To the women and girls of Scotland,
We deserve safety not as a privilege, but as a fundamental human right.
We shouldn’t feel unsafe. We shouldn’t live with the threat, and too often the reality, of rape and sexual violence. We shouldn’t accept those in powerful positions disregarding our safety.
Progress has been too slow for far too long. This must end. Words are meaningless without action.
And so today we are announcing that Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis, Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre, The STAR Centre – Rape Crisis Ayrshire, and Western Isles Rape Crisis Centre are joining forces to form the Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance (SRCA) against male sexual violence.
Together our centres represent 41.42% of Scotland’s female population across 12 of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas. Demand continues to grow, but we refuse to accept a world where women and girls live in fear. Violence against us is not inevitable, and it is not invisible – it is a public health crisis that devastates bodies, shatters families and communities, and scars generations.
We demand action that matches the scale of this emergency: prevention that stops harm before it begins, real accountability that ends impunity, and survivor-centred responses that listen, believe, protect, and empower.
The SRCA exists to campaign for and create the change women and girls so desperately need, and for the human right to live in safety, free from the threat of violence. Our joint mission puts survivors of rape and sexual violence, and every woman and girl at risk of rape and sexual violence, at the heart of our mission.
We pledge to:
- Represent the rights of women and girls
- Amplify their voices, and the voices of survivors
- Use our collective strength, expertise, and feminist values to drive systemic change
- Hold to account those who fail to protect the right of women and girls to live in safety, free from the threat of violence
- Work with others who share our common goals in the fight to end male violence
We promise to fight for our future and a Scotland where every woman and girl can grow up and live feeling safe, free and valued. We will hold ourselves accountable to you all, we will listen and act.
Enough is enough.
Today we vow to disrupt the status quo and to work towards a world where no woman or girl – anywhere – feels the threat of male violence.
Sincerely,
Claudia Macdonald-Bruce, Director, Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis
Katie Cosgrove, co-Chair, Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis
Helen Provan, Centre Director, Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre
Jacqui O’Rourke, Chair, Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre
Isabelle Kerr, Centre Manager, STAR – Rape Crisis Ayrshire and Arran
Lainey McKinley, Chair, STAR – Rape Crisis Ayrshire and Arran
Angela MacLennan, Service Manager, Western Isles Rape Crisis Centre
Josephine Ackroyd, Chair, Western Isles Rape Crisis Centre
