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In 2004 the Gov funded women's orgs wanted sex included in hate crimes. It was due to be added to the Offences (Agg by Prejudice) Act 2009, alongside transgender identity. But Engender, SWA and RCS told the Scotgov Committee examining the Bill they had changed their mind!
They said: "at some point we said that we were in favour of including gender as an aggravation...we no longer think that it is appropriate to include gender as an aggravation in the bill"
Worth reading in full, it's quite jaw dropping:
https://archive.parliament.scot/s3/committees/equal/or-08/eo08-1502.htm#Col680
Worth reading in full, it's quite jaw dropping:
https://archive.parliament.scot/s3/committees/equal/or-08/eo08-1502.htm#Col680
All the orgs bemoaned the lack of data on crimes against women in 2008, and are still bemoaning the "real dearth of data" to this day. Just think, if sex had been added to hate crime laws in 2009 we would have had 12 years of valuable data by now.
The Gov funded women's orgs have cost us 12 years of important data and continue, unjustifiably, to deny women protection under the law.
The majority of women's orgs who responded to the Justice Committee called for sex to be added to the Hate Crime Bill.
The majority of women's orgs who responded to the Justice Committee called for sex to be added to the Hate Crime Bill.
By their own admission Engender do not represent women, they do not even claim to represent their own members. And Emma Ritch goes into the misogyny working group having already said sex should not be added to the Bill.
Engender were warned by MSPs that they were giving up a chance to make a difference in 2009 - let us women in Scotland not let them waste any more years. #AddSexToTheBill
