Engender blog

Guest post: Indyref discussion reveals enthusiasm for participatory decision-making

By Juliet Swann

As the date of the referendum draws ever nearer, and the gender gap in the polls shows no sign of closing, there seem to be more events targeting women and their opinions. Which is great, women’s voices should be heard in the referendum debate.

One such event held last week was organised by ACOSVO and the ESRC funded Future of UK and Scotland programme.

It began with four short presentations from Professor Kirsten Rummery, Audrey Birt, Ann Henderson, and Professor Nicola McEwen, each addressing gender issues in the debate about Scotland’s constitutional future. Thus inspired, we were then invited to talk between ourselves at our tables.

First all-female cabinet event a mixed bag on women's equality

Events like the first all-female cabinet meeting with the women's sector are generally more about symbolism than they are about substance. Sceptics have even made the point that the women of the Scottish cabinet only control 12% of the Scottish budget.

Nonetheless, the visual of five female ministers (the four cabinet secretaries and Aileen Campbell, Minister for Children and Young People) setting out their vision for Scotland was an arresting one.

Nicola Sturgeon's opening speech wasn't particularly gender-focused, but it did tick off a number of gender-inflected issues, in the form of the minimum wage, anti-discrimination law, and women on boards.

Women and equality: 100 days until indyref

It’s one hundred days until the referendum vote, and today more than one hundred women will hear the female members of the Scottish cabinet speak about their ambitions for gender equality in an independent Scotland.

Scotland can take pride in the fact that women occupy 40 per cent of the seats around the cabinet table in Bute House, and in the individual commitment of the female cabinet secretaries to seeing other women flourish. They will be hoping that their words inspire women inside Dynamic Earth, and across Scotland, to decide where to place their cross come September.

The event comes as focus on women’s voting intentions sharpens. Much digital ink has been spilled in an effort to interrogate women’s attitudes to independence, and to get underneath our current preference for straddling the fence and leaning towards a no vote. Some commentators have decided that women are just ineffably different, but certainly slower to make up our minds, and less likely to take risks.

Referendum resources

Last Thursday, I was at a very interesting roundtable hosted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on human rights and the independence referendum.

There were a number of equalities organisations there, including fellow gender equality advocates Close the Gap, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Scottish Women's Aid.

All of us were struggling in different ways to identify ways that we could use our scarce resources to empower people across Scotland with information about indyref, details of how to vote, and clarity on what the choices of independence or staying part of the UK might mean to the groups that we work with.