Engender blog

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: 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.

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.

We need a #GenderEqualityBill because...

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.

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 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.

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?

Guest Post by Annie Miller, Chair of the Citizens' Income Trust

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

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.

There’s more to Scottish sectarianism than the dominant narrative of ‘men behaving badly’

By Emma Ritch. This article first appeared in The National on May 26th 2015.

There's a strange tension at the heart of sectarianism in Scotland, in that we talk about it a great deal but actually know very little about it. It appears to sit at a particularly slippery intersection between race and sect, and takes on a different shape across geographical areas and class identities. Surprisingly, we have only had even a tentative definition for sectarianism in Scotland since 2013. This lack of clarity about what sectarianism is and how it functions to marginalise, exclude, and discriminate against individuals only becomes fuzzier when we throw gender into the mix.

Guest Post: Women’s Access to Employment Tribunal

Guest post by Jillian Merchant of Thompsons Solicitors

Sex discrimination, sexual harassment and the fight for equal pay are, sadly, still the reality of many working women’s lives.