International Women’s Day: As Anora glamorises prostitution, John Swinney must back Bill to outlaw buying sex

Break out the bunting, it’s International Women’s Day, the annual global bonanza described by the United Nations as a “rallying cry to act on women’s rights”. This morning, First Minister John Swinney will gather together several high-profile female politicians and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to celebrate the occasion.

The three-hour meeting in central Edinburgh is open only to SNP members, and no doubt the faithful lapped up the self-congratulatory messages from Swinney and his team of self-appointed feminists. After all, as he told the Scottish Parliament on Thursday, he is “absolutely committed to protecting and asserting the safety of women and girls in our society”.

What his predecessor says is irrelevant. As Scotland’s first female First Minister, she had nearly a decade to prove her feminist credentials, and failed spectacularly. The sight of her struggling to describe a double rapist as male in the days before she resigned will forever remain her epitaph.

On receiving an Oscar for her performance in the film Anora, actor Mikey Madison said: 'I also just want to again recognise and honour the sex worker community, I will continue to support and be an ally.' | AFP via Getty Images

Raped in hospital

But what Swinney has to say behind the closed doors of Edinburgh’s SNP Club does matter, and it needs to be more substantial than the familiar lines he delivered at First Minister’s Questions this week. In response to a softball question from SNP backbencher Marie McNair about his plans for International Women’s Day, he pointed to the women’s health plan, and investment in measures to tackle domestic violence and the gender pay gap as evidence of his government’s commitment to women’s rights.

Let’s look at women’s health. Two nights before Swinney’s stout defence of his party’s record, I sat in a Holyrood committee room listening to experts describe how dangerous hospitals can be for women. A report published by a grassroots group, Women’s Rights Network Scotland, revealed the terrifying scale of rapes and sexual assaults across the country, with 276 sexual assaults and 12 rapes recorded over five years, including five incidents in two maternity hospitals.

But the data from Police Scotland only covered 57 of 198 hospitals surveyed. Police were unable to provide data for 133 locations and refused information on a further eight on privacy grounds. Why? What is the NHS hiding?

How many vulnerable women are raped while under the care of our National Health Service? Conservative MSP Tess White asked Swinney if he would meet with her and a cross-party group of MSPs as a matter of urgency to discuss the issue. He ignored her request.

Women killed by their sons

He was slightly more forthcoming when Labour’s Katy Clark asked him about the 2000 Women report published by the Femicide Census this week. It revealed that almost ten per cent of the 2,000 women across the UK who have died at the hands of men over the last 15 years were killed by their own sons. And that one in eight of the 2,000 women were over 70 years old.

Swinney gave his “absolute assurance” that, on this issue, he was very happy to work across the political spectrum to “do all we can to improve the cultural attitudes and approaches of men and boys in our society”. However, his patience ran out when his former colleague, now Alba MSP, Ash Regan got to her feet and accused him of being out of touch on women’s rights, asking him bluntly if he would make a clear commitment to uphold women’s internationally protected human rights.

“I have put on the record my absolute commitment to the protection of women and girls in our society,” he barked.

Make paying for sex illegal

Women hear you, First Minister. You are “absolutely committed” to the protection of women and girls. So will you, this coming week, ask the Health Secretary Neil Gray to launch an investigation into sexual violence in our hospitals?

Will you instruct the Justice Secretary Angela Constance to find out the scale of violence against older women and what steps can be taken to protect them? And will you, First Minister, throw your support behind Regan’s private member’s bill on prostitution, which would make paying for sexual services an offence?

Regan, who resigned as community safety minister in 2022 because of her opposition to Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, has worked, with others, for ten years to change the law on prostitution. She says: "We face a global crisis of male violence against women, which requires clear, consistent messaging from the very top of the government to change society's attitudes toward women – starting with ending the commodification of women through commercial sexual exploitation of prostitution.”

And in a direct challenge to a First Minister who claims to be “absolutely committed to the protection of women”, she points out that “it's not the power you have but what you do with it that matters.”

"The most shocking barrier to real progress for women is the woeful dereliction of duty from those empowered to protect and promote women's legal, regulatory, and internationally protected human rights,” Regan adds. “My message on this International Women’s Day is to urge those who have the power to uphold women's human rights to save the posturing platitudes and do their jobs."

Be brave, First Minister

Regan’s bill has already won the backing of 24 MSPs, including six SNP backbenchers. In the week when Oscar winner Mikey Madison was accused of glamorising prostitution during her acceptance speech for her role in Anora, Swinney has the opportunity to put Scotland at the forefront of women’s rights across the world.

Back Regan’s bill, First Minister. End the fantasy that prostitution is ‘sex work’, and that it ‘empowers’ women. Be brave. If not for yourself then on behalf of every woman and girl who has been or is at risk of being a victim of unfettered male violence, whether she is a frail older woman trapped in a hospital ward or a vulnerable young woman selling sex to strangers. Or the woman next door.

You have the power to make International Women’s Day mean something beyond its usual platitudes. Use it.