Engender blog

Celebrating the past year and welcoming the new

It’s been a great year for Engender, with fantastic events, projects, and research work happening throughout 2015. We’ve supported our amazing #FeministFest bloggers, held inspiring conferences with sister organisations, and chatted to folk around Scotland about why gender matters. We’ve seen increased public interest and political will for women’s equality, recognition of the importance of gender mainstreaming, and our work on women and welfare reform has ensured that decision makers know that women bear the brunt of cuts. You can see details of these things and more in our annual report, along with some pictures from the past year (see if you can spot yourself!)

The call for a just, transformative & gender-responsive climate agreement

As world leaders and activists descent on Paris for COP21, the latest set of talks to agree solutions to the climate crisis, the European Women's Lobby have created a list of demands for those taking part in the discussions.

5 Things You Should Know About The Scotland Bill

As the House of Lords begins to debate the Scotland Bill, this seems as good a moment as any to pause and provide an update on our thoughts about what happens next. The press coverage of the Lords’ reflections over the past couple of days has principally focused on the fiscal framework. The Lords is almost palpably frustrated at being asked to debate some of the detail around the transfer of powers without sorting out the money stuff first.

Scottish Green Party Elections - Female Co-Convener Q&A

On the eve of the close-of-poll for the Scottish Green Party internal elections, Engender put some questions around women's equality to the two contenders for the post of Female Co-Convener.

Guest Post: Why Reclaim the Night Still Matters, and Why You Should Come

Guest post from Anna Ritchie Allan, Chair of Glasgow Rape Crisis Board of Directors. This post first appeared on the Rape Crisis Glasgow blog as is published here with their permission.

Challenge Poverty Week: Gender Matters in Care

Last week, Engender and the Centre on Constitutional Change held a conference in Glasgow. Called 'Gender Matters: Equality and Inclusion through Care', it explored the issues of both childcare and long-term care, and examined how progressive care policy could help Scotland towards achieving gender equality. Becca, a participant from the Information Service has put together this great infographic of what was discussed.

Guest Post: Challenge Poverty Week: Food for thought from EaRN’s consultation event, A Platform for Positive Change

Guest blog from Roseanna Macdonald, Equality and Rights Network (EaRN)

Challenge Poverty Week: Women's employment support

This week is challenge poverty week, so it’s a great chance to look at a whole host of issues which affect women. One huge factor which pushes and keeps women in poverty is access to jobs, and the employment services which support women into work.

Guest Post: Challenge Povery Week: Women’s poverty and ‘austerity’ in the UK

Policies in the post 2010 Coalition government were dominated by the spectre of the 2008 private sector financial crisis, which by 2010 had turned into a global recession reducing economic production and seeing rises in unemployment. The UK in common with other G20 countries initially adopted a fiscal stimulus approach (quantitative easing) which slowed the recession but led to a sharp rise in the budget deficit to 11.6 % in 2009-10 the highest since 1945.

Guest Post: Challenge Poverty Week: Tackling Poverty and Inequality with Edinburgh’s new Equality and Rights Network (EaRN)

Guest blog from Roseanna Macdonald, Equality and Rights Network (EaRN)

Engender calls for a progressive law for Scotland.

With the news that control over abortion law is due to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament, Engender is calling for a progressive approach to abortion that reflects the fact that it a health issue that also underpins women’s autonomy and equality with men.

Gender Matters: Twenty for 2016

Introducing our Gender Matters Manifesto: Twenty for 2016.

Guest Post: Scotland, a fairer and healthier nation?

Guest post by Pam Duncan-Glancy, Policy Officer for the Independent Living in Scotland project

AGORA Summer School 2015

Guest Post: A Citizen’s Income for Scotland?

In this post Annie talks about why we need a Citizen's Income, and how it could work in Scotland.

Women lose in Summer Budget 2015

Wednesday’s budget made for extremely grim listening and reading. Low-income women and their children will be pushed into poverty at the expense of increased spending on defence and tax breaks for the affluent. Women were always going to be penalised by this budget, not least because of the well-trailed £12 billion worth of cuts to the ‘welfare’ budget, but some of the detail and framing language is even worse than predicted.

5 things you need to know about equality and today's Scotland Bill debate

With amendments to the Scotland Bill falling like leaves, it doesn't seem likely that any of the positive equality amendments being debated on Monday are likely to make it into the statute books.

Write to End Violence Against Women Awards Now Open!

Engender is delighted to be joining with women’s charities, led by Zero Tolerance, and the National Union of Journalists Scotland on the 2015 Write to End Violence Against Women Awards.

The Scotland Bill or How Not To Do Devolution