Engender blog
GUEST BLOG: Lockdown (maternity) leave
We've been working with the ALLIANCE and The Health and Social Care Academy to gather information about experiences of pregnancy and maternity services during Covid-19 from women across Scotland. Alongside our work, we're sharing a series of guest blogs reflecting on those experiences. Here, Eilidh shares her experience of post-partum support during the pandemic.
My eldest was born in early March 2020, meaning my pregnancy and birth happened back in the old normal, where facemasks were rare and social distancing wasn’t a phrase yet. We left hospital to the same kind of new normal that every new parent enters, where days merge together in a haze of sleepless nights, breastfeeding and nappies. We had visits from family and tried to find our feet, mostly unaware of the world changing outside.
GUEST BLOG: Maternity and pregnancy services during Covid-19
We've been working with the ALLIANCE and The Health and Social Care Academy to gather information about experiences of pregnancy and maternity services during Covid-19 from women across Scotland. Alongside our work, we're sharing a series of guest blogs reflecting on those experiences. Here, Hannah Tweed reflects on her experience of pregnancy services in 2020.
This month the ALLIANCE and Engender launched a survey on people’s experiences of pregnancy (and everything after) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
To be frank, reading through early drafts of the survey was distinctly uncanny. I was pregnant with my daughter when the pandemic started, and she was a #LockdownBaby of 2020 – which, as a larval human with binary needs, probably did her no real harm. I’m not sure I’d say the same of my experiences as a new parent (and particularly one who spent my second and third trimesters immersed in public health policy).
The mental health gap for women in Scotland
Women’s social, economic, cultural and political inequality with men undermines good mental health and wellbeing in a wide range of ways, including the impacts of gender stereotyping, medical misogyny and racism, and of course the disproportionate impact that austerity, Covid-19 and the cost of living crises have on women's mental health.
Recently Engender was invited to speak to civil servants working in the Scottish Government's Mental Health Strategy and Co-ordination unit, about the ways in which women's ineqaulity and mental health intersect. Here are some of the things we spoke about.
Tell us your experiences of pregnancy and maternity during Covid-19
We know that the COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent public health measures, had a disproportionate impact on women. Just one of the ways this is true was the impacts on women accessing fertility treatment, those who were pregnant or trying to conceive, and on people giving birth.
Engender and the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) want to hear about your experiences of pregnancy or trying to become pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this survey is to gather information about experiences of maternity and pregnancy services in Scotland during COVID-19. This survey will be used to support our work on the COVID-19 independent inquiry and our work to improve women’s health and wellbeing.
Safe access to abortion services in Scotland
Engender recently submitted a response to the consultation on the proposed Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. We’ve given a brief rundown of key points in this blog. You can access the full submission here, which covers the specific questions raised in the consultation around implementation of safe access zones locally and nationally, the size of potential safe access zones, the effect of current protests on women and staff, as well as the impact on human rights and other measures needed to improve abortion services in Scotland.
Everyone deserves to access reproductive healthcare free from abuse and harassment. Unfortunately, today in Scotland we still see women, and others accessing pregnancy and abortion services, targeted by those who do not believe in bodily autonomy or our right to choose. Following recent activism from organisations and campaigns including Back Off Scotland and others, Scotland is now making progress towards establishing safe access zones (also known as ‘buffer zones’) to enable people to access services in safety.
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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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