About the Scottish Women's Rights Centre

The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre is a unique collaborative project that provides free legal information, advice and representation to women affected by violence and abuse.

The Centre strives to fill the gaps that exist between women’s experiences of gender based violence and their ability to access justice by working with specialist Solicitors and experienced Advocacy Workers. Informed by our direct work with victim-survivors of violence and abuse, we seek to influence national policy, research and training to improve processes and systems, and ultimately to improve the outcomes for women who have experienced gender based violence.

What do we mean by 'gender-based violence'?

Gender-based violence is a term that is used to describe crimes such as rape, domestic abuse, stalking, and forced marriage that are overwhelmingly but not exclusively carried out by men against women. It is a symptom of the historic and current inequalities of power that exist between men and women.

The harm caused by gender-based violence is varied - it can be physical, financial, emotional, sexual, or cause harm and suffering in other ways. What all forms of gender-based violence have in common is that they stem from and reinforce gender inequality.

Examples of gender-based violence can include rape or other sexual crimes, domestic violence, stalking, forced marriage or honour crimes. These crimes can occur in public or private life. Threats also count as forms of gender-based violence.

'Violence against women' is a term that is often used interchangeably with gender-based violence. This is because it is widely acknowledged that the majority of persons affected by gender-based violence are women and girls, as a result of unequal distribution of power in society between women and men.

Who is involved?

The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre is a collaboration between Rape Crisis Scotland, JustRight Scotland and the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic. We are funded by the Justice Department of the Scottish Government, administered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board and Rosa's Justice and Equality Fund.

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