Engender blog

Making women's work visible in Scotland

Much of the work done by women – caring, household management and support – is often undervalued and invisible. We know that this free, unrecognised work props up our society.  

What 'counts' as work?  

The economic calculations of governments and international financial institutions (like the International Monetary Fund, which monitors the 'economic health' of countries) normally only recognise value in paid work. Of course, we know that's not true, and misses out the vast value to society of care work, unpaid labour, volunteering and contributing to our communities. 

• Around one third to a half of all valuable economic activity is not accounted for in traditional measures of economic performance ie GDP 

• Globally, women undertake the majority of unpaid care work – only one third of their total work activity is spent in market based paid work 

• Women devote, on average, more than twice as much time to household work as men. 

Why does it matter? 

Women's equality cannot be realised while women still do so much more childcare, care for older and disabled people, and housework than men. Women's access to paid work, leisure time and power remains heavily constrained by these traditional social roles as carers and mothers. 

During the pandemic, research highlighted how women's unpaid labour increased, resulting in a collective loss of more than £15m a day in Scotland due to a significant displacement of care and childcare from services to households. Doing unpaid work pushes women into poverty, with women four times more likely than men to give up employment because of multiple caring roles. It also stops women studying, doing community work, and even using local services. 

Women also tend to act as managers of household budgets, especially spending on children and non-durable items like food and domestic products that are susceptible to price hikes during periods of inflation. The continuing cost of living crisis has disproportionately exposed women to the strain and anxiety of budgeting, including for energy bills, with clear implications for health and wellbeing. Women are more likely to have fallen behind with bills and to have skipped meals due to rising costs. 

#MakingWorkVisible 

Since 2017, we've been marking International Women's Day by asking women across Scotland to share their day with us as part of our #MakingWorkVisible campaign to highlight women's work – in all its forms. 

Over the past six years, we've commissioned blogs, photos and video diaries and collected thousands of tweets chronicling the low-paid work dominated by women, the unpaid care work happening in houses across the country, household and childrearing chores that are unevenly distributed, and the mental labour that women are perceived to be "just naturally better at". 

Women have shared their experiences of juggling full-time work and parenthood, balancing after-school clubs, shopping lists and running for local office, the logistics and demands of providing unpaid care, working and volunteering in Scotland's third sector, and the importance of those closest to us recognising the importance of women's unpaid labour. We've heard from women from all across Scotland, including rural women, disabled women, BME women and those experiencing multiple forms of marginalisation. 

We're so incredibly thankful to everyone who has taken time out of their busy lives to share these stories, tweets and blogs with us, and you can see them all online here. 

What can you do? 

Our #MakingWorkVisible campaign may be over, but our work to recognise and document women's unpaid labour and work for women's substantive equality continues. 

Globally, different approaches are used to better recognise women's unpaid work so that it may be counted by policymakers. This is so that service design and delivery, as well as employment practices, take account of the unpaid work that props up the economy. 

• Although women’s paid work has substantially increased over the last hundred years, we haven’t seen a balancing increase in men’s unpaid work. There is no reason, except cultural stereotypes, why women should do so much more domestic and reproductive labour. 

• Unpaid work should not be a marginal note in assessments of how well our economy is functioning. We need national institutional commitment to making women’s unpaid work visible.  

• Unpaid domestic and care work needs to be recognised, reduced, and redistributed from the household to the state by an increase of accessible, good quality childcare and social care. Within households, men and women should be enabled to do a 50/50 share of paid work and unpaid work. 

You can help support our work for women's equality by joining Engender or donating here, and you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin and X, or sign up to our mailing list here to receive the latest feminist news, events and opportunities across Scotland.  

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.

Making the case for decriminalising abortion

The campaign to decriminalise abortion has gained momentum in recent months, and Engender has continued to advocate for change. We've pulled together a quick rundown of our recent work on this issue and the need for progress.

The Background

In England, women have been prosecuted and sentenced for procuring their own abortions, attracting media attention and leading to protests and other activities by advocates for reform.

Regulation of abortion care in Scotland is in urgent need of modernisation, with the current framework acting as a drag on services and as a barrier to timely access. The Scottish Government’s recent commitment to bring forward proposals to decriminalise abortion by the end of the parliamentary term (2026) has come on the back of increased scrutiny, policy and advocacy efforts by a range of stakeholders.

Why?

Abortion healthcare is vital to women's equality and wellbeing. It is a routine reproductive health procedure, with around one in three women needing an abortion in their lifetime in the UK.

Like most Scots, Engender supports women to make decisions about ending or continuing a pregnancy, and we’ve long called for change to ensure women’s reproductive rights are fully realised. Unfortunately, the current legal and regulatory regime means that women can be criminalised for procuring abortions, that two doctors need to authorise a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy, and that this impacts treatment such that it does not always best meet women's needs. 

What have we done so far?

Last September, we joined Abortion Rights Scotland to hold a webinar session on decriminalisation, which set out key arguments in terms of women’s equality, the perspective of clinicians, and the legal status quo. You can watch the webinar online here. Our submission in response to a public petition to decriminalise abortion, alongside other evidence gathered by the Petitions Committee earlier this year, highlights key arguments for decriminalisation and urges the Committee to seek further and fuller evidence following this petition.

Earlier this month, Engender joined with eight other organisations - focused on women’s equality, abortion rights and health - to discuss the Scottish Government’s recent commitments with the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto MSP. This followed a collective letter to the then-newly appointed First Minister in June, which was co-signed by 18 organisations, expressing our support for his commitment to remove abortion from the criminal justice system, and calling for an expert working group to support the development of proposals.

An expert working group

September’s Programme for Government contained a commitment to review of the current legal framework, and our call to create an expert working group has been accepted. The meeting with the Minister was a welcome opportunity to discuss this work, and to highlight the need for reform in terms of impacts on service provision and intersectional women’s equality and the importance of drawing on different women’s experiences of accessing abortion care.

What's next?

In terms of next steps, we focused on the need to act swiftly on establishing the review if we are going to see real progress by 2026, alongside transparent and established resourcing. We highlighted unintended consequences that have arisen internationally when reforming abortion law, with regards to access to services, and how this emphasises the need for lived experience input from different groups, alongside a broader focus on what the new regime will look like on the ground for women. Linked to this, we want to see the process rooted in established international human rights standards and norms, which make clear that abortion has no place in criminal law.

At Engender, we will be publishing a paper looking in detail at abortion within Scots law and different approaches that could be taken to achieve decriminalisation and a better service for women in Scotland. Please keep a look out for this and work around this important issue across Scotland in the months ahead.

New report reveals stark gender divide in Scottish sports media coverage

A new report published today by the Equal Media and Culture Centre (EMCC), based at Engender, reveals a significant gender gap in how men and women athletes are covered in Scottish sports media.