Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick announced on Thursday that she would step down from her position, under pressure from the London mayor Sadiq Khan over reports of unsavoury behaviour on the force.
Dame Cressida’s leadership has been under intense scrutiny over a report from the official police watchdog about London police officers routinely making jokes about rape and exchanging racist messages.
There has also been criticism and concerns over misogyny in the force, fuelled by the kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 by Wayne Couzens, who was a serving officer at the time.
Here’s what you need to know about the term misogyny, including the meaning of the word and whether it’s a crime in the UK.
What does misogyny mean?
Misogyny is a form of sexism identified as a hatred or contempt of women and girls.
The term has Greek roots and comes from ‘misein’ (meaning “to hate”) and ‘gyne’ (meaning “woman”). The Cambridge Dictionary defines misogyny as "feelings of hating women, or the belief that men are much better than women".
Misogynistic actions can include things such as harassment, bullying, offensive jokes, verbal abuse, sexual assault, violence, intimidation and other controlling behaviours aimed at women.
Sometimes, women exhibit misogynistic behaviour due to beliefs perpetuated by society. This is known as internalised misogyny.
Is misogyny a crime in the UK?
Misogyny was not considered a hate crime in England and Wales until recently. However, after a vote in the House of Lords, an amendment - supported by 242 peers - was passed officially recognising misogyny as a crime.
The vote came amid a debate in the House of Lords on the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, during which the government lost 14 divisions.
This change in the law will mean that judges will be able to dole out stronger penalties if it can be proved that prejudice against women acted as a motivation in a crime.
It would also require the police to record if any crimes were aggravated by a person’s sex or gender.
For now, misogyny is a hate crime only in England and Wales, not in Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, in Scotland, a group led by Helena Kennedy QC will release a report this month on whether misogyny should become its own distinct crime.
Why was misogyny made into a hate crime?
The debate on whether misogyny should be made into a hate crime and whether sex and gender should be added to the protected identities list heated up after the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa.
Ms Everard's case in particular caused widespread outrage as she was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, who abused his powers to lure the 33-year-old marketing professional into his car
After Couzens was given a whole life order, activists and MPs lobbied to make misogyny a hate crime, stating that such a change would allow women extra protection against the violence of men.
