Engender blog

Blood, cramps, and dignity - why we need free period products now

Last Wednesday, Monica Lennon MSP launched her Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill at the Scottish Parliament. Engender's Communications and Engagement Manager, Alys Mumford, was there to show support. Here, she blogs about the importance of having free period products for everyone.

I’ve always supported the idea of free period products instinctively, and being at the launch of Monica Lennon’s Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill really confirmed for me that it’s an issue which is vital for women and girls’ equality in Scotland.

GUEST POST: When childcare isn’t affordable, we all pay for it

Katie Dickerson is a New Yorker raising two strong little girls in Glasgow. She is passionate about advocating for the rights of working mothers. You can follow her on Twitter @Katie_Popple for jokes about parenting small children and rants about gender equality.

Here she blogs for Engender about why childcare costs are still a major barrier to women's equality.

I’ll admit it - when I decided to have a second child, I didn’t crunch the numbers first.

I thought about how nice it would be for my older daughter to have a sibling, and how complete my family would feel once there were four of us in it. I was so wrapped up in the warm fuzziness of it all that I didn’t consider how expensive this new kid would be.

My oldest had been attending nursery four days a week, so I was used to eye-wateringly high childcare bills. But it was only when I calculated the childcare costs for two children under five that it really hit me - nursery fees could financially ruin my family.

GUEST POST: Brexit - a risk to women's equality, or an opportunity to reshape gender mainstreaming in economic development?

In the week which has seen a further Brexit extension, we host a guest blog from Leanne Wilson, PhD Candidate at the WiSE Research Centre for Economic Justice at Glasgow Caledonian University. Leanne is feminist economist researching the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming as a strategy for advancing gender equality, specifically within the European Structural and Investment Funds and economic development policies in Scotland. You can find Leanne over on Twitter @LeanneWilson82

'Gender mainstreaming' has been an integral strategy for gender equality within the European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF) since the 2000-2006 funding period. Therefore, with Brexit looming and the risk of losing the strategy in economic development policies there is an urgency to assess its effectiveness. Gender mainstreaming was endorsed by the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women and has continued to be the strategy of the EU in many of their policies. The UN define gender mainstreaming as “the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by actors normally involved in policy-making”.

It is contested as a strategy as it has been widely debated by feminist researchers for its ability to transform structural inequalities. It is argued that it involves two different structures, ‘gender equality’ and the ‘mainstream’ which are conflicting, and in some instances competing, frames. However, I fear that leaving the EU will derail any success it has had, and therefore I want to highlight any learning from the experience in Scotland which will ultimately inform successor funding. This blog discusses my early research findings and opinion on the success of the Scottish implementation of gender mainstreaming in economic development polices and, therefore, the implications post-Brexit.

Feminists in the boardroom

Governance isn't necessarily the most glamorous area of feminist activism, but it's a vital part of making change. Here our Communications and Engagement Manager, Alys Mumford, discusses why you should consider joining a board.

‘We don’t just need 50% women elected, we need 50% feminists elected’ is an oft-heard phrase when we are talking about increasing women’s participation. While frequently spoken in the context of politics, it is equally true about women on boards. And with more and more organisations striving to have gender balance on their boards (both because of the Scottish Government’s Representation on Public Boards Act and because of, y’know, equality and stuff), it’s really important that governance is seen as a feminist issue.