Newham Council has voted to recommend adding misogyny to the list of hate crimes recognised under the law.

All 54 councillors agreed to ask the Law Commission to recognise misogyny as a hate crime during an online Zoom meeting on November 16.

This means that alongside protected characteristics such as race, religion, and sexual orientation, the commission, that reviews the law and recommends reforms, has been asked to included sex and gender.

Councillor Mumtaz Khan, who proposed the motion, hopes that vote will apply further pressure on the Law Commission and believes other councils should do the same.

Misogyny is not currently recorded as a hate crime by the vast majority of police forces in the UK,” said Councillor Khan on Newham Council’s website. “By making this small change we can ensure the courts can take this kind of behaviour into account when sentencing. It would also help to change not only the prosecution and detection of such crimes, but the culture of acceptance of this abuse too.

During the council meeting, Councillor Khan used her five minutes of allocated time to make her case against misogyny and violence inflicted upon women and girls. Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said during the meeting that she was ‘both happy and proud’ to support Councillor Khan’s motion.

Councillor Ayesha Chowdhury congratulated Councillor Khan on bringing the motion forward but reminded the council that ‘men need to identify the issue within themselves’ instead of placing the responsibility on women.

According to a report published by Citizens UK, a community organising group, almost 34 per cent of existing hate crimes had gender as a motivating factor and concluded that women were almost three times more likely to experience sexual violence than men.

Newham Council is not the only local authority to do this. In April 2016 Nottinghamshire Police introduced the Misogyny Hate Crime policy, becoming the first police force in the country to recognise misogyny as a hate crime.

According to the report commissioned by Nottingham Women’s Centre, it found that there had been an increase in support of the policy to 87 per cent since the two years of its passing.

The motion’s passing joins a wider movement championed by Citizen’s UK, who since 2015’s victory in Nottingham, have been campaigning for misogyny to be regarded as a hate crime in national law.

The Law Commission is expected to report back on their hate crime consultations in 2021.

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