ANOTHER week, another opportunity for Nicola Sturgeon’s critics to reduce nearly nine years as First Minister to just three letters: GRR.
In a now widely reported interview last week with Glad Radio, Sturgeon was asked if she had spent too much time on “gender politics” during her time as First Minister.
The question is as illuminating as the answer, because we all know exactly what it means. In 2025, “gender politics” is understood in Scotland to be shorthand for trans people and gender recognition reform, and nothing else.
This feels emblematic of the way in which the national conversation on gender equality has been derailed, and the way in which large parts of Sturgeon’s own legacy in government has been obscured by an endless moral panic about a single issue.
Ironically, some of those who have complained most loudly about the alleged sidelining of women’s rights have helped bring a redefinition of gender into common usage that erases women’s decades-long push for gender equality.
Had Sturgeon been asked the same question at the beginning of her time in leadership, most people would have interpreted the words quite differently. After all, she did use her first speech as First Minister, in November 2014, to commit to advancing equality for women.
Referring to “the gender pay gap”, “underrepresentation”, and “the barriers, like high childcare costs, that make it so hard for so many women to work and pursue careers”, Sturgeon said that she hoped to play a part in seeing those issues “consigned to history”.
In those days, this is what was typically meant by “gender politics”, and this in itself was headline-worthy. As the first woman to lead any of the UK’s devolved nations, and with only one female Prime Minister preceding her, Sturgeon’s focus on gender equality was new and – to many of us – refreshing.
To hear many of Sturgeon’s critics tell it, that was the last time that either she or her government so much as mentioned women. As some would have it, the SNP didn’t introduce or implement a single policy apart from the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill in nearly a decade under Sturgeon.
Perhaps the worst effect of all of this disingenuous handwringing is that the important questions which could be being asked of both the former and the current First Minister about progress on pledges to create a gender equal Scotland are now all but forgotten by the media and political opponents.
I was, therefore, grateful to hear Sturgeon respond to the question on whether she had allowed gender politics to dominate her time in government by reiterating her support not only for trans people but for progress on equality for women more generally.
“If by gender politics people are including promoting gender equality, making sure women got a fair crack of the whip, making sure women were properly represented, and making sure we are tackling misogyny and sexism, I will never apologise for trying to do that,” she said.
With regards to “trying to deliver greater dignity and respect for the tiny, tiny, tiny proportion of the population who are trans”, Sturgeon said she “didn’t spend much time quantitatively on that”. However, she emphasised that she does not regret “trying to reduce the stigma, discrimination, trauma and heartache” for those people.
This is the kind of response that made so many women, LGBTQ+ people, and our allies respect Nicola Sturgeon in the first place, and I think it’s worth commending her for not wavering on either of those points despite years of media-driven attacks. She stands head and shoulders above the likes of Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer in this regard, both of whom have shown themselves willing to induce neck-breaking whiplash with their rapid and unexplained U-turns.
However, as sure as day turns into night, there have been some outraged social media posts from the usual suspects in response to Sturgeon’s comments. So, it also bears repeating that their continued attempts to rewrite history to their own benefit can’t be allowed to stand.
First, there is the recurring myth that Sturgeon’s legacy is one of conflict with feminists and feminism. As first minister, Sturgeon spearheaded a raft of policy decisions to tackle gender inequality. In 2016, she pledged to establish the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls, which would go on to make a number of important recommendations taken forward by the Scottish Government.
Working closely with women’s organisations, Sturgeon oversaw the expansion of funded childcare; the introduction of coercive control as a criminal offence; a duty on health boards to provide trauma-informed medical examination to survivors of sexual violence; a legal requirement for public boards to be gender balanced; and the Scottish Child Payment, which supports some of the lowest income women in Scotland.
Under Sturgeon’s leadership, the government also published a Gender Pay Gap Action Plan and a Women’s Health Plan, and established a working group to consider how to create a criminal offence of misogynistic harassment.
These might be some of the reasons why support for the SNP among women rose during Sturgeon’s leadership from 47% in the 2016 Holyrood election to 52% in 2021, while the vote share among men dropped from 47% to 43%. This brings us to myth number two: that Sturgeon’s support for trans rights harmed the SNP electorally. It’s been a long few years, but not long enough to forget that the unrelenting obsession with trans people in some quarters of the media and politics was already in full-swing by 2021, including the highly publicised departure of some SNP members in response to this issue.
Within this context, the SNP won 64 seats, and the Greens – who were even more vocal in their support of trans inclusion – increased their share to eight seats. Then, in December 2022, the GRR Bill passed with the support of Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens, and all but nine SNP MSPs.
The fact that Sturgeon’s opponents – inside and outside of her party – have remained determined to whip up a frenzy on this issue doesn’t change the past, as much as they’d like it to.
Responding to Sturgeon’s latest comments, former SNP MP Joanna Cherry posted on X: “There was usually a high correlation between those [in the SNP] with the gumption to see through both her & the gender nonsense.”
I would posit that the correlation might have been that many of those who didn’t like Nicola Sturgeon chose to add fuel to the fires of confusion and conflict around trans rights because they thought it might benefit them politically. Then, when they finally succeeded in bringing Sturgeon down and found themselves right down there with her, they had the temerity to blame her for the consequences of their own actions.
This is politics, I suppose, but if the truth still means anything in the age of misinformation, it is incumbent on those of us who can see it to keep speaking up. The fight for gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights doesn’t stop just because it isn’t as popular, or because words have become distorted, or because there’s more to be gained from abandoning principles than holding to them.
If more politicians would take a leaf out of Sturgeon’s book and act as an honest voice of reason amid a cacophony of lies, we might be in a much better place today.
