Engender blog

F-words: introducing our new blog series on feminist language

Language matters. The words we use, and the contexts in which we use them, come with baggage, preconceptions, cultural implications, and potential for misunderstandings. Used well, language can uplift – bringing nuance to conversations, enabling accuracy in policy discussions, and ensuring that people feel welcome and included. At its worst, language can be used to obfuscate, exclude, and offend.

GUEST POST: A recovery plan which works for women also works for the planet

Claire Duncanson is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. She has published widely on issues relating to gender, peace and security, with a particular focus on gender and peacebuilding. Her current work aims to bring a feminist analysis to the political economy of building peace, and she's an active member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). You can follow Claire on Twitter @cpduncanson, read more blogs at GenderED, and find out about her academic research here.

Engender and Close the Gap’s new paper outlining nine principles for economic recovery provides a valuable roadmap for Scotland to emerge from Covid-19 in ways that address the pandemic’s alarming gendered impacts. However, as important as its ideas are, it fails to make a critical connection, one at the heart of our country’s future. While the paper’s nine principles are offered as a path to a fairer, more just, more equal and inclusive Scotland, they can and must also be understood as providing a strong foundation for addressing and arresting the climate and biodiversity crises. This is an increasingly urgent task given Scotland’s recent rise in carbon emissions and its damaged and depleted ecosystems, but mention of this potential benefit of their approach is surprisingly absent from the paper.

GUEST POST: Some thoughts on issues BAME women, including immigrants, face in the UK

Azita Jabbari-Arabzadeh is a BAME migrant women with an extensive background working with BAME women, including migrants and refugees. In this guest blog, Azita explores some of the issues which face migrant women in the UK, with a particular focus on health inequality.

I came across some shocking news regarding the health and the high rate of death of pregnant black women recently, which I believe, together with the news of a higher rate of mental health issues among South Asian women in the UK is at least worthy of some thoughts by the population and certainly worth sharing worth sharing with readers of the On the Engender blog.

GUEST POST: New legislation puts gender equality at the heart of the Scottish National Investment Bank

Last week, the Scottish National Investment Bank Bill was passed at Holyrood, and we were delighted to see the culmination of work by ourselves and Close the Gap in securing amendments which integrate women's equality into the Bill. Today we have a guest blog from Ruth Boyle, Policy and Parliamentary Manager at Close the Gap, celebrating success in gendering the Bill and exploring the process of building gender equality into a piece of legislation.

Facilitating changes in policy can be a slow process, and it’s often very difficult to measure your impact and success. So, when your advocacy has a clear and tangible impact, we don’t think it should pass without note!

Over the past few months, Close the Gap has been working closely with Engender to promote the importance of building gender equality into the design of the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB).

Traditionally, economic development agencies have not incorporated women’s specific needs and have not prioritised women’s equality. Consequently, the gender pay gap remains at 13%, and if numbers of women-led businesses in Scotland increased to equal those of men, it would lead to a 5% increase in GDP, equivalent to £7.6bn. We thought the SNIB Bill was a chance to do things differently.