Scotland has introduced a new hate crime law aimed at protecting various groups of people from hatred and prejudice. The law includes transgender identity as a protected characteristic, but biological sex is not included, causing some concern among campaigners for women’s rights, including author JK Rowling. Lord Bracadale’s independent review of hate crime laws recommended that women should also be protected in law, although the report used the term gender rather than sex or biological sex. The report stated: “There are patterns of offending which relate particularly to the victim’s gender and which should be addressed through legislation which might be seen as falling under the hate crime umbrella.”
Despite the suggestion, the SNP-led Scottish government has decided not to add sex to the hate crime legislation, which covers the crime of stirring up hatred and prejudice-related offences. The government, however, is planning to introduce a bill to address misogyny, which would be the first of its kind in the world. According to a Scottish government spokesperson, the bill would “create a new focus on protecting women and girls to address criminal behaviour motivated purely by misogyny”. This move follows the commissioning of a report from human rights lawyer and Labour peer, Baroness Helena Kennedy KC.
The report recommended the creation of a separate law to address misogynistic conduct. Baroness Kennedy said: “While not all misogynistic behaviours will be captured… the shift in thinking and the reappraisal of certain forms of speech and conduct will contribute to a resetting of cultural norms. This Act will also depart from the established practice of having law that is neutral with regard to gender. We feel that to eradicate misogynistic crimes these laws have to be targeted at protecting women. Treating as equal those who are not yet equal only furthers inequality.” The Scottish government has already consulted on the draft bill, and the responses received will inform the bill to be introduced into parliament in due course during this parliamentary term.
The bill covering hate crimes in Scotland updates and extends protection from hatred and prejudice relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, and being intersex. Race, colour, nationality, and ethnicity are also included. However, the decision not to include biological sex in the hate crime legislation has prompted a loud public debate and sparked concerns about what some consider an erosion of women’s rights
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