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Letter to First Minister Candidates 1/3/2023
We wrote to the candidates for Scotland's next First Minister, Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes, and Ash Regan, calling them to support work to end all forms of men's violence against women and girls.
The full letter is below.
Dear [candidate name],
We are writing to you regarding your intention to become Scotland’s next First Minister, and to implore you to continue existing work on intersectional gender equality and primary prevention of men’s violence against women and girls.
Zero Tolerance is Scotland’s charity working to end all forms of men’s violence against women and girls (VAWG) by tackling its root cause: gender inequality. For 30 years, we have campaigned to end VAWG and provided expertise on feminist primary prevention approaches to decision makers across the Scottish Government and Parliament.
During our 30 years, we have seen significant progress, including the development of the Equally Safe strategy and the work of the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls. However, we are not there yet. In 2021 – 2022 Police Scotland recorded 2,498 crimes of rape and attempted rape, and 5,359 crimes of sexual assault, and 64,807 incidents of domestic abuse.
To end men’s violence against women, our next First Minister must further existing work and commit to do more to realise equality for all women and girls in Scotland. We ask that each of you make a public commitment to:
- Continue and expand the work of Equally Safe, including committing to sustainable and long-term funding for the prevention of violence against women and services to achieve all the aims of Equally Safe.
- Work to embed gender mainstreaming across all policy and budget decisions in Scotland to ensure all Scottish Government work promotes gender equality.
- Be accountable to the recommendations and scrutiny of the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls.
It is imperative that Scotland have a feminist First Minister who supports equality for all women and girls and is committed to progressive social justice. Anything less would represent a regression on women and girls’ rights.
With all best wishes,
Rachel Adamson, on behalf of Zero Tolerance
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