this country, which has long prided itself on its efforts to tackle sexual violence and domestic abuse, her words have a terrible ring of truth about them. The battle will continue without Steinem, and continue it must.