Life is sweet at 16 for young Scots, the most liberated across Europe
Hayden Atkins remembers his 16th birthday fondly — and not because of the party in the garden with school friends. Once the candles were blown out, the eager Labour supporter from Glasgow clicked “register” on the myscot.gov website, using a suffrage almost entirely unique to his age group across Europe.
“I’d been interested in politics since I was 14, campaigning with Glasgow Youth Council for more green spaces outside of schools, but the way students’ exam results were downgraded during the pandemic energised me to make sure my voice was heard,” he said.
Had he been born 90 miles south, Atkins, who recently turned 18, would only now be legally entitled to have a say in who runs his country — and he believes that is wrong. “Young people are the future, so it’s only fair they’re able to make decisions about how their future looks,” he said.
Ross Greer became the youngest MSP at 21 in 2016
At 16, young Scots can get married — in stark contrast to almost every other European country where the marriageable age is 18 (the exception being Andorra, where marriage at 14 with judicial authority is legal) — and should proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) pass after a debate in the Scottish parliament in two weeks, 16-year-olds in Scotland will also be empowered to change their gender in common with those in countries such as Ireland and Sweden.
Of course, not every door opens at 16. Parental consent is needed to drink in licensed premises and the minimum age to purchase cigarettes is 18. As a general rule, you must be at least 17 to drive a car on public roads. But while 16-year-olds are too young to drive, if the SNP’s plan to lower the age limit for MSP candidacy from 18 to 16 is approved, they could be steering the country. Is this, then, the most liberated group of 16-year-olds in Europe?
Mark Ming Lai Chan, 16, feels strongly that being able to vote has had a “major, positive impact” on his generation by empowering them with the knowledge that “the government trusts us to make up our own minds”.
“My generation is diverse and outspoken, we have a variety of issues we are passionate about,” said Chan, who represents Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley in the Scottish Youth Parliament.
The Green MSP Ross Greer, who was elected to represent West Scotland at the age of 21, campaigned for the voting age to be lowered to 16 for parliamentary elections after the age group was allowed to cast a ballot in the 2014 independence referendum.
“Until [the referendum] the idea existed that this age group has a lack of maturity or knowledge, but that argument doesn’t stand,” Greer said.
“Tribal politics” is non-existent within that age group, he added. Despite a reputation for running on hormones, Greer said “animosity and uncontrolled emotion were also largely absent” among the young people he worked with.
A healthy three quarters of registered 16 and 17-year-olds turned out to vote in the independence referendum and though they failed to influence the outcome — 71 per cent voted for Scotland to be independent, according to a survey commissioned by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft — a cohort of newly enfranchised young Scots were energised.
If Nicola Sturgeon’s proposals to lower the age of candidacy from 18 to 16 are approved, Scotland would be a significant outlier in Europe. In Italy, you are unable to run for president until you are 50 years old; in Austria, Cyprus and Poland, you must be 35.
Stella O’Malley, a psychotherapist who founded Genspect, a group that has campaigned against the transition of transgender people aged under 25, is sceptical of Scotland’s desire to empower 16-year-olds.
“The key thing to realise when we look at the teenage brain is that it’s not formed,” she said. “Between the ages of 12 and 25 the brain is growing in complexity; the idea of rewards is almost fully formed at 16, but part of the brain that understands consequences and controls impulses is unformed.
Stella O’Malley, a psychotherapist, is sceptical of Scotland’s desire to empower 16-year-olds
“Teenage brains are looking for a framework for life. A lot of us back in the day might have become communists or climate warriors because we’re trying to make the world better. They might harp on about social justice, but as they grow older realise life is more complex than that.”
O’Malley raised concerns about proposals to reform the GRA to allow children to apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC) because they are “not mature enough” to make a life-long decision.
“The identity exploration that happens between 12 and your early twenties is well documented. When they explore their identity they go all in, and that’s what they should be doing. But our job as adults is to be mutually supportive, rather than celebratory.”
The SNP has labelled the current system “toxic”, saying it relies on an “intrusive” process of medical diagnosis and the applicant presenting in the acquired gender for two years. This would change to three months under proposed reforms although applications from 16 and 17-year-olds would be “carefully” considered by National Records of Scotland with oversight of the Registrar General. This could include face-to-face meetings with applicants. The Scottish government said reducing the minimum age to 16 “aligns with when young people in Scotland obtain a number of rights”.
Steph Richards, a 70-year-old trans woman who has been unable to obtain a GRC due to “unfair conditions and caveats”, wholeheartedly supports the age reform. Research carried out by her Portsmouth-based organisation, Steph’s Place, suggests that 61 per cent of trans people realise their birth sex does not match their gender before the age of 13. “We also know that less than 2 per cent of trans people detransition and 16-year-olds can make important decisions, including joining the UK armed forces.”
Others urge caution. Sinead Watson, 31, is one of the less than 2 per cent who have detransitioned . At 15, she remembers thinking: “I really wish that I’d been born a boy instead”; at 24, she began taking testosterone and two years later had a double mastectomy.
“I’m not the only adult who transitioned and who made these mistakes in their twenties or even their thirties. So if it’s possible at that age, what chance do teenagers have?” Watson said.
“When you go through different stages of transition, for example when you’re legally recognised, you feel the need to make your appearance match your name and title. So it’s not just handing a certificate to 16-year-olds, it’s basically saying you’re on a time limit, and you’re going to want to transition medically as quickly as possible.”
Payzee Mahmod, a child marriage campaigner, feels that reform of the 1977 Marriage (Scotland) Act to raise the legal age of wedlock to 18 is overdue.
Mahmod was pressured into marrying a 28-year-old man when she was 16 and feared she would pay with her life just like her sister, who died in a so-called honour killing. The women’s rights charity for whom she works, IKWRO, has been made aware of cases of young women being coerced into marriage in Scotland below the age of 18.
“It’s really important for the Scottish government to realise that 16-year-olds are not fully equipped to deal with the lifetime baggage that comes with marriage,” Mahmod said, “especially when we’re talking about marriages that involve men who are older than the girls and are linked to abuse.
“We want children to make empowering decisions over their bodies, identities and autonomy, not decisions that come with a lifetime of responsibilities.”