Measures to tackle violence against women

A raft of measures will be put in place to tackle violence against women and girls, Equalities Secretary Angela Constance has announced.

The actions have been set out in a draft delivery plan for the Scottish Government and CoSLA’s ‘Equally Safe’ strategy, which seeks to prevent and ultimately eradicate gender-based violence across Scotland. Measures include:

• Setting out steps to implement the Istanbul Convention, a landmark law on violence against women, fully in Scotland
• Establishing an Equality in Sport and Physical Activity Forum, combined with a Gender Equality in Sport fund to address barriers to women’s participation
• Actions to tackle online misogyny and a drive to shift societal norms and stereotypes, including raising awareness in schools and community groups
• Improving the delivery of specialist support services for victims of gender-based violence
• Developing quality standards for public authorities in dealing with victims
• Carrying out an independent review of how third sector services are commissioned and how quality and sustainability can be assured

A three-month consultation will begin today on the actions included in the delivery plan.

Speaking at a stakeholder event to launch the plan and consultation, Ms Constance said:

“Violence against women and girls is both the cause and consequence of gender inequality. This plan, and the scale of the actions we are proposing, sets out ways to end this inequality, ensure we are working together to prevent violence in the first place.

“This year we have already moved from one to three-year rolling funding for equality and violence against women organisations, and just this week the First Minister announced the introduction of legislation which creates a specific offence of domestic abuse covering coercive and controlling behaviour. But we cannot be complacent. We must challenge violence against women and girls, prevent it, support survivors and ultimately eradicate it.

“This delivery plan will ensure we are all working together to tackle this fundamental violation of human rights, and deliver real change for those affected.”

Background:

The Equally Safe draft delivery plan and consultation can be found here