Scotland's Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy: prevention, justice and support

Tuesday 10th November 2026

Violence against women and girls remains one of Scotland’s most serious public policy and service delivery challenges. It affects justice, policing, health, housing, education, employers, councils, social work, children’s services, digital safety and the specialist support services women and children rely on.

This conference will examine what Scotland needs to do next to make Equally Safe real in practice. It will consider prevention in schools and communities, online misogyny, domestic abuse, sexual violence and justice responses. It will also address the role of housing and financial support, trauma-informed recovery, workplace responsibilities and public-body accountability.

The Scottish Government and COSLA’s Equally Safe strategy was refreshed in 2023. It set out a national ambition to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, strengthen support services, and improve justice responses for victims and perpetrators. The current delivery plan covered summer 2024 to spring 2026. A March 2026 progress report highlighted work including the £1.5 million Fund to Leave, opened for referrals in February 2026 to help women and children meet essential costs when leaving an abusive partner.

The issue is also politically live after the 2026 election. During the previous Parliament, ministers proposed adding sex to Scotland’s hate crime framework, while campaigners and political parties continued to debate whether Scotland should have a specific misogyny offence. 

Across the morning, sessions will look at the points where policy often succeeds or fails. These include early prevention, safe routes out of abuse, survivor support, digital harms, justice reform, workplace responsibilities and whether public bodies can show that strategies are changing outcomes for women and girls.

Bringing together government, councils, police, health, education, specialist support organisations, legal experts, academics, unions and workplace voices, the conference will help delegates understand how prevention, protection, justice and recovery can be strengthened across Scotland.

This online conference will focus on three themes:

• Strategy, prevention and public leadership
• Support, justice and recovery
• Law, workplaces and accountability

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Topics the conference will explore

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• Understanding the role of strategy, prevention and public leadership
• Focussing on Equally Safe after the election and what Scotland needs to do next
• The role of prevention, schools and changing harmful attitudes
• Addressing online misogyny, abuse and digital harms
• Taking action on support, justice and recovery
• Addressing domestic abuse, coercive control and safe routes out
• Discussing sexual violence, trauma-informed support and health services
• Considering the law, workplaces and accountability
• Evaluating misogyny law, hate crime and justice system reform
• Framing workplaces, public bodies and accountability for women’s safety

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Who should attend

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This conference will be relevant to: 

• violence against women and girls policy leads
• equality, diversity and inclusion professionals
• community safety and public protection teams
• police, justice and victim-support professionals
• health, sexual health and trauma-informed care services
• housing, homelessness and welfare advice organisations
• social work, children’s services and safeguarding leads
• schools, colleges, universities and youth-work organisations
• digital safety, online harms and child protection specialists
• domestic abuse and sexual violence support services
• HR, employment relations and workplace safeguarding teams
• trade unions and staff-support representatives
• councils, NHS bodies, public agencies and third sector providers
• researchers, campaigners and policy professionals working on gender equality, safety, justice and public-service reform

Speakers