Violence against women and girls, in all its myriad forms – physical and mental, blatant and insidious – is a global challenge. It reaches back through millennia and, lately, it has been turbo-charged by technology, which offers abusers new ways to shame, harass and monitor victims. What would it take to eradicate it?
Scotland’s first minister John Swinney wants to find out. Today, he will set out his programme for government (the Holyrood equivalent of the King’s speech), and Swinney surprised many when he pledged to put ending violence against women at the heart of his government’s ambitions for the coming year and beyond. But haven’t we been here before?
Scotland has produced a raft of radical strategies, as well as legislation hailed as the international gold standard on domestic violence. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to equalities campaigner Talat Yaqoob, who co-chaired the Scottish government’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls after four years until last month. I asked her what government – and societal – action constitutes meaningful change, and what other countries can learn from Scotland.
But first, the headlines. Nepal-Tibet | Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, who are thought to be trapped in underground areas in Nepal, after the devastating flash floods. Iran | The new US sanctions campaign is expected to push many Iranians into deeper poverty as food inflation soars.
UK | The British Museum privately hosted Palantir founder Peter Thiel in a private viewing of the Bayeux tapestry, the Guardian understands. Slavery | Countries are legally obliged to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave tried, and address the legacy racial discrimination, a UN committee has said. US news | A Las Vegas jury has found former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur, bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the famous rapper was gunned down.
We’ll find out later today the detail of the measures John Swinney is proposing, but the SNP leader’s preliminary talk has been big: pledging his personal leadership, acknowledging that alongside resources to protect those most at risk of violence right now, his government needs to address underlying economic inequalities – and hinting at the need for focused prevention when he says that lasting change requires all of society to play our part. The context for Swinney’s vow is bleak: a steady increase in misogyny and violence against women and girls across the world. In Scotland, both domestic abuse and sexual crimes are on the rise – crimes recorded by Police Scotland including rape and attempted rape, sexual assault and communicating indecently were up 10% last year and are now at their highest level since 1971.
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