Engender blog
Scottish Labour leadership contest: Q&A with Engender
Voting for the Scottish Labour Party’s new leader is now underway, with the result to be announced on the 13th December. Until then, candidates will continue to put forward distinct visions for their party, in the context of a packed political calendar over the next 18 months. Whatever is pledged during this campaign will immediately be tested in the form of two parliamentary elections. It is a fascinating time for Scottish politics and this contest plays no small part in the post-referendum settling of dust.
It is also fascinating that gender issues have been included in the public debate this time around. At a themed hustings at Scottish Labour’s annual women’s conference last weekend, all five candidates for leader and deputy leader spoke on a range of issues, including the pay gap, equal representation and abortion rights. Ahead of this, the two forerunners for leader, Jim Murphy and Neil Findlay, published informal proposals to tackle gender inequality. Findlay's include tackling the gender pay gap, whilst Murphy's focus on equal representation at cabinet level and on public boards.
Guest blog: Indyref, women and politics (Indyref Thursday #5)
In the run-up to our event on 'gender equality, the referendum and beyond', we'll be publishing a weekly blog to correspond with our 'Scotland's futures' briefing papers series. This week, guest blogger Ann Henderson considers gender implications in terms of politics and power.
When reviewing the statistics for political representation for women in the UK and in Scotland, we have rightly been proud of the progress made when the Scottish Parliament was established. In 1999 our Parliament sat 4th in the world rankings on parliamentary representation, with 37.2% of our new Parliamentarians being female.
Scottish Labour's 'red paper'
The Scottish Labour party launched Together We Can at its conference in Perth last weekend. The document sets out its case for a ‘no vote’ in the referendum and the bones of its manifesto for the Scottish parliamentary elections in 2016.
References to gender touch on a range of issues: fair procurement, the care sector, childcare, equal access to sport in education, political representation and international development. In the main these are made in passing and are not linked to barriers to women’s equality or proposed solutions, however there are a number of noteworthy inclusions. Full extracts are pulled out in our 'gender edit' of the paper.
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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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