Items tagged “politics,”

Engender Response to Scottish Government Data Improvement Proposal

At present women are underrepresented at all levels of politics. The current lack of robust, detailed and intersectional data on who our representatives are is a major barrier to progress in terms of gender parity in our political institutions at both local and national levels. Without this information it is very difficult to fully understand the cause of (and possible solutions to) the chronic underrepresentation of women - as well as other minoritized groups, including Black and minority ethnic people, LGBTI+ people and disabled people.

It is well established that increased diversity in politics has a positive impact on all aspects of public life. Diverse representation increases participation and engagement in the democratic process, and the inclusion of diverse voices enriches and enhances policy outcomes for us all. We therefore welcome the Scottish Government’s plan to collect data on the protected characteristics of candidates standing for election, in the hopes that the introduction of a framework for collecting this data will be a crucial step in addressing the persistent inequalities which exist within political representation in Scotland.

Date of publication: January 2022

Engender response to the Scottish Parliament Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee’s Call for Views on understanding barriers to participation in politics

Women are underrepresented at all levels of political decision-making, and this is most extreme at the local level where only 29% of councillors in Scotland are women. Vital decisions in many areas disproportionately impacting women’s lives are made by councils - for instance women are more likely to be employed in social care or education, and more likely to be users of public transport - however their voices are largely absent from these conversations.

Diverse representation improves democratic engagement, increases participation in elections, and enriches policy decision-making. In order to create better outcomes, it is vital that women are able to fully participate in local politics.

Date of publication: November 2021.

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Charities, Scotland and Holyrood

This is a briefing ahead of the Scottish Parliament Member's Business Debate on Charities, Scotland and Holyrood on 30th October 2019. Scotland has a thriving and politically engaged women’s sector, comprising organisations that work both independently and collectively to call for substantive changes in policy and practice to advance women’s rights and equality. This briefing highlights just some of the major successes of our campaigning and advocacy work since the Scottish Parliament’s establishment.

Date of publication: October 2019.

A supplementary gender edit of parties running in 2021

Engender has published a Gender Edit of the Manifestos published by each of the 5 parties elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2016, each of which is running in at least every region. This can be found here: https://www.engender.org.uk/content/publications/A-Gender-Edit-of-Party-Manifestos-2021.pdf

This document is a supplementary gender edit of the manifestos (where published) of the 20 other parties running at the Scottish Parliament election in 2021. Given the number of parties running, we have summarised each party’s commitments as they relate to women and gender equality and Engender’s Manifesto themes in an alphabetical list below. We have however not included every commitment that could be thematically related where the party itself has not made some reference to women or gendered considerations.

Date of publication: April 2021

Engender 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.

Harassment and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) are both a cause and a consequence of women’s inequality. Through our policy and advocacy work we have drawn attention to the multitude of ways in which women’s inequality persists in Scotland and without concerted action to address these, attitudes and actions which replicate sexism and create the conducive context for men’s violence will continue.

Date of publication: March 2019.

Gender Edit of General Election 2019 Manifestos

This document is a ‘gender edit’ of the manifestos published by political parties in the run up to the snap General Election on 12th December; it pulls out relevant commitments from the manifestos of each of the six largest political parties standing in the General Election in Scotland. The edit includes direct references to ‘women’, ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and ‘equality’, as well as manifesto commitments covering a wide range of policy areas and services of interest to women and which are highly relevant to women’s daily lives. This summary does not offer analysis or critique of policies and commitments.

Date of publication: December 2019.

Parliamentary Briefing: Sexual Harassment and Inappropriate Conduct in the Scottish Parliament

Engender has drafted a briefing for tomorrow’s parliamentary debate on the report by Standard, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee into sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct. In our briefing, we outline our support for certain measures recommended by the Committee, as well as share further action which could be taken to prevent, appropriately investigate, and sanction sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct.