MSP Rona Mackay has condemned domestic abusers of women as “cowardly inadequates” in a parliamentary speech.
The Strathkelvin and Bearsden MSP spoke at the Violence Against Women and Commercial Sexual Exploitation debate on Thursday December 12.
The speech saw Ms Mackay echo calls for Scotland to follow the “Nordic model” for sex work that criminalises the purchase, but not the selling, of sex.
Work the last decade the Scottish Government has undertaken to tackle gender inequality in Scotland were also praised by the MSP.
In her speech, Ms Mackay said: “We all know that violence against women and the sexual exploitation of women are about the abuse of power.
“They are perpetrated by cowardly inadequates who must be made aware that society will no longer tolerate their behaviour.
“It is incumbent on every decent citizen — men and women — to get the zero tolerance message over to those inadequates.
“There is no hiding place for them now, and women’s rights will no longer be abused in Scotland or anywhere else in the world.”
On sex workers, Ms Mackay said: “A resolution was passed at the Scottish National Party conference in March this year to support the Nordic model, which is based on 1999 Swedish law that criminalises the purchase of sex but decriminalises the person selling it.
“I believe that that is a progressive way to deal with violence against women, and the trafficking and monetary exploitation of women.
“Having heard directly from women who have worked in the sex industry about their harrowing experiences, I defer to their belief that that is the way forward. Prostitution, by its very nature, is violence against women.”
Ms Mackay’s full speech can be read and watched online at www.ronamackay.scot.
ENDS