Why SNP’s U-turn on sex-based hate crimes is dangerous for young women

It also rejected an alternative proposal, to include a sex-based component into hate crimes legislation, as being insufficient to tackle the problem. In 2023, the Scottish Government consulted on several draft offences including misogynistic harassment, threatening and abusive communications and stirring up hatred towards women and girls.

The announcement, issued quietly via a parliamentary written answer, that not only would the Bill be dropped, but that the government would instead revert to the limited hate crimes approach discounted in 2022, has left many working on these issues deeply disappointed and concerned.

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Growing threats to women’s rights

Scotland has been a frontrunner in the UK in addressing violence against women. The Scottish Government’s national strategy, Equally Safe, launched in 2014 has been groundbreaking in the way it addresses the issue as part of the broader system of gender inequality.

The rowing back of key commitments on misogyny stands firmly at odds with this. It is also perplexing given the recent surge in awareness and concern about the impact of self-styled misogynistic influencers, and the growing threats to women’s rights across the globe.

In truth, however, it appears that this about-turn by the Scottish Government is indicative of the way politicians are increasingly being buffeted by the forces of polarisation, rising hostility towards progressive feminism and related toxicity in the debate around gender.

Reflecting on the announcement, Baroness Kennedy said that she felt the Scottish Government’s decision had been driven by concerns the legislation would create “too much of a headache”. The tragedy here is that this apparent ‘chilling effect’ is taking hold at a moment when decisive action is needed most.

Anxious and unsafe

The decision to not progress the bill has landed particularly hard with young women, many of whom already feel that their rights are under threat. Recent research by the Young Women’s Movement on the status of young women in Scotland found that fears around rising misogyny were at the front and centre of young women’s concerns. A majority reported feeling anxious and unsafe, especially online, where misogynistic harassment, bullying, and abuse are increasingly common.

The radicalisation of young men through online spaces and influencers is an escalating concern, and one that is not being met with anywhere near enough urgency. While recent media attention, most notably the Netflix drama Adolescence, has helped bring this issue into the public spotlight, many young women feel their voices have been lost in that conversation.

There's a growing worry that current media dialogue risks becoming solely focussed on the “lost generation” of boys, rather than on what is needed to address the underlying drivers of their behaviour and the very real harm it causes to young women and girls.

We need to ensure that the government tackles this polarisation head on, invests heavily in prevention efforts and shows courage in bringing forward policy solutions that respond to the needs and experiences of those on the receiving end of misogyny and online abuse.

AI-generated sexual abuse

Alongside concerns about the radicalisation of boys and young men, young women are also raising concerns on how emerging technologies are amplifying harm in new and deeply problematic ways. Work by the Young Women’s Movement is also exploring the impacts of artificial intelligence, specifically how AI-generated sexual abuse, including intimate image abuse, is becoming an increasing threat.

Many young women feel that these new forms of digital misogyny and abuse are evolving far faster than public awareness, government policy or legislative responses. While the conversation continues to centre around online influencers, the tools enabling large-scale, tech-driven, gender-based abuse are already in regular use by ordinary men and boys across the globe. For young women, the lack of urgent action feels dangerously out of step with the realities that they are navigating every day.

Coupled with the growing threats, there is deep scepticism amongst young women about the ability of public institutions to protect them. Young women have shared experiences that point to an ingrained culture of misogyny within the criminal justice system.

A major missed opportunity

One in four young women surveyed in Young Women’s Movement research stated that they do not trust service providers or public authorities in Scotland to uphold their rights and nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) were ‘not confident’ that a complaint would be dealt with by the appropriate body if their rights had been breached. These observations resonate with recent data from the Scottish Police Authority, which highlighted that trust among women aged 16 to 24 is lower than any other age group.

The government’s decision to delay the misogyny bill has, understandably, been taken as yet another signal that protecting women, online or offline, is not a high enough priority. At a time when young women are expressing real fear about the future of their rights, this decision feels like a major missed opportunity that will create a dangerous lag in our ability to deal with a rapidly evolving problem.

Rather than backing away from the issue of misogyny, we need the Scottish Government to commit to meaningful legal reforms, and to invest significantly in a national strategy on primary prevention to tackle it head on.

Now more than ever, we need to listen to young women and the realities they are facing. Their insights offer not only a clearer understanding of today’s challenges, but a vital starting point for designing urgent responses that are meaningful, future-proofed and rooted in lived experience.

Jenni Snell is chief executive of the Young Women's Movement and Catherine Murphy is executive director of Engender