Engender blog
GUEST POST: Which women are visible in the Scottish Parliament?
Today we're publishing the next blog in a series from the current student placements Engender is hosting from the University of Strathclyde Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods course.
Following the local elections last week, it is clear that diverse representation is needed at all levels. Mary Galloway's research focuses on representation in the Scottish Parliament, and for her first post Mary maps out her research into the visibility of women with multiple marginalised identities, as well as discussing gender audits, and why an intersectional approach is needed in order to fully assess the representation and participation of all women in the Scottish Parliament. You can read Mary's second post here and third post here.
In February 2022, it was announced that the Scottish Parliament will undergo a gender audit, something for which Engender, along with other organisations and campaigns, has long advocated. This audit will assess the extent to which women participate in and are represented by the Scottish Parliament, following the guide created by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. While a great start towards a gender-sensitive Parliament, there are clear limitations in what an audit can do to bring an intersectional lens to women’s representation. It is crucial that to truly explore gender equality, we need to uncover the experiences and positions of all women in Holyrood, including those of the most marginalised. The project I am carrying out here aims to provide a snapshot of the representation of the women in Scotland whose lives are structured and limited not just by their gender but by their race, physical and mental abilities, and sexuality too.
Intersectionality is a concept brought forth primarily by Black feminists. It seeks to illuminate the way in which marginalised communities may have their experiences shaped by numerous structures of oppression simultaneously. For example, gendered oppression cannot wholly account for the discrimination faced by a disabled Black woman. Instead, her experience is shaped by racism, sexism and ableism all at once. What this research project seeks to highlight then, is that women with multiple protected characteristics have needs and concerns that are specific to their identity. An intersectional approach which pays attention to this multiplicity of the gendered experience is needed to fully assess the representation and participation of all women in the Scottish Parliament. The gender audit of the Scottish Parliament should proceed with an understanding and utilisation of intersectionality as far as it can within the limitations of auditing an overwhelmingly male, white institution.
Over the course of three blogs, I will delineate the findings of my research into the representation of women in the Scottish Parliament using an intersectional lens to exemplify the value of such an approach. This research has involved using the Scottish Parliament’s website and search tools, looking specifically at the Official Report, Written questions and answers, and Motions in Session 5 (May 2016 - May 2021). These search tools have enabled me to gather data, firstly on how often discussions about women with multiple protected characteristics were being had, secondly on who in Parliament was initiating these conversations, and thirdly on the substantive content of these discussions.
How often are marginalised women talked about?
The frequency of discussions about marginalised women separately from the broad category of ‘women’ provides a good indication of their visibility in the Scottish Parliament. It was found that, in all three areas of parliamentary business, the Official Report, Motions and Written questions and answers (WQAs), mentions of women with multiple protected characteristics were uncommon. Firstly, in the Official Report, search terms that listed a protected group alongside women, such as ‘disabled women’, yielded only 46 relevant results in total. To contextualise this, Session 5 was five years long and had 438 Meetings of the Parliament and 2204 committee meetings. Search terms that included women alongside another protected characteristic brought up only 51 motions out of 2717 (1.9%) in total and only 33 written questions and answers out of 33,334 questions (0.01%) in total. In relative terms, therefore, discussions of women that can be said to have had an intersectional approach in the Scottish Parliament were extremely rare. The presence of some references to women facing multiple discriminations indicates that there is an awareness of their need for focused attention separate from that of women in general. The concerns of multiply marginalised women are evidently being brought to the attention of people in parliament then; however, this has yet to translate into representation proportionate to their vulnerability.
Clearly, women facing multiple discriminations need greater representation in the Scottish Parliament; however, it is useful to look at where they are being discussed at present, who is initiating the conversations and what they are saying. The next blog in this series will do the former, uncovering whose participation in the Scottish Parliament is resulting in the discussion of marginalised women separately from women generally. The third blog will take a focused look at Black and minority ethnic women in order to exemplify the extent to which the specific needs of a community of vulnerable women are understood and represented by the Scottish Parliament.
GUEST POST: Supporting women to stand for political office
Between now and the local elections on May 5th, we will be publishing a series of blogs from the Equal Representation Coalition. They’ll be taking a look at the state of equality in our politics at the moment, discussing their work in tackle barriers to participation, and will be exploring the crucial role that accurate data plays in achieving equal representation in our councils and parliaments and why we need more of it.
In this post, Hannah Stevens, Chief Executive, and Rosie Trevill, Community and Communications Officer at Elect Her discuss their work supporting women to get involved and stay involved in politics - and why understanding whose voices are missing is essential to creating solutions to women’s underrepresentation in councils and parliaments.
Elect Her is a tiny but mighty organisation that works to motivate, support and equip women in all their diversity to stand for elected office in all spheres of government, providing them with the knowledge, confidence, and skills they need on their journey.  Elect Her is committed to creating safe spaces for women to explore their futures as leaders, legislators, and champions of Scotland’s political governance, nurturing an intersectional community for women in Scotland in the process.
Just 29% of the current cohort of councillors in Scotland are women, although women make up over 50% of the population. It isn't a true democracy until the full breadth of our society is represented in local, devolved and national governments.
Research published last year by the global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College confirmed that when “women are able to exercise political leadership, there are gains not just for women and girls but for the whole of society.”  It’s in everyone’s interests to ensure that women are being selected and elected in equal numbers to men. We hope we will see an increase in the percentage of women in local government after May’s elections, but stories of many female councillors standing down after just one term sadly does not fill us with hope that the numbers will improve in the substantial way that they need to.
We are currently providing support to 57 women from across Scotland who are preparing to be candidates in the upcoming local elections. We’re supporting women from all political parties, and none, who are committed to having their voices heard in local decision making. We’ve provided campaigning toolkits, skills based workshops, peer support and access to funding opportunities to support these women in the next and vital chapter of their journey into political office. We are cheering them on as they take on this tough challenge and we want to see them thrive through their campaigns and once elected.
But it is hard work. 
We hope that the women elected in May find themselves welcomed into modernised local councils with cultures committed to ensuring women feel able to voice their ideas. There are a number of ways local councils can ensure accessibility and inclusion for all women, including:
- Maintaining a level of virtual access to council meetings;
- Introducing formal parental leave; 
- Introducing work and travel policies that consider caring responsibilities;
- Tackling culture that enables sexist, racist, ableist and homophobic attitudes to persist;
- Creating non-aggressive spaces. 
But we still need more women to be stepping forward for the role whilst that cultural transformation is happening, so of course it is a long-term project. It’s a long-term project worth committing towards however, because when women step forward and encourage these changes, it’ll benefit women for generations to come.
We need reliable and consistent data about who is stepping forward as candidates, not just those elected, so that we can identify - more importantly - who isn't coming forward. We’re definitely not short of women who care about helping their communities in Scotland, but we can see so far they’re not all being represented.
We need a wide range of policies and initiatives from national and devolved governments, local councils, civil society groups like ours and political parties to ensure that the very best people with the widest variety of lived experience see a political future as an appealing and positive way to contribute to their communities. These policies and initiatives can’t be adequately designed until we have a clearer idea about who is missing from our political representation. Data leads to transparency in politics.
From the thousands of conversations that we have facilitated through our live and online workshops, events and training programmes, we hear the voices and needs of women and design our programmes in response to those conversations. We want to provide space for women across Scotland to learn more about their democratic rights, how they can join the conversation and make plans for their own participation. Our programme of support demystifies politics and political processes, so you can find out what a local council actually does, how to join a political party, or how to stand as an MSP.  Our support continues from the very beginning of your journey in understanding what politics is, right through to getting selected and elected; we’ll be right behind you along the way. Our support is a mixture of live online workshops, so you can build a supportive network of women also on their political journey, as well as self-paced online learning resources, so you can fit the work into your busy schedule. What’s more, everything we provide is absolutely free. 
We welcome any woman in Scotland who is interested in exploring their own political future, to join us to learn more about how they can contribute to politics in Scotland. Find out more on our website here.
GUEST POST: Why we need diverse representation now
![A bright teal graphic with text: As a consequence of this [underrepresentation], local authorities across Scotland also have a limited understanding of tackling ethnic minority issues relating to housing, education, welfare, public sector employment and a whole host of additional engagement issues with their local communities.](siteimages/Blog/resized/equal-rep-blog-cemvo-400.png)
Between now and the local elections on May 5th, we will be publishing a series of blogs from the Equal Representation Coalition. They’ll be taking a look at the state of equality in our politics at the moment, discussing their work in tackle barriers to participation, and will be exploring the crucial role that accurate data plays in achieving equal representation in our councils and parliaments and why we need more of it.
Here, Junaid Ashraf, Community Engagement Officer at CEMVO Scotland takes a look at some of the barriers faced by ethnic minority people entering politics, how these contribute to persistent underrepresentation in our councils and parliaments, and why it’s high time for change.
We understand now that creating a diverse representative body can have a net positive impact on our lives as we seek to ensure that all experiences of Scotland are represented where the levers of power lie. Unfortunately, while we as a society might understand this, achieving it in reality is a much more difficult task, requiring decisive action from those already in power - including from councils, parliament and political parties.
Over the last 5 years, there has only been between 9 to 17 ethnic minority councillors representing Scotland at a local authority level. That is less than 1.5 % of the entire cohort of councillors elected across the country, or to put in more shocking terms, there is only 1 ethnic minority councillor for every 2 councils in Scotland.
We know that there are many structural and cultural barriers which ethnic minority people face at all levels of political involvement, from the point of joining parties to gaining nominations, to becoming a candidate and even once successfully elected as a councillor, MSP or MP. The fact is that minority ethnic people entering politics are contending with long history of exclusion from public life. The default idea in our society of politicians as white, wealthy, older men is deep rooted and remains a barrier for those who do not fit this outdated image. This can play out in the minds of the electorate when they go to the polls, and also has shaped the way that our political institutions are set up and operate. This means that our institutions are often rigid and hostile to new perspectives, and to the change that they have the potential to bring about. We also recognise that abuse (online and offline) is a major deterrent to people who might seek public office, and we know that those from ethnic minority communities in political spaces are at an increased risk of receiving this. These are some of the factors that result in the extreme underrepresentation that we see.
These statistics have far more negative reaching impacts than simply the outlook of our local authority chambers. As a consequence of this, local authorities across Scotland also have a limited understanding of tackling ethnic minority issues relating to housing, education, welfare, public sector employment and a whole host of additional engagement issues with their local communities. For example, as there is a lack of diversity within the council chamber, minority ethnic led community groups feel disenfranchised to engage with their local representatives. This silences their voice locally and impacts their ability to apply for crucial local funding as they are unaware of applications, or the local authority does not value their work even if an application is made due to a lack of sustained interaction.
On May 5th 2022, the chance to diversify our local chambers of representation will present itself again. But quite often, the electorate is not met with the ability to elect politicians who will be able to authentically represent their experience as a person. It seems like the council elections will repeat this pattern and we will have missed another opportunity to increase diverse representation. This year many wards across Scotland will again not have the chance to vote for an ethnic minority candidate on their ballot.
CEMVO Scotland is proud to play a part in the Equal Representation Coalition, and supports the call to encourage political parties to publish diversity data on their candidates and successfully elected councillors. It is only through having a clear picture of the political landscape can we then work as third sector organisations, government and political parties to ensure that we progress the healthiness of our democracy to be inclusive for all for years to come.
To learn more about CEMVO and the work they do supporting the ethnic minority voluntary sector and its communities in Scotland, check out their website here.
GUEST POST: Young women's political representation
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Between now and the local elections on May 5th, we will be publishing a series of blogs from members of the Equal Representation Coalition. They’ll be taking a look at the state of equality in our politics at the moment, discussing their work in tackling barriers to participation, and will be exploring the crucial role that accurate data plays in achieving equal representation in our councils and parliaments and why we need more of it.
Here, Elena Soper, National Programmes Manager, and Rhianna Mallia, Research and Impact Manager for YWCA Scotland - The Young Women's Movement, explore the importance of ensuring our elected representatives are truly reflective of Scottish society, and their work to empower young women to make their voices heard.
YWCA Scotland is a national women’s rights organisation and part of the biggest worldwide movement of young women leading change. We work with self-identifying girls and women experiencing multiple disadvantages, but our work is not designed for crisis intervention. Our focus is on personal growth and development of life skills that build self-efficacy and tackle the root causes of underrepresentation of women in leadership. We are deeply passionate about bringing women’s voices and perspectives into the forefront, and we do this through all of our programmes, our campaigns and our research.
There is not much evidence that gender-sensitive data is gathered and published in Scotland, or used to inform decision making, policy, or to create programmes and projects that respond to the needs of women (Engender 2020. ‘Sex/gender: Gathering and using data to advance women’s equality and rights in Scotland’). We want to work to change that at YWCA Scotland, ensuring women's voices are included, amplified, listened to, and that change happens as a result.
We want young women to influence change. We do annual research, the Status of Young Women in Scotland, into an issue that affects young women and then use the evidence generated to influence decision makers and create programmes to address the gaps in support highlighted. Our approach to designing programmes and research projects depends on the participation of the groups that we are working with; strategic planning is guided by our Advisory Panel, made up of a diverse group of young women under the age of 30. Our research projects have been co-designed with young women; they gain skills and experience in designing and carrying out research, and offer essential contributions to the design of our research.
Our Young Women Lead programme which has been running since 2017 supports young women and non-binary people to become politically empowered and engaged. Originally run as a partnership with the Scottish Parliament, 3 cohorts came together to produce research and recommendations to Government on big issues such as sexual harassment in school and the transition from education to employment for ethnic minority young women. Now evolved to work within local communities, we have groups in Dundee, East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire who are tackling issues from community perspectives.
This programme is designed to empower young people to become influencers and citizen advocates in their own community and act as role models to others. Graduates from previous programmes have been supported to take up leadership positions in the third and public sector, become community councillors and we are very excited to have one graduate standing for election in Glasgow in the upcoming Council elections.
It is so important that our elected representatives are truly reflective of Scottish society. Young women in Scotland need visible role models who look like them, have the same values as them, and come from the same background as them.
Our Status of Young Women in Scotland research in 2018 found that 64% of survey participants did not feel their voices and views are sufficiently represented in Scotland’s politics and policies and that 75% of participants who stated they considered themselves to be “politically engaged” would not run for public office.
There is a clear desire from young women to be involved in politics and activism, yet standing in an election is something that is rarely considered. The reasons given for this included fear about the current toxic political climate, worries about online abuse and structural issues within our political institutions making them not accommodating for women.
We are becoming increasingly aware of the gaps in representation in our councils and our Parliament, and we need to understand the root causes behind this to tackle it. That’s why it is crucial to gather gender disaggregated data on those who are standing for office.
We must have an awareness of the barriers preventing those from the most marginalised groups of our society from being elected so we can break them down.
It is an undisputable fact that changes in legislation and policy, product development and urban planning, often do not consider the specific needs and experiences of women. This is because of a lack of data but also because decision makers and leaders have not considered the inclusion of these experiences to be important.
We’re working to challenge that perspective, to provide gender disaggregated data to address this data gap, and to encourage young women to make their voices heard.
If you’d like to get involved with any of our programmes, please visit www.ywcascotland.org. We’re currently recruiting for Young Women Lead in Fife and we’ll be coming to the Highlands and Aberdeen next!
GUEST POST: Women and Local Council Elections in Scotland
Today we're publishing the first in a series of blogs from the current student placements Engender is hosting from the University of Strathclyde Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods course.
In this post, Rowan discusses women's representation in local councils, and will be researching about why some women that were previously elected are not re-standing in the local council elections in May 2022. You can read Rowan's second blog here.
When I decided to apply to the Applied Gender Studies masters at Strathclyde, the prospect of a research placement at Engender was a big factor in my decision. Naturally, I am now thrilled to be a part of this organisation’s research into the experiences of female local councillors in Scotland and the reasons behind some women’s decision to stand down in the May 2022 elections.
The overrepresentation of men in positions of power in Scotland was made evident in Engender’s 2020 Sex & Power Report. More specifically, we saw that women make up just 29 percent of elected councillors at local authority level. Unequal gender representation in local councils reflects and compounds inequality in society, since we know the narrower the range of backgrounds, the narrower the range of experiences that are brought to the fore in political decision making. Local councils are the democratically accountable voices of our local communities and it is therefore vital that we increase women’s representation to at least 50 percent – roughly in line with the proportion of women in our society. On a more positive note, we now have a record share of MSPs, 45 percent, who identify as female. We are hopeful that similar progress will be made in the local council elections in May.
It is worth noting that there are currently no requirements to collect or publish information on the equality characteristics of candidates for elections in Scotland. This is because the UK Government did not enact Section 106 of the Equality Act to require that all parties are legally responsible to publish demographic data on their candidates ahead of any election. When this is combined with the paucity of information available on independent candidates, understanding the true diversity of candidates in our local authorities is somewhat challenging.
At the end of 2021, the Scottish Government set out plans to collect data on the diversity of candidates and elected representatives in the May 2022 elections. A questionnaire was designed to ask candidates questions about the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act and to capture additional information on the socio-economic status, previous parliamentary experience and caring responsibilities of candidates. However, the questionnaire did not include questions exploring the experiences of candidates and any barriers they faced in seeking to become or while serving as a councillor.
The COSLA Barriers to Elected Office Special Interest Group has undertaken work to increase the diversity of local councillors and address the barriers to elected office. There are a number of key themes that emerge from their research:
- Remuneration. Councillors are unfairly compensated for the responsibility and workload of the modern councillor.
- Working hours. Councillors work full-time equivalent hours, making it difficult to maintain secondary employment.
- Working practices. Councillors face challenges when balancing other caring responsibilities with the role.
- Support. There is often a lack of support services from political parties and especially for independent councillors.
- Culture. Councillors are at greater risk of scrutiny, harassment and abuse than the average citizen.
Taking account of gaps in the current research and the barriers to elected office highlighted by COSLA, Engender’s research will focus on why female councillors are choosing to stand down from their position in the May 2022 elections. The hope is that this research will provide a more complete picture of women’s experiences in local government, the reasons why they choose to leave their role and the possible barriers to women’s equal representation in local councils.
In order to meet my research aim, I will interview female councillors from both rural and urban authorities to discuss their experiences and explore the reasons why they are not seeking re-election. I aim to interview 10 councillors from a sample of 4 or 5 different local authorities. Attempts will be made to achieve an acceptable geographical spread within the sample. Data from the interviews will be presented in a final report, and patterns and themes that emerge from the data will be explored and comparisons drawn between urban and rural authorities, as well as between independent and party-affiliated councillors. In addition, the report will present statistics and a breakdown of the gender representation of the candidates from the research sample.
I look forward to exploring this important area of research with Engender over the next few months.
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