Engender blog
Guest Post: Women, Westminster, and the media
Guest post by Juliet Swann, Campaigns and Research Officer at the Electoral Reform Society in Scotland.
Working for ERS Scotland I am often asked to comment on women and political life and the equal representation of women. I am also often asked to speak or chair events, and often I have been approached because I am a woman.
This was explicitly the case in three general election events I participated in last month. The first was a Common Weal Edinburgh North and Leith hustings, where they were keen to have the debate chaired by a woman. Equal representation came up in the discussion, not just for women but also for other under-represented groups such as BME and people with disabilities.
Guest Post: To succeed we must achieve equality
Guest post by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, SNP candidate for Ochil and South Perthshire.
We need to do all we can to encourage more women to get involved in politics. Although we now have a respectable number of globally important political leaders who are women – I’d strongly argue we need more. And, in particular, women remain woefully underrepresented in the House of Commons.
It is hard enough raising your head above the parapet into politics as a woman, but as an Asian woman I feel it’s even more of a challenge. If privileged enough to be elected, I could be the first Scottish black and minority ethnic woman parliamentarian. It is quite incredible that this be the case in 2015.
Guest Post: A politics by and for women
Guest post by Sarah Beattie-Smith, Westminster Candidate for the Scottish Green Party in Edinburgh North and Leith
If this general election campaign will be remembered for one thing, it’s the role played by women and by Scotland in a political culture that was utterly unprepared to share the stage with either. Whether it’s a London based media waking up to the fact that Nicola Sturgeon exists (and that she happens to lead a country) or whether it’s a generation of voters seeing Green Party of England and Wales leader Natalie Bennett, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and Nicola Sturgeon breathing life into this election and challenging the austerity consensus, it’s clear that politics has changed. As Lesley Riddoch, put it recently, what we’re seeing is “the end of the Big Man and the start of the assertive woman as the preferred model for political authority”.
Guest Post: “Leanne Wood, I would!” (Helpful Twitter Guy, 2015)
Guest post by Harriet Protheroe-Davis, student activist and Women 50:50 Edinburgh branch organiser
Just when you think things are about to change the old creeping hand of tradition and misogyny comes and awakens you to the realities of women just not being good enough.
Guest Post: Sexism is societal problem that every party must tackle
Guest blog by Kezia Dugdale, MSP and deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party
The months leading up to the General Election have been a reminder of just how blatant sexism is across society. Whether it’s the sexist tweets I get sent about my appearance after every TV interview or reading through a newspaper in the morning and taking a mental note of how many times a male journalist or editor is in the top line, the harsh reality for women in Scotland cannot be missed.
Whether it is in a discussion, whether it is in the media or if it is within my own party, I have and will continue to, stand up to the sexism women face day in and day out.
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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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