Sex and gender: policy context

There are several policy frameworks that relate to sex and gender in Scotland, although Scotland does not have an overarching gender equality strategy.

General policies in relation to gender equality and health

The Equality Act 2010 replaces all previous sex equality legislation. The Equality Act requires public organisations to carry out assessments of the equality impact of their new or changed policies.

In 2021, Scottish Government launched the Women’s Health Plan, which underpins actions to improve women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for girls and women, both for sex-specific conditions and in women’s general health. It includes not only those who identify as women, but also some transgender men, non-binary people, and intersex people who might also need access to women’s health and reproductive services.

Gender-based violence policy

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious public health problem. It includes, but is not limited to, “domestic abuse, rape & sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, stalking and harassment, commercial sexual exploitation and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage or so-called ‘honour' based violence” (Public Health Scotland’s Gender Based Violence pages).  

GBV is predominantly, but not exclusively, perpetrated by men towards women. It is both a cause and consequence of gender inequality (Lombard 2015 (0.2 MB)). As such the United Nations defines it as "violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman, or violence that affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty" (General Recommendation No.19, (1992) of The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women).

Since 2008 there has been a national GBV programme within NHS Scotland which is designed to improve the healthcare identification and management of GBV (Scottish Government CEL 41 (2008): Gender-based violence action plan). A cornerstone of the programme is the implementation of routine enquiry of abuse in key settings (i.e. maternity, substance misuse, health visiting, sexual health and mental health services). In 2019, NHS Health Scotland, COSLA and the Improvement Service held a national conference, with support from the Public Health Reform team and the National Violence Against Women Network, to address violence against women and girls (VAWG) as a public health issue (343KB). Scottish Government also launched a Preventing and responding to gender based violence: a whole school framework in 2024, seeking to support those working with and in all schools to develop and strengthen universal and targeted approaches to GBV.

The Scottish Government’s Equally Safe strategy for preventing and eradicating VAWG was originally launched in 2014,updated in 2016 and in 2023. The 2023 refresh sets out the following priorities: achieving greater gender equality; intervening early and effectively to prevent violence and maximising the safety and wellbeing of women, children and young people; and tackling perpetrators. It was developed in partnership with local authorities, Police Scotland, the Public Health Scotland’s predecessor NHS Health Scotland and third sector organisations that support women who have experienced violence. The National Action Plan to Prevent and Eradicate FGM sets out an agreed range of actions to be taken forward by Scottish Government and its partners.

The Public Health Scotland GBV webpages provide a useful overview of what GBV is and the policies aimed at tackling it. 

Gender equality policy

The gender equality section of the Scottish Government's website sets out a number of actions that are currently being pursued with the goal of achieving gender equality. These include provisions to: make the workplace fairer for women; provide funding to organisations who promote gender equality; increase access to childcare; engage with men to better understand the discrimination they face, particularly at work; and to prevent violence against women and girls.

The ‘A fairer Scotland for women – gender pay gap action plan’ introduced the first plan to reduce the gender pay gap for employees in Scotland and tackle labour market inequalities faced by women. The plan commits to driving change across areas of education, gender stereotyping, labour market inequalities and data improvements (Gender pay gap action plan: annual report). This report provides further evidence on the impact of the action plan, drawing attention to areas of focus for future action.