Women sceptical of Swinney's U-turn on abandoned misogyny law

John Swinney has been slated for reheating plans for a misogyny law previously abandoned by his justice secretary. The First Minister announced he would introduce a bill by next summer to make ‘harassment and abuse based on misogyny a specific criminal offence’ during his speech to SNP conference. But in May 2025 the nationalists scrapped the same legislation as it would have included protections for transgender women, who are biologically male, claiming they did so as there was not enough time to redraft the law following the Supreme Court judgment on the definition of a ‘woman’ in the Equality Act. A standalone bill was recommended by a working group led by lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy, because of the seriousness and complexity of the issue, which spanned sexual violence, hatred, gender-based threats of violence online and ‘incel’ culture. Critics have now questioned whether the public can trust the SNP to protect women and girls, when their previous attempt at the same law was abandoned. Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman Meghan Gallacher said: ‘The SNP have been so duplicitous over protecting women and girls, for so long, even they don’t really believe what they say. Baroness Helena Kennedy recommended a standalone misogyny bill in 2022 For Women Scotland's Susan Smith (L) and Marion Calder (R) ‘A misogyny law was promised in the last Scottish Parliament and wasn’t delivered. Nicola Sturgeon waged war on protected spaces for women and girls and was backed to the hilt by John Swinney. ‘When the SNP don’t even know what a woman is, how can they claim to be serious about defending us from misogyny?’ During his 30-minute speech to delegates in Aberdeen, the First Minister spoke extensively about the constitution before announcing headline plans on gender-based violence. He said: ‘My government will bring forward a Bill to make harassment and abuse based on misogyny a specific criminal offence and we will do so before the summer recess. ‘It will recognise misogyny as a distinct form of prejudice and abuse. We will not accept misogyny. It is completely deplorable and it has no place in the Scotland we choose.’ Alongside the re-launched bill, Mr Swinney said he would provide schools with a £1million ‘Respect fund’ that would give ‘every school the resources they need to tackle misogyny’. The government later said there would be an investment of ‘up to an additional £1 million’ to ‘ensure high school pupils can access third sector programmes teaching young people how to reject misogyny, whilst primary school pupils will receive age-appropriate learning on respect.’ An old campaign tackling misogyny called ‘Don’t be That Guy’, run by Police Scotland in 2021, is to be revived and will feature sporting personalities intended to be positive role models for young men. Among those set to feature include Scotland rugby players Jamie Dobie and Grant Gilchrist, and tennis player Connor Thomson. In 2022, then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon accepted recommendations from a working group led by lawyer and human rights expert Baroness Helena Kennedy that proposed that standalone legislation should be introduced to tackle misogynistic abuse. This was expected to tackle harassment on the street, organised online hate and an onslaught of rape and disfigurement threats which Lady Kennedy noted ‘absolutely degrade women’s lives'. Lady Kennedy said a standalone bill was essential because of the seriousness and complexity of the issue, which spanned sexual violence, hatred, gender-based threats of violence online and 'incel' culture. John Swinney announced he was reheating the previously-abandoned misogyny bill For Women Scotland’s Marion Calder said: ‘There is no detail yet about this new bill but it won’t be surprising that we do have concerns. ‘The Scottish government’s lawyers were arguing against us in court very recently for biological men to remain in female jails, failed to support a bill criminalising the purchase of sex and remain silent on men being placed in women’s wards in hospitals. ‘Perhaps instead of soundbites announcing new legislation that will not address the root causes, they should do the hard work around it.’ Rape Crisis Scotland said it welcomed the decision. External affairs manager Nicola Love said: ‘Misogyny legislation was initially recommended because it recognised the extent of abuse that women and girls were being subjected to as part of their everyday lives, which was often going unreported and being perpetrated without consequence. ‘We were incredibly frustrated to see the misogyny bill dropped at the end of the last session and we made our feelings about that known at the time. ‘It is encouraging to see it brought back with a clear timescale, and we look forward to engaging with the draft legislation to make sure it has the intended impact, which is ultimately to make women and girls across Scotland safer.’ Alongside the gender-based violence announcements, Mr Swinney focused on Scotland’s constitutional future in his speech, mentioning ‘independence’ two dozen times in half an hour. Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said the First Minister had ‘inevitably and recklessly indulged’ in his ‘obsession’ with independence and added: ‘His divisive rhetoric serves as distraction from the SNP’s miserable 20-year record of failure.’