A CONSULTATION on whether sex should be a protected characteristic under hate crime legislation has been opened by the Scottish Government.
It comes after plans for a standalone misogyny offence were scrapped by ministers.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act consolidated existing legislation and created a new offence of stirring up hatred against people because of their age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and sex characteristics.
This is similar to laws on race already on the statute book.
But the Scottish Government did not include sex in the protections in the legislation, instead saying a new misogyny law would be brought forward.
Earlier this year, ministers said the misogyny law would not be proposed and changes would instead be made to existing legislation to add protections for sex.
On Thursday, the Scottish Government published draft regulations which would amend the hate crime legislation, as well as opening a consultation on the proposals. It will close on October 10.
She added: “Adding the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime Act will ensure that women and girls have the same protections as victims who are targeted because of a specific characteristic, such as age, religion or disability.
“Men and boys will also be protected, however we know that women and girls suffer significantly more from threats, abuse and harassment based on their sex, so they are likely to benefit most from these new legal protections.
“This will add to a range of general laws that can be used to prosecute aspects of misogynistic harassment and abuse.
“However, criminal law reform alone cannot eliminate abuse against women and girls, or the attitudes which perpetuate it; men must play an active role in identifying, challenging and changing the misogynistic and negative attitudes and behaviours that underpin the abuse of, and violence against, women and girls.”
The draft regulation includes a definition of sex as meaning “biological sex”, with a note published alongside the regulations stating the definition was prompted by the judgment of the UK Supreme Court earlier this year against Scottish ministers which defined sex as biological sex in the Equality Act 2010.
