Engender blog

8 Steps Towards Women’s Equality in Scotland

Ahead of the next Programme for Government for 2024-25, we have outlined several important actions we want the Scottish Government to take to protect women’s rights and promote gender equality in Scotland.

Engender advocates for a Scotland where women are involved in all political and economic decisions, both as decision-makers and individuals affected by these decisions. This means recognising the diverse experiences of all women, including those facing multiple forms of discrimination, such as Black and minority ethnic women, younger and older women, disabled women, lesbian, bisexual, and trans women, women from rural areas, and those who are mothers, women who have experienced domestic abuse or men’s violence, and those experiencing poverty.

We have identified eight key actions in three main areas that need change:

EMBED GENDER EQUALITY ACROSS ALL SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT POLICY 

To achieve the Scottish Government’s main goals—eliminating child poverty, boosting the economy, addressing climate change, and improving public services—it’s crucial to improve how gender equality is considered across policymaking. These goals affect women and men differently, especially for women facing additional marginalisation. If policies don’t account for structural inequalities, their benefits for Scotland’s most disadvantaged people will be limited.

ADDRESS WOMEN’S POVERTY AND FINANCIAL INEQUALITY 

Eliminating child poverty is the First Minister’s top priority. To succeed, the Programme for Government must connect women’s poverty with children’s poverty. There’s an urgent need to get financial support to the most vulnerable families in Scotland, and focusing on women’s economic inequality is often the most effective approach. This must include targeted actions which tackle the disproportionately negative impacts that the cost of living crisis is having on women’s lives, especially for women who experience other forms of marginalisation. 

TACKLE WOMEN’S HEALTH INEQUALITIES AND PROTECT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 

Women and girls still face inequalities in health and wellbeing and access to services compared to men and boys, mainly due to gender inequality and “medical misogyny.” Marginalised women, including women of colour, disabled women, unpaid carers, LGBTI+ women, younger and older women, and migrant women, experience even wider disparities in health outcomes. We urgently need updated abortion laws that uphold women’s rights and action to advance Scotland’s Women’s Health Plan.

Read more about all our asks here.

3 ways to support 16 Days of Activism in Scotland

Engender is proud to work with our sisters in Scotland's violence against women sector, and today we're sharing three ways you can support their essential work during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

Violence against women is endemic in Scotland, and to eradicate men's violence against women, we need to tackle women's inequality with men across all areas of life.

Every year, women's groups and organisations across Scotland come together to mark the 16 Days campaign, and we’ve highlighted three ways you can take action to support the ongoing work to eradicate violence against women and girls in Scotland.

1. Write to your MSPs to tell them survivors can’t wait

The support Rape Crisis Centres across Scotland offer can be truly lifesaving. When a survivor reaches out for that support, they need to receive it then. Not weeks or months later. But this is the reality facing too many survivors across Scotland.

This campaign from our sisters at Rape Criss Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to:
• Extend the emergency waiting list funding beyond March 2024 to save 28 jobs
• Commit to long-term sustainable funding for Rape Crisis Centres in Scotland

Write your MSP to ask them to support these calls and tell them survivors can’t wait using the template letter here. You can find out who your MSP is by using writetothem here.

2. Join the #ForThemAll Online Vigil on Friday 8th December

In the last 12 months, at least nine women in Scotland died from domestic abuse. Each woman’s death is a tragedy. Each woman’s death leaves behind trauma and grief. Each woman’s death was preventable.

For the second year, Scottish Women’s Aid will be holding their #ForThemAll online Vigil in memory of all the women and children who have died because of domestic abuse. The idea for the vigil came from Scottish Women’s Aid’s own Survivor Reference Group, which plays a key role in ongoing policy, practice and campaign work.

Take part in this night of remembrance and reflection from 7pm on Friday 8th December, by lighting a candle and sharing your reflections on social media using #ForThemAll.

3. Follow @16days_scotland and check out their resources

A Scotland without violence against women and girls is possible, and tackling VAWG is everyone’s business. By addressing gender inequality and prioritising primary prevention in all areas of public policy, we can have a Scotland where women and men have equal access to rights, resources, decision-making, and safety.

The National Violence Against Women Network have developed a toolkit of resources with information and graphics highlighting the work of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaigns across Scotland.

Access the toolkit and resources online here, and follow @16days_scotland to see and share key statistics and messages throughout the 16 Days of Activism.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that runs from 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, until 10th December, Human Rights Day. Throughout the 16 Days, we’ve been sharing information and updates on our social media from organisations across Scotland, so follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to see more.

GUEST POST: 'Text me when you're home!'

Today we're publishing the first in a series of blogs from the Spring student placements Engender hosted from the University of Strathclyde Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods course.

In this post, Marianne looks at how gender inequality and violence against women affect how women experience public spaces and public transport, and how and when these issues are recognised in the Scottish Parliament.

Keys between knuckles, hair down, earphones out. A routine all too familiar to a woman travelling home after sunset alone.

A male friend once told me that him and his flatmates had a ‘72-hour rule’; if one of them didn’t come home without telling the others where they were, they would wait 72 hours before ‘overthinking’ it and calling the police. I can’t speak for all women, but personally, if it was my female flatmate or friend, it would be at most 12 hours before the panic would set in and a further 12 before I would call the police. Women do not have the luxury of not taking precautions when commuting late at night. Travelling from A to B is necessary in many circumstances, and safety when doing so should be a given, but it is not.

GUEST BLOG: Economic Abuse and the cost of living crisis

As part of our guest blog series on the cost of living crisis, researcher Jenn Glinski explores how the current rise in costs is impacting victim-survivors of economic abuse.

Content warning: This blog discusses different forms of domestic abuse and their impact.

The current cost of living crisis and the difficult decision to ‘heat or eat’ is one that victim-survivors of economic abuse are all too familiar with. However, unlike the government-imposed crisis that the rest of the country has been subjected to, the daily cost of living crisis victim-survivors experience is deliberately forced upon them by their abusive (ex)partners. Experiencing economic abuse prevents you from accessing the basic essentials in life, such as your money, food, and clothes, limiting your financial freedom and life choices. There is, therefore, serious concern that the current cost of living crisis will exacerbate the financial harm caused and force women to stay with abusive partners for longer.