Engender blog

Celebrating 25 years of fighting for women’s equality

2018 marks the 25^th anniversary of Engender, Scotland’s feminist policy and advocacy organisation. A reception at the Scottish Parliament tonight celebrates the progress we have seen for women’s rights in Scotland, and acknowledges how far we still have to go to achieve full gender equality.

On The Engender - The Gender Recognition Act and Women's Equality

The latest episode of On the Engender is all about the Gender Recognition Act, and features Emma Ritch, Marsha Scott from Scottish Women’s Aid, Mridul Wadhwa from Rape Crisis Scotland and Becky Kaufmann from Scottish Trans Alliance. We know lots of people may not be totally up to speed with the Gender Recognition Act, the proposed changes, and the role of national women’s organisations, and we hope this is a helpful tool to help understand why we support the changes to the Act.

A couple of things really struck me during the podcast recording.

Should CEDAW be incorporated into Scots Law?

Today Engender launched a paper, written by Professor Nicole Busby and Professor Muriel Robison discussing whether incorporating CEDAW into Scots Law would result in better realisation of rights for women in Scotland. It explores what impact incorportion would have on women's equality, sets out how incorporation could happen, and discusses other legal mechanisms which might be needed for women's rights to be fully realised in Scotland

The paper was launched at an event in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law at Strathclyde University.

Speaking at the launch, Engender's Executive Director Emma Ritch said:

"We're delighted to launch this paper which shows that CEDAW, the UN bill of rights for women, should be incorporated into Scots Law; ensuring the maximum protection and promotion of women's rights we can. For 25 years Engender has been working for women's equality, and throughout this work it is clear that women's rights are not some abstract concept, but integral to all aspects of women's daily lived. The rights which are meant to be protected under CEDAW are being violated every day, and now is the time to ensure that we take every measure we can for women's equality."

Scotland in solidarity with Northern Ireland

Engender's Emma Trottier & Alys Mumford set out why it's so important that Scottish MPs take action for Northern Irish women.

Abortion rights in Northern Ireland

Imagine two women; one lives in Belfast; the other in Edinburgh. Both women have decided to terminate their pregnancy. The one in Edinburgh is covered by the 1967 Abortion Act. She’ll need to seek approval from two doctors before proceeding, and has other barriers to overcome, but she has access to a safe and legal abortion. For the woman in Northern Ireland, the situation is one of the worst in the western world. The abortion law dates to 1861, so it’s hardly surprising that terminations are heavily restricted: an abortion is only available if there is a serious, permanent or long-term risk to the life or health of the woman. For the woman in Belfast, a termination will involve extensive planning and travelling, as well as emotional and financial costs. As she cannot exercise her reproductive rights at home, she will have to leave and travel across the sea to terminate her pregnancy, purchase illegal medicine online, or continue with an unwanted or unviable pregnancy.