Scotland's First Minister John Swinney put forward a package of measures targeting misogyny and violence directed at women and girls. Speaking at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Swinney told delegates that every person living in Scotland deserved both safety and respect.
His remarks came against a backdrop of police data showing reported rapes and attempted rapes across the country — concentrated heavily in Glasgow — had climbed to nearly 500 cases annually, a rate of roughly one every 18 hours. Plans to address the pattern were laid out by Swinney on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Pledges to introduce misogyny legislation and direct funding into schools — aimed at countering harmful influences on boys and young men — were set out in the address. Swinney stated that the gradual acceptance of misogynistic conduct within society had left him deeply troubled, adding that research consistently links it to patterns of harm directed at women and girls.
He described the persistence of such violence in 2026 as a matter he found deeply troubling and said it left him with a sense of personal shame. Swinney noted that the Reclaim the Night march through Glasgow city centre, which drew a large turnout of women, stood as a tangible demonstration of the issue that same week, with participants gathering to protest against sexual violence.
The First Minister acknowledged that many women hold strong feelings of frustration over the matter. He committed the government to introducing legislation that would make harassment and abuse rooted in misogyny a distinct criminal offence, with the aim of having it enacted ahead of the Scottish Parliament's summer recess the following year.
Swinney indicated that the legislation would treat misogyny as its own category of prejudice and abuse, distinct from other forms. He stated that discrimination on the basis of gender had no place in Scottish society, while also raising concern about the role of social media platforms and online content in exposing adolescent males to attitudes that demean women.
A £1 million Respect Fund, set to be established before the current academic year concludes, would channel resources into every school to address misogyny, Swinney said, alongside a newly announced partnership aimed at broadening the reach of the "Don't be That Guy" campaign to promote positive role models.
The campaign planned to draw athletes from football, rugby, cycling, swimming, athletics, golf, and tennis into a collective effort around equality, with participants serving as visible examples for others in their communities. Swinney framed the effort as a collective one and expressed a commitment to standing against sexism.
The First Minister called for a shift in male conduct, stating that how men behave needed to change, and declared that the situation had reached a point where further tolerance was no longer acceptable.
