Engender blog

General Election 2024?– What’s in it for women??

 

We’re calling on candidates to commit to taking action on four key areas for women if elected – and we need your help. 

Political decision-making affects women’s daily lives, yet there is a significant void in women’s representation and distribution of power in Scotland. We advocate for a Scotland where women are part of every political and economic decision, both as decision-makers and as citizens who are affected by the consequences of these decisions.  

A decade of austerity policies, the pandemic, and the ongoing cost of living crisis have all impacted women disproportionately. Issues like fuel costs, unpaid care, housing, women’s safety, mental health and social security continue to impact the most marginalised women. 

The General Election on 4th July is an opportunity for the next UK Government to prioritise women’s rights and equality.
We need change to make women’s voices heard. 

 

We’re calling on candidates to commit to taking action on four key areas for women if elected:

 

Health

• Modernise abortion law 
• Repeal the Abortion Act 1967 

93% of Scots polled support a woman’s right to abortion, yet abortion is treated differently under the law without medical justification. Rather than a legal framework that supports the highest standards of healthcare, we have a patchwork of outdated laws that are no longer fit for purpose. 

We urgently need modernised abortion law that works for women’s human rights & prevents further unnecessary prosecutions. 

 

Social security

• Introduce individual ‘split’ payments of Universal Credit
• Abolish the ‘two-child limit’ within Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit

We need a social security system that works for women by reflecting individual needs and circumstances. 

The two-child limit systematically discriminates against women, putting them in a position of justifying their reproductive choices and family circumstances in order to receive social security. 

Single household payments of Universal Credit particularly impacts disabled women, young women, minority ethnic women, refugee women and unpaid carers. 

 

Equal representation of women in politics

• Make political parties publish candidate diversity data, using Section 106 of the Equality Act
• Safeguard women’s equal representation in politics by changing the law to allow for gender quotas at elections

Men remain systematically over-represented at all levels of politics. We know that greater diversity at all levels of politics and public life in Scotland enriches policy decisions and improves democracy, benefitting us all. 

We need robust, intersectional data on the protected characteristics of our elected representatives to help build a more equal Scotland. 

 

Immigration

• Ensure access to safe and community-based accommodation for women seeking asylum
• Scrap the Rwanda Act and any plans to forcibly remove people from the UK to assess their asylum claim

We need action now to create safety for vulnerable women seeking asylum.

Women with insecure immigration status and those with no recourse to public funds are put at significant risk by policies that restrict access to publicly funded services such as refuge places.

The Rwanda Act will place further risk on women who have experienced violence and oppression by removing them to a country that has been ruled unsafe by the Supreme Court. 

 

In the run up to the election, we’ll be taking a deeper look at each of these key areas here on our blog, so stay tuned. 

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