Scottish ministers accused of ignoring equality legislation

T h e S c o t t i s h G o v e r n m e n t h a s b e e n a c cu s e d o f i g n o r - ing equality laws and putting women and girls in S cottish prisons, schools and refuges at risk by ignoring the right to single-sex spaces.

A new rep or t claimed the g o ve r n m e n t i s p o t e n t i a l l y breaching 11 articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child with its guidance to schools on supporting transgender pupils and that it failed t o c a r r y o u t “a ny r e s e a r c h , consultation or assessment” o n t h e i m p a c t o f f u n d i n g p olicy changes on women’s services to make them transinclusive.

The report also said health boards are no longer able to assure women, including rape victims, that intimate healthcare will be carried out by a woman – as is set out in legislation – as they have no record of transgender staff.

And it revealed the Scottish Prisons Service is now reviewing its trans p olicies after it failed to consider the impact on women prisoners of housing transwomen in the same prison.

The report, published by new grassroots voluntar y organisation Women and Girls Scotland, also catalogues a series o f i n c i d e n t s i n S c o t l a n d ’s women’s prison, Cornton Vale, including a threat of rape, as well as physical ag gression and sexual harassment.

It stated: “Staff were at pains to highlight with us that the i s s u e i s n o t a l w ay s o n e o f w h e t h e r a t r a n s p e r s o n i s themselves a danger, but that for many women simply havi n g to s h a r e i n t i mate s p a c - es where they are vulnerable with someone who is male… is in itself re-traumatising.

“Staff have also highlighted p a r t i c u l a r b e h av i o u r s t h a t have had a major impact. For e x a m p l e i n c i d e n t s w h e r e t r a n s w o m e n h a v e b e e n aggressive, including punching the wall in front of female prisoners during arguments.”

A spokesperson for Women and Girls Scotland, Leya Terra, said they had been encouraged by the SPS decision to l a u n c h a n e w c o n s u l t a t i o n on its trans policies. She said: “S P S m a n a g e m e n t a p p e a r to understand the problem, and that they have not properly considered the impact of their trans policies on female prisoners and staff.”

An SPS sp okesman said it would be opening the consultation in the coming weeks.

A S c o t t i s h G o v e r n m e n t spokesperson said: “A range o f wo m e n’s o r g a n i s a t i o n s offering services already take a trans-inclusive approach.”