THE participation of women in the Hawick Common Riding has reared its head in the general election campaign.

At a BBC Scotland hustings held in Hawick, prospective MPs for the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency were asked to give their opinion on women taking part in all of the events of the Hawick Common Riding.

The Hawick Common Riding celebrates the capture of an English flag in 1514 by young men from Hawick, a year after much of the town’s men had died at Flodden, and carries on the tradition of riding the marches of the common land of the town.

However, women were barred from taking part in some of the common riding events in 1931, by the all-male common riding committee, after a woman fell from her horse and broke a leg.

After that, events such as the Friday morning ride and hut, the acting father’s chase, and the cornet’s chases, were off limits to female riders.

A campaign to re-admit women to the events gathered steam in the 1990s, and culminated in a partially successful legal action, which allowed women to take part in some events but not others, but in 2018 women were finally granted permission to take part.

Despite this progress, Scottish Borders Council has recently received a series of complaints from women over their treatment at the festival, and the council is currently withholding a £9,300 grant from the festival’s organisers over equality concerns.

At the hustings, held in Hawick’s Heart of Hawick auditorium on Monday, December 9, the chairwoman of the debate, BBC political journalist Kirsten Campbell, asked the panel: “When I was looking at coming down to Hawick, I had a wee Google, and some of the issues which came up fascinated me, and I was wondering where you all stand on women participating in the Hawick Common Riding?

“There has been a number of complaints about division, about hostility, so where do you all stand?”

First to answer was Liberal Democrat candidate Jenny Marr. She said: “I appreciate the tradition and how important that is to people. I think it’s important to move forward.

“I would like to see women be able to participate, I don’t think that’s going to hurt anybody else and we’re progressive here, I like to think, and would like to see it.”

Conservative candidate John Lamont, who is the incumbent candidate, started to answer: “Women take part in a number of the common ridings and festivals across the Borders, and in Hawick there are particular…”

However, the chairwoman interrupted, asking: “But they should be able to do it without having things chucked at them, shouldn’t they?”

Mr Lamont continued: “That was subject to a complaint, which I think went to Scottish Borders Council, I’m not sure if that has been resolved, I don’t want to get too much involved in that particular…”

In order to elicit an answer, Ms Campbell again interrupted: “Generally, are you for women taking part or do you think tradition should be maintained?”

Mr Lamont replied: “I’m trying to explain, there are a number of festivals and common ridings across the Borders where women are fully participating.

“In Hawick, part of the traditions have resulted in this difficulty. I hope we can work together to find some sort of solution which allows the traditions to be respected while at the same time allowing full participation.”

Labour candidate Ian Davidson, who served as a Glasgow MP for 23 years, said: “I’m not sure whether John is in favour or not. Let me take this opportunity to say that Labour is in favour of women, and is fully in favour of women participating in all of the events of the Hawick Common Riding irrespective of tradition.

“Nae mair ‘aye been’.”

The SNP’s candidate, Calum Kerr, who previously held the seat from 2015 to 2017, said: “That’s the thing, the ‘aye been’ mentality in the Borders is a strength, it gives us community adhesiveness, it means in tough times we fight together, but that can’t let us hold back fundamental rights.

“Of course, I can’t believe John even ducked that, of course women should participate fully and not be intimidated from doing so, which is the crux of the issue here.”

Voters go to the polls on Thursday, December 12.