Engender blog

All of Engender’s latest news. Reports, reviews, books, articles, and information from across Scotland’s women’s sector.

We would love to hear from other feminists around Scotland. Check out our guidelines for more information on how you can blog for us.

Covid-19 and women's equality - rolling blog

With the situation around Covid-19 changing every day, one certainty is that it will have an immediate, long-lasting, and disproportionate impact on women. This rolling blog will be kept updated with our work to keep women's equality at the heart of policy-making during the pandemic.

We’ve also created a page on our website which has support numbers, resources, and all of the great writing about women and Covid-19 we’re finding. You can access it here.

-----

COVID-19: why women’s equality must be at the heart of our response

It will come as no surprise to any woman reading this that when crises like the one we are facing right now hit, women are disproportionately affected.

This blog from our Communications and Engagement Manager, Alys Mumford, sets out why we've released a paper on women and COVID-19, and why we must never stop talking about women's equality.

The world is a new and confusing place for many of us. A rollercoaster of changes to work, school and care schedules, getting to grips with online meetings and digital lessons, fear for our friends, families and neighbours.

It will come as no surprise to any woman reading this that when crises like the one we are facing right now hit, women are disproportionately affected. More likely to be in precarious and low-paid work, more likely to shoulder additional caring responsibilities, and more likely to be the one worrying about food shopping, dentist trips, and prescriptions.

Gender Matters in Health: Inequalities in Childbirth

Earlier this month, our Head of Development Catriona Kirkpatrick attended an International Women’s Day event ‘We Need to Talk about Race’, at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) exploring racial inequalities in childbirth in the UK. Here, she writes about the event and how this issue is reflected in Scotland.

A recent report from MBRRACE, Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care, which shows that black women are five times more likely to die in childbirth than white women, was the impetus for the event at the RCOG. The report shows that women with mixed ethnicity are also three times as likely to die in childbirth and Asian women are twice as likely to die in childbirth. To date, no research has been conducted into why this is and the MBRRACE report states ‘At present we don’t have enough information to explain the complex and multiple factors at play. Understanding these disparities needs urgent research and action’.

Engender's response to the Gender Recognition Act Reform Bill consultation

Our headline finding is that the proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act will not negatively impact on women’s equality and rights.

This week, Engender has responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the draft Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. Although the actual consultation is very short, comprising just 5 questions focusing on technical details of the Bill, we took the opportunity to set out some of our broader thoughts about the Gender Recognition Act.

Our headline finding is that the proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act will not negatively impact on women’s equality and rights.

Downloads

Engender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement ChangesEngender 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 SexismEngender 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 CreditGender 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 2016Gender 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 WomenScottish NGO Briefing for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Joint briefing paper for the UN Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.

Become a member

Newsletter

Sign up to receive our newsletter here:

Sign up to our mailing list

Receive key feminist updates direct to your inbox:

Loading