Pam Gosal: In Scotland we’re determined to shift the dial on women’s rights | Conservative Home

Pam Gosal MBE is Scottish Conservative MSP for West Scotland and Deputy Chair of Scottish Conservatives.

Last Saturday was International Women’s Day, and on that day, or any other, it shouldn’t be too much to ask for government to protect the rights of 50 per cent of the population.

And yet in London and Edinburgh, the failure to do so is being exposed by a small group of motivated females campaigning to ensure the sanctity of women-only safe spaces, and plenty more besides.

As we marked a day dedicated to celebrating women across the world, my fear was, and still is, that our rights are only going backwards.

For Women Scotland are currently embroiled in a David-and-Goliath battle with the Scottish Government in what is essentially a fight to protect the rights of women across the country.

We await the judgement from the Supreme Court on their battle, which should be issued soon.

Only the Scottish Conservatives can truly say they stand by this group’s side. When the Scottish Parliament debated the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, we were the only party to allow our MSPs a free vote, with all the others forcing their members to side with the Scottish Government to further erode women’s rights.

Whatever the outcome of the court hearing, it should never have been left to this small, brilliant group of volunteers to hold the Scottish Government to account.

And if they succeed in their case, the outcome should have ramifications for the whole UK.

The ins and outs of the case are detailed and complex, and pages of this website could be dedicated to the intricacies of every argument.

But it all boils down to this: is a woman someone born that way at birth?

Or is it someone who, perhaps even on a flight of fancy, simply declares that they are.

Readers of this website know what the answer should be, but it was the failure of the Scottish Government and its associated bodies to understand simple facts which led to this significant legal dispute.

Under Nicola Sturgeon, before she hastily departed from her role as First Minister in the spring of 2023, the Scottish Government rushed headlong into an agenda which prioritised the hypothetical sensitivities of a miniscule part of the population over those who account for just more than half.

And the implications were serious.

By simply allowing someone to declare they were a female, a number of hitherto safe spaces would have been placed in jeopardy.

The changing facilities in gyms.

Public toilets and similar facilities in workplaces and leisure spaces.

And, perhaps most famously, women’s prisons.

In Scotland we have already had the ludicrous case of Isla Bryson, the double rapist who decided to try to change gender from male to female while awaiting trial for brutal attacks on women in Clydebank, a town just outside Glasgow and in my parliamentary region.

The images which accompanied the news coverage were stark.

The mug shots of Adam Graham – the man who later changed his name to Isla Bryson – show a skin-headed criminal with threatening tattoos across his head and neck.

Those images were then followed by a figure in a blonde wig, wearing a pink jacket, attending trial.

The system was clearly being taken for a ride.

But despite that, the rapist was initially housed in a female prison which, as we know from numerous studies, houses some of society’s most vulnerable women.

It was only after a major kickback from the press, the politicians and the public that he was eventually moved to a male jail.

Even his own ex-wife said he had embarked on this charade in order to have an easier time in prison, and that it was “all a big joke to him”.

Funnily enough, at no time during their marriage had he suggested that he wanted to be a woman.

So for anyone who says the arguments posed by courageous groups like For Women Scotland are hypothetical and exaggerated, let them look at the details of this case.

Similarly, another case which illustrates the madness of our times in Scotland is that of Fife nurse Sandie Peggie, a dedicated, hard-working professional with an unblemished record.

And yet she is being dragged through the mud as part of an employment tribunal, with her career in jeopardy, simply because she didn’t want to share a changing room with a man.

Through all of this, the SNP has certainly made its feelings known when it comes to what is and isn’t a woman.

And, aside from a few honourable exceptions, Labour seem to be having similar difficulty.

The mess in Scotland is a warning for what could happen at UK level.

A failure to nail this down in law could have real-world impacts on women and girls.

The culture is such north of the border that many schools have foolishly moved to a system where they provide unisex, gender-neutral toilets only.

Anyone who warned against this was accused of transphobia or simple hyperbole.

Yet, just a few weeks ago in Dundee, a 15-year-old boy was charged with hiding a camera in one of these very toilets.

The device was discovered by a girl at the school, whose mother says it contained hundreds of images of girls in states of undress.

Understandably, those involved were “traumatised”.

This is a further sign of an idiotic culture that’s been allowed to grow out of control, which has now left a number of girls with potentially life-altering impacts.

Pre-election, the Conservatives had firm plans to reverse the effects of some of these problems, and since becoming leader Kemi Badenoch has spoken brilliantly and persuasively on the topic.

But predictably, Labour have shied away from it, terrified of offending the sensitivities of a tiny minority who ruled the roost for too long.

For our part, the fightback has begun.

I’ve recently returned to the Scottish Parliament’s equalities committee, which is doing important work in protecting women’s rights.

And a round-table event I hosted on violence against women and girls highlighted the importance of safe, single-sex spaces in reducing that particular scourge.

I’m also campaigning for schools to have single-sex toilets and facilities. For girls especially, this is an unequivocal right, and it’s incredible that some schools have to be reminded of that.

I hope that the dial is beginning to shift in Scotland, and I hope that the same thing can happen across the rest of the UK soon.

For too long, governments and public bodies have resoundingly failed when it comes to women’s rights.

Now, it’s time for change.

The welfare of half the population depends on it.