“Women sitting very still, listening and participating in democracy, not being allowed to wear certain colors, while there are politicians in this room showing off their politics and having a direct impact on the legislation that is in place that will affect women’s rights.” he said. “The colors that enabled women to vote and sit on parliamentary committees are what we are now being told to take off. It’s absolutely disgusting.”
“Fear has hit our politicians”
The reforms moving through Holyrood are controversial amid fears they will redefine sex and threaten the safety and rights of women and girls. Ms Sturgeon has previously dismissed women’s fears as “invalid”. The woman told to leave added: ‘I’m scared of the ‘feminist on her toes’ [as Ms Sturgeon describes herself] you can probably guess my opinion. “Nicola did not make that decision, but the fear that has struck our politicians, that some political beliefs are acceptable and some are not, comes from her. I suspect the staff of the Scottish Parliament are clearly very terrified.” At previous committee hearings, women had been asked to leave after wearing T-shirts branding Ms Sturgeon a “destroyer of women’s rights”. However, the woman said the scarf was deliberately not provocative, with the suffragette movement widely celebrated across the UK. He said he was not challenged when he entered parliament or the committee room wearing the scarf.
