SCOTLAND’S Morning Star autumn conference takes place at the end of this month with a very welcome focus on women’s rights and women’s liberation. It comes at a time when we are seeing many of the rights women fought for and won being significantly rolled back.

It’s no coincidence that we are holding the conference during the UN-led 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, which begins on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, and ends on December 10, Human Rights Day.

We are seeing escalating violence against women and girls both in Britain and worldwide. Some 85,000 women and girls were killed at the hands of men in 2023; and one in three women worldwide were victims of male violence. In Britain, rising violence against women and girls has been described by a police chief as a “national emergency.”

UN Women has found that “violence against women and girls (VAWG) remains the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violation in the world.” And while it is labelled as “gender-based” violence, as many of us have long recognised, it is actually “sex-based,” primarily men targeting women.

Now we see the far right using violence against women and girls to target migrants, despite the evidence that more than 90 per cent of perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are known to their victims; that one in two rapes against women are carried out by a partner or ex-partner; and that one in three adult survivors of rape experienced it in their own home.

Police Scotland reported an 11 per cent increase in domestic abuse crimes between April and September 2024.

We also know from the work of the STUC women’s committee that sexual harassment of women and girls is endemic in the workplace, in schools and communities and has been for decades, with online sexual harassment described as “pernicious.”

Violence against women and girls is a serious and growing challenge for the left. Attitudes towards women are being driven by many factors but the content of online pornography appears to play a particular role, with women and girls portrayed as subordinate to boys and men.

The very fact that the Labour government is having to legislate to ban depictions of the choking or suffocation of mainly women in pornography is indicative of how normalised violence against women has become — though some of us would suggest that it is pornography itself that should be banned.

And as we will hear at the conference, violence against women comes in many shapes and forms, one of the most egregious of which is prostitution. The very fact that it is acceptable for men to purchase women’s bodies for their sexual pleasure is, to me, an epitome of sexual violence. And attempts by some in the trade union movement to define sex work as work are completely abhorrent; as are suggestions that women have any kind of genuine freedom in our patriarchal society, to choose prostitution or pornography as an “occupation.”

Moves in Scotland through Ash Regan’s private member’s Bill, to decriminalise those (mainly women) caught up in prostitution, while criminalising those who purchase or profit from it (overwhelmingly men) are to be welcomed, but that is not universally supported and there is sadly still a battle to be fought.

We are fortunate to have speakers at the conference from Nordic Model Now! one of whom has exited prostitution and will courageously share her lived experience of the sex trade. Previous events have shown this to be a powerful session that shines a light on the inherent violence in prostitution.

Finally the conference will tackle the thorny (though why should it be?) issue of women’s rights under the Equality Act, and particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court Ruling. That women need spaces and services free from men was never about believing all men are perpetrators of violence. But it is about recognising the importance, especially (but not exclusively) for women who have experienced male violence, to come together with confidence that they are with other women.

We have completely different experiences growing up from those of men. The strength we get from being with other women who share those experiences cannot be overstated. And I am talking about all women here — heterosexual, lesbian and those who identify as trans.

Too often, in this discussion, the focus on women’s rights has been lost. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the trade union movement. Ironic really given the growing numbers of women joining unions.

At the conference we will look at what the law says and why this is so important for women. We will consider the circumstances in which single-sex spaces and services can be legally provided, to ensure fairness and the dignity, privacy and safety of women and girls.

We will consider why the debate has become so vicious and toxic and how the voices of women are being silenced or drowned out. We will look at the impact of that for women and girls both within and outwith the trade union movement and how women are beginning to use legal processes to pursue their rights.

This conference is an excellent opportunity for both women and men of the left to come together to consider how we regroup; how we return to a class analysis of sex-based oppression; and how we can use that to demand genuine liberation for women.

The Scotland Morning Star autumn conference will be held on November 30 at the STUC, 8 Landressy Street, Glasgow G40 1BP, with an option to join online. Please join us if you can. Sign up on Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/3L6t9Kh.