(19)  Sex Equality at the Hawick Common Riding (3)

On 21 August 1997 Sheriff Principal Gordon Nicholson QC ruled that the tradition of only male participation in certain parts of the Hawick Common Riding festivities constituted illegal sex discrimination (see 1997 GWD 36-1867; 1997 SCLR 917; 1998 SLT (Sh Ct) 42). The two women who raised the initial complaint, Ashley Simpson and Mandy Graham, received £1 in damages, and were later feted at a Women of the Year lunch in London. See further No 8 and No 11.)