An independent body said in order to protect women and appropriately punish offenders, misogyny should be made a hate crime.
As of now, the only protected characteristics in England are race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity.
The Law Commission, an independent body that recommends reforms in England and Wales has called on the government to also make sex or gender a “protected characteristic” for legal reasons.
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Campaigners have been arguing that the classification of misogyny as a hate crime would help in addressing the “root causes” of the widespread violence and ill-treatment of women across the country.
A number of prominent political leaders, including the London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the Labour MP Stella Creasy, have backed the idea saying misogyny should be classified as a hate crime to protect female residents.
Professor Penney Lewis, the criminal law commissioner, said: “Hate crime has no place in our society and we have seen the terrible impact that it can have on victims.Our proposals will ensure all protected characteristics are treated in the same way, and that women enjoy hate crime protection for the first time.”
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A review which was made by the Law Commission has shown that a number of offences used to institute legal proceedings against hate crime, such as stirring racial hatred, stirring up hatred on the basis of religion and sexual orientation and the “aggravation” of other crimes complicated them and made them difficult to understand.
In order to avoid the “risk of unintended consequences”, the body said it will review the effect the change would have on sex offences and domestic abuse in areas where laws are long-standing.
