[satire - I hope!] Women (National Resource) (Scotland) Bill

[Another2Cats]

One of the many women that I follow on Twitter/X is Dr Lucy Hunter Blackburn (@ LucyHunterB), she is one third of MurrayBlackburnMackenzie (@ mbmpolicy).

She posted some tweets earlier today combining several recent stories from Scotland, satirically suggesting a new Scottish law:

News in from Scottish Govt - my moles tell me they think there's just time to get this Bill through before the election. Just an early draft, but they believe the basic principles should get through MSPs at Stage 1 easily, and there's plenty of time to deal with the detail later/

I pointed out that they had left out childcare, care of the elderly and other vulnerable adults, and housework, and they told me they were just taking that for granted.

I have attached an image, but if it's too small to read then:

Women (National Resource) (Scotland) Bill

[DRAFT]

An Act of the Scottish Parliament to exploit the value of the female half of the population and something about dogs, just to justify spending any time on it.

1 Relevant Purposes

(1) A woman may be treated as a resource for the following purposes:

(a) The performance of a sexual act for payment;

(b) Alleviating mental distress in men with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment in prisons;

(c) Providing psychological support to men with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment in settings including but not limited to

(i) prisons
(ii) rape and sexual crisis centres
(iii) domestic violence services
(iv) hospitals, including closed mental hospitals
(v) schools
(vi) sports

(d) The supply of eggs for other individuals using assisted reproductive technology;

(e) The supply of new-born babies under contract to other individuals, provided that any associated payments are described as 'expenses';

(f)The managament of misbehaviour by boys in school;

(g) Politically opportunistic statements about violence against women and women's financial circumstances and any other related matter; or

(h) Any other purposes for which Scottish Ministers may from time to time make provision by Order.

2 Dogs

Something about dogs that isn't really needed but makes a good headline

3 Interpretation

(1) For all the purposes covered by this Act, everyone knows what a woman is, but for the avoidance of doubt, in Section1, a woman is a person defined by reference to their biological sex being female.

(2) In this section, "biological sex" means sex at birth

https://x.com/LucyHunterB/status/2019765586515861888?s=20

Yes its satire.
However these are all things that the SNP have argued for in crt, put in policy and/or voted for.

This is definitely the kind of thing you see in Scottish legislation:" (h) Any other purposes for which Scottish Ministers may from time to time make provision by Order."
They love the belt and braces approach - for instance you now need to apply for and pay for a licence at regular intervals and go through lots of onerous and expensive hoops if you want to let out a room short term (eg on Airbnb), but you also need a licence if you want someone to spend the weekend in your house cat sitting, or if you want to do a house swap, or (arguably, and this is in the guidance document) if you friend stays for a few days and invites you out to dinner to say thank you. Plus your local council can cancel your licence at any time for any or no reason, oh and they have the right to enter and inspect your home at any time if you have a licence.

Tempted to send this to my MSPs to make a point.

If this new legislation is going to include something dog-related, could it please be a provision whereby it isn't necessary to spend a minimum of several hundred pounds and go through loads of bureaucracy every 3 years and give your council full access to your home in order to be allowed to pay for a dog sitter to look after your pet once a year? Thanks