Engender blog

Holyrood 2026 - Calling on candidates to invest in women

We’re calling on candidates to commit to taking action on three key areas for women if elected – and we need your help!

A decade of austerity policies, the pandemic, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis have all impacted women disproportionately. Far too many women in Scotland report that their lives are increasingly impacted by financial insecurity, that the disproportionate burden of caring responsibilities they carry continues to go unrecognised and be undervalued, and that their fundamental rights increasingly feel at risk.

We’re calling on candidates to commit to policies that will transform women’s lives by raising 3 of the key asks from our manifesto, which focus on tackling women’s deep financial insecurity head-on. These are realistic steps that political parties can take to ensure that policy and public investment translate into real change for the most marginalised in our communities. 

Gender inequality is not inevitable in Scotland, and the Holyrood 2026 elections on 7th May can be a hopeful moment of change for women in Scotland, but we need parties and candidates to commit to making women’s voices heard.

We’re asking candidates to commit to making Scotland a place where…

1. Women live free from poverty and financial inequality.

We’re calling on candidates to commit to supporting the creation of a ‘Women’s Equality Fund’ designed to provide targeted crisis financial support for marginalised groups of women, with a focus on unpaid carers, women with experience of domestic abuse, women with No Recourse to Public Funds, and disabled women.

2. We value the unpaid care women provide in our communities.

We’re calling on candidates to commit to providing vital financial assistance for unpaid carers, including improving the Carers Support Payment, increasing its value and extending access for young carers, older carers, those in education and employment, and those with multiple caring roles, and to support the introduction of a well-structured pilot scheme of the ‘Minimum Income Guarantee’ by 2029, with a focus on unpaid carers, including carers from a diverse range of ages, employment and education statuses.

3. Women’s participation in the economy is valued and invested in.

We’re calling on canddiates to commit to supporting the designation of childcare and social care as crucial economic growth sectors by recognising and investing in the care economy as key infrastructure, including in Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).

Use the tool at the top of this page to write to your local candidates and ask them to commit to investing in women and transforming our communities.

Building an intersectional feminist future for Scotland

Earlier this month, our membership came together for our Annual General Meeting and to consider our Annual Report 2025, which you can read here.

It gave us a rare opportunity to take stock of our work and what we’ve managed to achieve in the last year. 
 
We’d like to say a huge thank you to our members, followers, and everyone we’ve collaborated with. We’re grateful to the hundreds of women from across Scotland who have responded to our consultations and surveys or who joined our workshops in person. Your support and engagement enrich our work, help us understand the challenges women face, and what the priorities for change need to be - thank you.

It’s been a busy year... 

We’ve worked across issues including women’s:  

• Poverty and the impacts on unpaid carers, single mums, migrant and refugee women. 

• Health, securing phase two of the groundbreaking Women’s Health Plan and a renewed focus on mental health.  

• Reproductive Rights, launching a major partnership campaign on abortion: Lets change the Act.  

• Safety: focusing on how violence against women can be prevented using policy changes across transport, housing and planning.  

• Equal Representation in Politics, Media and Culture, publishing in-depth research on the increasing hostility and pressure women face in these spaces and what government and organisations can do to improve things. 

We’ve engaged with hundreds of women through our research, surveys and events, including in-person workshops across the country. We captured powerful personal testimony and positive feedback:  

“Diverse, respectful, and inclusive workshop space” 
“Felt heard, valued, and respected”
“Really excellent event and well run”
“Amazing, so engaging and freedom for chat”

 
We produced a wide range of briefings, evidence and analysis highlighting 14 vital areas for women’s equality in Scotland today. 

We collaborated directly with 130 different organisations.

We contributed to 22 advisory bodies, sharing our expertise and advocating for change. 

We hosted 28 in-person and online events, conferences and webinars. 

We could not do this without you, thank you.