Engender Events

Women into Public Life - 16th June 2010

Engender are partners in the EU Regional Development funded project Women into Public Life, which aims to encourage women in rural areas of Scotland to participate in public life. The project is holding a special event as part of SRENs National Conference that will enable women to gather together and feed into the conference remotely. See here for full details and to book a place.

Joining Agendas - Feminism and Transgender Agendas - Tues 9th March 2010 

Engender's Joining Agendas event will look at the representation of transgender and feminist agendas in mainstream media.
Over the last couple of years, Engender and the Scottish Transgender Alliance have been working together to improve trans-inclusion in feminist equality work. We are delighted to be joining agendas to mark International Women’s Day 2010 by holding this special Inspiring Women/STA session in The Melting Pot, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh, 6pm - 9pm. (Refreshments will be provided).

We will discuss how the mainstream can misrepresent transgender and feminist agendas, perpetuate gender stereotypes and contribute to gender-based violence and gender inequalities. We will also look at how transgender and feminist agendas can join together to improve media representations of gender diversity and reduce societal gender stereotypes to contribute to reducing gender-based violence.

Numbers are limited for this event - please contact carol.flack@engender.org.uk if you would like to attend.

 

Beijing +15: How Far Have We Come?  Where Are We Going? -  Wed 9th Dec 2009

Engender will be submitting a report to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) when it meets in March 2010 to review member states progress on how they have met the commitments made at the UN Forth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. Our Beijing+15 meeting brought together Engender members, politicians and other NGOs to look at what has improved (or not) for women in Scotland since the Platform for Action was announced at the Beijing conference.  The event was held by Engender International and was hosted by Marsha Scott and Kath Davies.  Kath presented a short history of Scottish women's involvement with the UN reporting process before the audience were asked to comment on the priorities that Engender will be reporting on - Poverty, Violence against Women, Participation, Economy and Girls.

 

  
 

Engender AGM - Cocktails and Comedy - Fri 6th Nov 2009

Our 16th AGM was certainly one we won’t forget in a hurry. The theme of the night was Cocktails and Comedy and there was lots of both. There was also the last minute problem, sorry, ‘challenge’ of our venue changing ownership the day before our event meaning that nothing was guaranteed. However, cliché as it sounds, the night really was a great success. We were in a basement nightclub with comfy sofas, space age chairs and low level lighting and it worked a treat! A selection of beautifully coloured cocktails were on the bar and everyone was sipping away very relaxed when our Convener, Marsha Scott, opened the AGM with a report on the past years work. Marsha acknowledged that it has been a difficult year for us financially, as for all in the sector, but that we had come through it and were looking forward to the coming year with renewed vigour as funding for new projects begins to come in. After the treasurers report was accepted, Marsha introduced a new one-off (or not?) award for ‘Phantom Feminist 2009’. This was a lovely masquerade mask and certificate presented to Hollie Smith who climbed onto the statue of the common man on the day of the Gude Cause march and turned him into the common woman by putting a skirt on him. Hollie accepted the award and spoke of the press coverage of her feat – in particular the comments sections of the Edinburgh Evening News - demonstrating again a sense of humour bypass by their reporters and readers.

No such shortage for our audience when comedienne Susan Morrison took the floor. She had us all in fits with tales of auditioning for X factor and her imitation of Glaswegian youth. And all the time cocktails freely flowing – AGM 2010 has a lot to live up to!

 

 

 

Women Thinking Equality Report Launch - Mon 6th July 2009 

Very happy to report that the launch of the Women Thinking Equality papers and fundraiser for Engender at the Raj on Monday night was a great success. There was a really good turnout, fantastic food and the venue was lovely – very light and airy with a great view over the water which added to the relaxed atmosphere.

We heard from Niki about the process and outcomes of the project and WTE member, Rachael Pateman spoke about her experience of being part of the group and what she had gained out of it.
Angela O’Hagan talked of how timely the papers were in focussing on the market economy in the current financial climate and James Morton spoke about the value of identifying a shared language and understanding across the equality strands.
The silent auction was fun and raised more money for Engender so all in all a lovely night.

Hope the photos give you a taste of the evening…

 

 

Introduction to Engender - Mon 16th March, 2009, 6-7pm 

Engender  and our University of Edinburgh volunteers invite University students to a screening of excerpts from

Who’s Counting ? -
Marilyn Waring On Sex, Lies And Global Economics

When: 16th March 6pm – 7pm
Where: Terrace Room, Teviot Building
Free tea, coffee and biscuits

The film asks why women’s unpaid work is not recognized as productive, questions the value system at the heart of our economic thinking, and offers a new model.

There will be a discussion on the issues the film raises. There will also be an introduction to the work of Engender.

Please contact the Engender office for further details on info@engender.org.uk
or 0131 5589596.

Engender  and our University of Edinburgh volunteers invite University students to a screening of excerpts from When: 16th March 6pm – 7pm Where: Terrace Room, Teviot Building Free tea, coffee and biscuits The film asks why women’s unpaid work is not recognized as productive, questions the value system at the heart of our economic thinking, and offers a new model. There will be a discussion on the issues the film raises. There will also be an introduction to the work of Engender. Please contact the Engender office for further details on info@engender.org.uk or 0131 5589596.

 

Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics - 6th March 2009 

Engender, Close the Gap and the Scottish Women's Budget Group held a screening of this inspiring film at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.  The documentary tracks the career of Marilyn Waring, a former New Zealand MP, as she questions the existing economic order that sees women's work as 'unproductive' and therfore unvalued.  Using a wide range of examples and analogies, Marilyn argues that our current system ignores the work that women do because it does not have a monetary value placed on it and this in turn renders it invisible to policymakers.

The invited audience discussed the issues the film raised with Engender Convener, Marsha Scott, Emma Ritch from Close the Gap and Professor Ailsa MacKay from the SWBG.

We hope to hold further screenings of the film - Watch this space!

   

Engender AGM - 4th October 2008 

 

 

 

 

 

Our 15th Annual General Meeting was held at the Scottish Book Trust in Edinburgh and we were very pleased to have Professor Ruth Lister CBE speak on Gender and Poverty.  Ruth is currently Professor of Social Policy in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University.  She has written extensively on poverty, inequality and citizenship and has also been Director of the Child Poverty Action Group.  Her book on the concept of poverty called simply 'Poverty' was published in 2005.  In her speech, Ruth describes the action required in the labour market and the welfare state to tackle women's poverty.  You can read the full speech here.

Ruth's talk was followed by a discussion of Engenders poverty policy position led by Carol Flack and the formal AGM followed this.

 Kate Chambers was our graphic facilitator and she captured the issues raised by Ruth and the discussion that followed.

 

 

Scotland's and Europe's Women Working Together - 15th February 2008

Engender, in partnership with the European Parliament held this event to celebrate the links between women in Scotland and Europe and to discuss where women are on the European agenda and how we can learn from each other.
Lesley Sutherland from our Board opened the event and spoke about Scottish women’s involvement in Europe leading up to the European Women’s Lobby being formally established in 1990.

 

 Read More...

 

 

Keeping Women on the Agenda - Scottish Parliament, 21st November 2007

Engender hosted this event which was sponsored by Cathy Peattie MSP. The audience of MSPs, Engender members and supporters heard from our Director, Niki Kandirikirira, Convenor Marsha Scott and speakers from other women’s organizations that gender equality must not be side-lined as the different equality strands are brought together in the form of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Engender hosted this event which was sponsored by Cathy Peattie MSP. The audience of MSPs, Engender members and supporters heard from our Director, Niki Kandirikirira, Convenor Marsha Scott and speakers from other women’s organizations that gender equality must not be side-lined as the different equality strands are brought together in the form of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Engender commissioned summaries of the 10 themes covered in the Scottish Government’s Gender Audit of Statistics published this year. (1)  The summaries, compiled by Suzi MacPherson and Elaine Thomson, present the statistics relating to the position of women and men in Scotland followed by points for discussion and have been sent to the cabinet secretaries with the remit for each theme. (See Gender Audit on this site to read the summaries).

The Gender Audit found that women’s average hourly pay for full time work was 88%of male workers and that when looking at all sources of income, women’s individual income was 60% that of men’s. (2)  It is this continuing economic disparity between the sexes that the recent Gender Duty is intended to address by putting a statutory obligation on public bodies to show that they are paying male and female employees fairly. But legislation is only half the story when the 3 main causes of the gender pay gap – occupational segregation, difficulty combining work and caring responsibilities and employment discrimination – all remain. (3)

Niki Kandirikirira said "Despite the accepted need for a Gender Equality Duty, it still seems fundamentally hard for people to acknowledge that the reason we need one is because of the persistence of women’s inequality.
Increasingly, we are told that working on a so-called ‘women only’ agenda is no longer a policy or funding priority; that the focus now is on gender equality – men and women. But I can’t help noticing that while it would rightly be deemed inappropriate to challenge action against discrimination against BME, disabled or LGB people by asking ‘What about discrimination against white, able bodied or heterosexual people?’, it is apparently appropriate to respond to demands to stop discrimination against women with the question, ‘What about men?’. So, as we say goodbye to the EOC and hello to the EHRC, it is increasingly important that policy makers and the public are not distracted from the reality that gender inequality disproportionately affects women.”

Read Niki's full speech here

Marlyn Glen MSP welcomed the event and called on Scotland to keep women on the agenda politically, socially and economically, adding "The Gender Duty has been described as the biggest change to sex equality legislation since the Sex Discrimination Act as it requires all public bodies such as councils, the
police and the NHS to actively promote equal opportunities between women and men. In short, its intention is to ensure that no one gets a poorer service because of their gender."

Other speakers at the event were Esther Breitenbach, Scottish Women’s Aid, the Scottish Women’s Budget Group and Zero Tolerance who asked that everyone sign the online petition on the Scottish Parliament website ‘Tackling Violence Against Women’ which calls for Government to renew it’s commitment to end violence against women by strengthening prevention, provision and protection measures.

References
(1) A Gender Audit of Statistics: Comparing the position of women and men in Scotland’ Esther Breitenbach and   Fran Wasoff, University of Edinburgh. Commissioned by the Scottish Government

(2) As an average in the years 2002-03, 2004-05

(3) Identified by the EOC Equal Pay Task Force in 2001