The Justice Committee starts its Stage 2 scrutiny of the Hate Crime and Public Order Scotland Bill a week today (Tues 2 February). This is where the detailed content is formally considered and agreed, and the Bill can be amended./
@JohannLamont MSP has put down an amendment adding "sex" to Part 1 of the Bill. Part 1 provides that an offence can be treated as "aggravated by prejudice" if it is motivated "by malice or ill-will" towards certain listed groups. beta.parliament.scot/-/media/files/… Image
The Bill as drafted provides that sex might be added at some later date using secondary legislation, after the Working Group on Misogynistic Harrassment reports. The amendment switches the default assumption in the Bill to *including* sex, until any alternative is identified./
Secondary legislation (orders and regulations) is subject to a simpler process of approval than Bills, involving less detailed scrutiny. If the Working Group proposes an alternative to just adding sex, that will need its own Bill process in due course./
A related amendment inserts a defintion of "sex" that follows the model in the Equality Act. At present, the Bill leaves sex to be defined using secondary legislation when (if) it is added in future./ Image
This new definition section could be added now, whether or not sex is also added as a characteristic. Inserting a definition into the Bill makes it clear what the Parliament means by sex as protected characteristic for hate crime purposes, whatever else happens at this stage.
The deadline for laying amendments is tomorrow. They will be published the following day, so by Thursday all the changes being put forward to the Bill for the committee to discuss will be clear, and we will do a further round-up then.
We have looked at the SG's records of its discussions with local women's orgs about including a sex aggravator. We conclude they were "overwhelmingly in favour of the Bill treating hatred against women on a par with hatred based on other characteristics"
murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2020/12/04/leg…

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More from @mbmpolicy

27 Jan
We consider here the various amendments which have been put down to the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill on freedom of expression relating to transgender identity.
murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/01/27/pro…
The Justice Committee will start to consider potential amendments to Bill on Tuesday 2 February. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Humza Yousaf has put down an amendment (amendment 82) which says: Image
The SG originally argued that no additional protections were needed here, so the recognition of the principle that there needs to be some additional provision in the Bill is welcome. However, this is a less expansive format than existing equivalent provisions.
Read 9 tweets
25 Jan
In light of the news that the ONS appears to be moving away from a sex question framed in terms of self-declared gender identity in the next census, our new blog considers the implications for Scotland's census.
murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/01/25/dis…
We argue that the move by the ONS potentially introduces a significant departure from the @scotgov position, which still supports framing the sex question in the Scottish census as one about self-declared gender identity, despite the new, separate question on trans status.
It is also likely to exacerbate the significant discontinuity already introduced by the decision to delay Scotland’s census to 2022, while in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the census remains on course to be held on 21 March 2021
Read 4 tweets
2 Dec 20
We are delighted that @CrimeandJustice have published this blog of ours about the development of the Scottish Prison Service's transgender prisoner policy and the failure to consider female prisoners and female prison officers: crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/opaq…
The SPS transgender prisoner policy was one of two case studies we used in our August 2019 @ScottishAffairs article 'Losing sight of women's rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland': research.ed.ac.uk/portal/files/1…
In 2014 the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) introduced its Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy, aimed at supporting a different group of vulnerable prisoners, also with specific needs. That such a policy was required is not in doubt.
Read 22 tweets
30 Nov 20
Our new blog considers international evidence and the risks of reframing the sex question in the next UK census as one about self-declared gender identity. murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2020/11/30/int…
At the time of writing, the three UK census authorities (ONS, NRS and NISRA) are planning to provide guidance to accompany the sex question in the next census, which will advise respondents that they can answer based on their self-defined gender identity.
Reframing the long-standing sex question, in effect conflating sex and gender identity in the same question, has prompted criticism from leading quantitative social scientists, in particular, highlighting the risks to data reliability at a sub-group level.
thetimes.co.uk/article/sex-qu…
Read 9 tweets
29 Nov 20
We have just posted an update on our crowdfunder. We were absolutely delighted to reach our £10k target just over halfway through our fundraising period. We are so grateful to every single one of you who has seen fit to support our work in this way: crowdfunder.co.uk/womens-rights-…
We have been very moved by all the comments left by those making donations. It means a great deal to us that other women value the work that we are able to do with their support. ImageImageImageImage
ImageImageImageImage
Read 12 tweets
24 Nov 20
This morning the Justice Committee will take evidence on the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill from women's groups For Women Scotland, Engender and Scottish Women's Aid. The session starts at 10am and you can watch the livestream here: scottishparliament.tv/channel/commit…
Adam Tomkins welcomes the witnesses.
Annabelle Ewing: wants to ask about the non-inclusion of sex as a protected characteristic. Wants to understand views of the witnesses and whether the working group on misogynistic harassment is right approach.
Read 160 tweets

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