These pages contain information about violence against women and the work of the Scottish Government Gender Equality and Violence Against Women Team.
For many decades Scotland has been at the forefront of work to tackle violence against women, and we have received international recognition for this. Protecting women and children from all forms of violence and preventing it from occurring in the first place are national priorities.
Our approach is set out in Safer Lives: Changed Lives: A Shared Approach to Tackling Violence Against Women in Scotland. This document provides a shared understanding to guide the work of all partners in tackling violence against women. Guidance for multi-agency partnerships gives more information about the shared approach.
What is violence against women
The Scottish Government's definition of violence against women is:
"actions which harm or cause suffering or indignity to women and children, where those carrying out the actions are mainly men and where women and children are predominantly the victims. The different forms of violence against women - including emotional, psychological, sexual and physical abuse, caercion and constraints - are interlinked. They have their roots in gender inequality and are therefore understood as gender-based violence."
Read full definition
Key facts about violence against women
Find out some key facts about violence against women.
Violence against women and gender inequality
Violence against women is a consequence of continuing inequality between men and women, and it is also a barrier to achieveing equality. Our approach is set firmly within context of the Gender Equality Duty, which expects all public bodies to have due regard to eliminating discrimination and promoting equality between men and women. Tackling Violence Against Women is one of the Scottish Governments high lever gender equality objectives as outlined in our Gender Equality Scheme.
In July 2010, Scottish Ministers published reports giving an overview of progress made by listed public bodies in tackling violence against women and occupational segregation.
Find out more about the links between gender and violence against women.
Recent work within the team has included the Forced Marriage Bill and the Caledonian System, an accredited court-mandated system of intervention with perpetrators and victims of domestic abuse.
See the latest work being done by young people to tackle domestic abuse through Voice Against Violence.