Engender blog
UK General Election 2017: Priorities for women’s rights and equality
On June 8th 2017 the UK will go to the polls for a snap General Election (the BBC have a handy 'what you need to know' guide if you're not sure what that means).
Many have been taken by surprise by this election, and while parties are working on selecting their candidates and writing manifesto, we're keen to make sure that calls for women's equality aren't lost in the melee.
Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Engender statement on the ‘rape clause’, ‘family cap’ and the UK general election
Our joint UK Parliament petition to scrap the ‘family cap’, including the ‘rape clause’, reached over 20,000 signatures in just its first weekend. This demonstrates the huge strength of feeling on this issue from people across the UK. In Scotland we have seen two large demonstrations, and statements of support from the leaders of four political parties, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Scottish women’s organisations make final appeal to House of Lords to scrap the 'rape clause'
Today, Engender are calling on a little-known House of Lords committee to re-examine the so called ‘rape clause’ which limits tax credits and the child element of Universal Credit to two children unless a third or subsequent child was the result of rape. In a letter to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee of the House of Lords, we've joined with Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid, to challenge the basis of the legislation itself, and the manner in which it was covertly passed using a procedure that avoided parliamentary debate.
What do women want from local councils?
That’s the question that we, along with campaign group Women5050 want to answer this spring.
The decisions made by local councils have a significant impact on women’s lives, from allocating spending on education and leisure, to deciding how and where public transport runs. And yet it is in local councils that women’s underrepresentation is clearest – with only 24% of local councillors being women. Of the 1,223 local councillors in Scotland, only four are women from BME communities.
We've created activities and resources which can be used by groups across Scotland to explore what powers local councils have, and how women can have influence them. The workshops will be used to crowd-source 10 questions local councillor elected in May to ask themselves about how they are involving women in their work.
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Engender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement Changes
From 15 May 2019, new changes will be introduced which will require couples where one partner has reached state pension age and one has not (‘mixed age couples’) to claim universal credit (UC) instead of Pension Credit.
Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism
Engender welcomes this Scottish Parliament Debate on Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism and the opportunity to raise awareness of the ways in which women in Scotland’s inequality contributes to gender-based violence.
Gender Matters in Social Security: Individual Payments of Universal Credit
A paper calling on the Scottish Government to automatically split payments of Universal Credit between couples, once this power is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Gender Matters Manifesto: Twenty for 2016
This manifesto sets out measures that, with political will, can be taken over the next parliamentary term in pursuit of these goals.
Scottish NGO Briefing for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
Joint briefing paper for the UN Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.
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