What we do

Engender has a vision for a Scotland in which women and men have equal opportunities in life, equal access to resources and power, and are equally safe and secure from harm.

Women’s equality is not yet a reality in Scotland, and sexism has a profound effect on the lives of girls and women.

Engender works in three key ways to achieve women’s equality with men.

Making women’s inequality visible

As a society, we’re so used to the different life experiences of women and men that sometimes we can’t see them when they’re right in front of us. Engender works to build a clear picture of women’s lives. We do this through research, persuading public bodies and other organisations to gather separate data on men and women, and speaking with groups of women directly to gather their stories.

We particularly want to make sure that marginalised communities of women are heard, and have recently worked with disabled women, transgender women, carers, refugee and asylum-seeking women, and women affected by welfare reform.

Influencing and enabling

We want our research and analysis to make a difference to women’s lives. Along with other organisations in the women’s sector we work to persuade those with power and responsibility to make positive changes to services, policy, regulation, practices, and laws that negatively affect women. We engage with Scottish Government, MSPs, councillors, local authorities, and a whole range of other public bodies.

We also do work with public and private sector organisations who want us to help them tackle inequalities in their own work.

Bring women together to make change happen

It’s important to us that women have the space to both discuss sexism, and also to think of creative ways to make it visible and act to challenge it.

The main way that Engender creates this space is through our members’ only Inspiring Women events. We also hold other events that are open to all, including seminars, conferences, and round-table discussions.