Engender blog

Sexism in advertising, what can we do?

Caroline, Engender's recently recruited Membership Engagement Assistant, explores the effects of sexism in advertising and looks at how we can challenge gender inequality within the media.

I like to think it is now no secret that marketing communications shape the way in which women view themselves and the way that society views women. Advertising agencies (and the media) dictate our perceptions of beauty; creating unobtainable standards and enabling the fashion and beauty industry to capitalise on our insecurities. Is there anything we can do to stop these damaging portrayals of women?

Guest Post: Tackling ‘Lad Culture’ on campus

Guest blog from Anni Donaldson, the Knowledge Exchange Fellow & Project Lead at the University of Strathclyde's Equally Safe in Higher Education project. You can follow Anni, winner of the first 'The Write to End Violence Against Women Awards', on twitter.

Guest Post: Will 2016 be a high point for women’s representation at Holyrood?

It's polling day today for the Scottish Parliament election. Juliet Swann, Associate Consultant at McNeill & Stone, predicts what this will mean for women's representation.

Everything you need to know about the gender commitments in the Holyrood 2016 manifestos

Where does Scotland stand on women's equality?

Guest Post: Protection from harassment in the civil courts

Guest post by Jennifer Dalziel, solicitor for the Scottish Women's Rights Centre.

Gender Matters in Social Security - why we need individual payments of universal credit

Engender has joined a coalition of charities including women’s and equalities organisations, anti-poverty groups and the Scottish Trades Union Congress to release a paper calling on Scotland to use new powers over social security to promote women’s equality and diverge from the damaging UK policy of joint payments of Universal Credit.

Guest Post: 2016 - A new opportunity for Scotland

With the upcoming Scottish parliament elections Carla McCormack, from The Poverty Alliance, examines what devolution for Scotland could mean in terms of improved social security.

Guest Post: Gender Equality and the legal profession. What is being done in Scotland to create a balance?

Last month, our Executive Director Emma responded to an article written by Rob Marrs, head of education for The Law Society of Scotland, which looked at the gender-split within the legal profession. You can read the original article here.

Equal Voice, Equal Power: the case for gender quotas in Scotland

Today we've released our report making the case for gender quotas in Scottish Politics. We are calling for the Scottish Government to push for the devolution of electoral and equalities law to the Scottish Parliament, and for political parties to make equal representation a priority.

Engender joins call for political parties to support equal representation measures

Engender joined other equalities organisations calling for equal representation for women, LGBTI, BME and disabled people yesterday to meet with representatives from Scotland’s political parties to discuss measures to improve diversity in politics.

Guest Post: I care about……

Guest blog from Claire Cairns, coordinator of Coalition of Carers in Scotland

With the Scottish elections being held on the 5^th of May, Scotland will soon be gripped by election fever.

Guest Post: Social Care and Gender Equality: Independent Living in Scotland’s Dialogue on the Future Funding of Social Care

Guest blog by William Pinkney-Baird of Independent Living in Scotland (ILiS)

Scotland's social care system is in crisis. It's underfunded, the support being given to disabled people is narrowing dangerously, it penalises users with expensive charges, it increasingly relies on family kinship caring (usually women). Furthermore, it's staffed by people on permanently low wages (again usually women), both of whom are expected to deliver minor miracles. All of this creates a system which undermines the human rights of disabled people to society, democracy, the economy and their families and communities – as well as presents issues to gender equality. Women carers are more likely than men carers to be working part time, and thus more likely to be reliant on social security and experience poverty. Disabled women also experience economic gender inequality: the employment rate for non-disabled men is nearly 90%, but for disabled women it is 40%.

Guest Post: Gender Inequality in Old Age

Guest Post by Becky Young of Lilac James, an all-female PR and marketing agency

Older women often live in poverty. They have no one to care for them, after spending their lives providing unpaid care for friends and family. Ageing is inevitable of course, but its gendered injustices shouldn’t be. It’s time to make ending pensioner poverty a priority and providing decent elderly care services for all.

Why we need a Women's Employment and Enterprise Challenge Fund

Last week I wrote here about the ways that the next Scottish Government could enable businesses to make progress on women’s equality. This would not only be beneficial to women in Scotland, but also to their own reputation and profits.

Engender Calls for a Gender Equality in Business Scheme to promote women’s equality in the workplace

Engender is calling for political parties to commit to introducing an accrediting gender equality in business scheme to incentivise employment practices which ensure women’s equality. This is of of the two asks relating to 'employment and the labour market' in our 20 for 2016 Manifesto.

Gender Matters in Media and Culture

For many people, popular culture and the media is the first indication that maybe, just maybe, we don’t have women’s equality yet. The women we see on screen and in print are often stereotyped or tokenistic, or we don’t see them at all. And of course the situation is worse for older women, women of colour, disabled women, lesbian and trans women. One thing women across Scotland have told Engender is that the media, both in print and on screen, can play a huge role in perpetuating women’s inequality.

Time to drive gender equality home with robust legislation

This blog first appeared in The National

We need a #GenderEqualityBill because...