Gender row over Up Helly Aa Viking fire festival

Lesley Simpson was the first female Guizer Jarl in 2015, at the South Mainland Up Helly Aa

A group of four women claim they have been blocked from registering a mixed gender squad called #MeToo for next year's Up Helly Aa Viking fire festival in Shetland.

It is the first time a group of women has attempted to register for the traditionally male dominated main procession in Lerwick.

They claim the organisers have told them there is no room for new squads.

The organising committee has not responded to a request for a comment.

Vikings remembered

Up Helly Aa - the biggest fire festival in Europe - is held on the last Tuesday in January, and remembers the Vikings who used to rule the Shetland islands 1,000 years ago.

Warriors parade through the streets by torchlight as visitors from across the world gather to watch the spectacle.

The day culminates with the dramatic burning of a replica Viking long ship.

A replica Viking long ship is burned each year

But the question being asked is are women allowed to join existing squads and does Lerwick's Up Helly Aa treat women fairly?

Zara Pennington, of the Shetland for Up Helly Aa equalities group, said: "There had been an advert posted in the Shetland Times asking for registration of squads.

"There was nothing clearly in the advert that restricted it to previous squads, so we thought it was an opportunity to see how the land lies for whether women would be accepted in squads in Up Helly Aa."

The group said it was told there was no room for new squads, but it suspects this is an excuse for excluding women.

Ms Pennington added: "There might be no new squads but there are existing squads that occasionally take on new members and they've neither taken on any women, nor shown any inclination that they would.

"It almost seems to me that unless the committee is giving guidance that existing squads are accepting women, we don't know the situation and they've always refused to comment on this issue."

Karrol Scott, Zara Pennington and Debra Nicolson are three of the four women hoping to register

It has been three years since the smaller South Mainland Up Helly Aa appointed Lesley Simpson as its first female Guizer Jarl.

But at the largest fire festival in Lerwick, female volunteers are restricted to taking part as "hostesses" - which involves organising the all-night parties that take place in community halls across the town.

The community is still very much divided on whether women should be allowed to take part in the procession at Lerwick Up Helly Aa.

The Lerwick Up Helly Aa Committee declined a BBC request for an interview and has not responded to a request for a comment.

The issue has divided opinion among women in Shetland. Lerwick Up Helly Aa supporter Emma Williamson believes other gender equality battles are more important.

She said: "There are far bigger fish to fry on gender equality that we should be fighting for.

"Yes this is important to some people but I feel we have bigger issues elsewhere."

Asked if there are any advantages to keeping women out of the squads, Ms Williamson said there were not any advantages, but claimed most women involved would not want to take part in the procession.

"If you actually spoke to the women involved and asked 'do you really want to go out in a squad?' hand on heart the women I speak to would say no because they have a much better time at the hall," Ms Williamson said.

The discussion is likely to burn long after next year's galley has turned to ash and charcoal - a fiery debate in more ways than one.