Engender blog

Call for expert working group on decriminalisation of abortion accepted by Scottish Government

Abortion care in Scotland is in urgent need of modernisation, with the current framework acting as a drag on services and as a barrier to timely access. In June we wrote to the First Minister on abortion rights, alongside 16 other equalities, abortion and health organisations. In the letter, we welcomed the commitments made on the leadership campaign trail and called for creation of an expert working group on decriminalisation of abortion.

Cost of Living: Fight Against Poverty is a Fight for Gender Equality

Lucy Hughes, Engender's Policy and Parliamentary Manager, recently published an article about the ongoing crisis of women’s poverty, as part of the Poverty Alliance’s Scottish Anti-Poverty Review. The article argues that intersectional gender analysis is essential when developing policy that tackles poverty in Scotland. In this blog Lucy has pulled out some of the key headlines from the article, which is available to read in full here.

GUEST POST: Digital safety and women in politics

February 2022 - Policy Round Up

Incorporating CEDAW - what a new human rights bill could do for women in Scotland

Last week marked the start of Incorporation Fortnight – a two week campaign led by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland focused on human rights incorporation and a new human rights law for Scotland. In this blog, our Policy and Parliamentary Manager Eilidh Dickson explores incorporation of CEDAW and what it could mean for women in Scotland.

Tell us about your experiences of workplace sexual harassment

Over the past year, Engender have been thinking about what needs to change to eradicate sexual harassment at work. Now we are asking women in Scotland to tell us about their experiences of sexual and sexist harassment in the workplace.

Supporting Political Parties to achieve Equal Representation in Politics

Political parties have a unique role in achieving equal representation at all levels of government. Engender have been working with partners on the Equal Representation Coalition to develop the Equal Representation in Politics Toolkit, a set of resources to support political parties to assess their current practice and to become as inclusive as possible. The ultimate goal is to see more women, minority ethnic, LGBTI and disabled people get involved, become candidates and get elected. Here, our Equal Representation Development Officer Jessie Duncan writes about representation in Scottish politics and how the Toolkit can support parties to be proactive within their own structures to increase diverse representation.

GUEST POST: Bridging the gender health gap

Women and girls face significant barriers to good mental and physical health. Historic lack of funding for, or professional focus on, health issues that disproportionately affect women, or affect women differently to men, can mean that these issues are not equally accommodated for in health services or awareness-raising initiatives. This anonymous guest blog explores gendered health inequalities and what progress is being made on bridging the gender health gap.

Marking 10 years since the Christie Commission

A decade ago saw the report from the Christie Committee, a ground-breaking inquiry which aimed to usher in a new era in public sector delivery in Scotland. To mark 10 years since the release of the report, our Executive Director Emma Ritch joined sector leaders in a special edition of Third Force News magazine to reflect on the Commission and progress made on its recommendations.

Apply to our new Board Pioneer Programme

Engender is launching our new Board Pioneer Programme offering an opportunity to get involved in feminist governance and see how a board works. Find out more in this blog from our Communications & Admin Assistant Maxine.

GUEST POST: Gender-Based Violence Policies at the Local Authority Level Part 2

Today we're publishing the next in a series of blogs from two student placements Engender is hosting from the University of Strathclyde Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods course. These blogs explore women's representation and decision-making around women's equality in local authorities across Scotland. You can see other blogs in the series here.

In 2020 Jennifer Robinson graduated with an honours degree in Society Politics and Policy from the University of the West of Scotland. She is now undertaking a Masters in Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods with a particular interest in feminist disability studies. She has previously written for the Glasgow Women’s Library and you can find her tweeting about feminism and disability on twitter @JenRobinson95.

GUEST POST: Exploring how local authorities use Equality Impact Assessments

Today we're publishing another post in the series of blogs from two student placements Engender is hosting from the University of Strathclyde Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods course. These blogs explore women's representation and decision-making around women's equality in local authorities across Scotland. You can see other blogs in the series here.

Katie Young graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in English Literature in Summer 2020, and is now studying a Master’s degree in Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods at the University of Strathclyde. She is passionate about women’s fiction and empowering girls and young women to fight for gender equality in Scotland through volunteering with Girlguiding, and tweets under @katieeey.

GUEST POST: Empowering women to challenge stalking through technology

Tackling sexual and sexist harassment in the workplace

Engender is working to explore how we can prevent sexual and sexist harassment in the workplace and improve outcomes for victim-survivors as part of a project funded by grant-making charity Rosa. Here, our Policy Officer Mariah Kelly gives an overview of the scale of the issue and the work of the project:

GUEST POST: Racism - We reject #NotAll, We demand #NotAtAll

The (much delayed) report from the UK Government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) was released last week, and claimed that many of the racial disparities found in the UK do not have their origins in racism. The report was met with incredulity by people and organisations who witness the myriad ways in which racism and white supremacy still impact on all areas of our politics, economy and society. This guest blog from Dr Shridevi Gopi-Firth explores and rejects the idea presented in the report that because ‘not all’ people are racist, institutional racism cannot exist.

Dr Shridevi Gopi-Firth is a Speciality Doctor in Eating Disorders for NHS Scotland, a ChoosePsychiatry 2020 representative, and Board Director of @Saheliya. She has been invited as BAME expert and peer reviewer for various guidelines and organisations including the upcoming Scottish IGN guidelines for Eating Disorders. Follow her on Twitter @Tychitha.

GUEST POST: Gender representation within Local Authorities

Today we're publishing the second in a series of blogs from two student placements Engender is hosting from the University of Strathclyde Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods course. These blogs explore women's representation and decision-making around women's equality in local authorities across Scotland. You can see other blogs in the series here.

In 2020 Jennifer Robinson graduated with an honours degree in Society Politics and Policy from the University of the West of Scotland. She is now undertaking a Masters in Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods with a particular interest in feminist disability studies. She has previously written for the Glasgow Women’s Library and you can find her tweeting about feminism and disability on twitter @JenRobinson95.

GUEST POST: Women and decision-making in local authorities

Today we're publishing the first in a series of blogs from two student placements Engender is hosting from the University of Strathclyde Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods course. These blogs explore women's representation and decision-making around women's equality in local authorities across Scotland. You can see other blogs in the series here.

Katie Young graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in English Literature in Summer 2020, and is now studying a Master’s degree in Applied Gender Studies and Research Methods at the University of Strathclyde. She is passionate about women’s fiction and empowering girls and young women to fight for gender equality in Scotland through volunteering with Girlguiding, and tweets under @katieeey.

Guest Post: Mainstreaming Spotlight - Scottish Women's Budget Group

To mark the release of Engender's new report, What Works for Women: Improving gender mainstreaming in Scotland, we're sharing how mainstreaming is important to the work of some of Scotland's equalities organisations. Here, Sara Cowan from the Scottish Women's Budget Group talks about how mainstreaming is a vital component of creating a gender equal economy. Why is gender mainstreaming important to your organisation?

Women and men use public services differently – they have different life experiences and face different economic realities and challenges. Women are often disadvantaged by policies that do not recognise these different experiences. Gender mainstreaming is important to us to redress this balance when decisions are made across a range of public services.

Guest Post: Mainstreaming Spotlight - CRER

To mark the release of Engender's new report, What Works for Women: Improving gender mainstreaming in Scotland, we're sharing how mainstreaming is important to the work of some of Scotland's equalities organisations. Here, Carol Young from the Centre for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) talks about how they use an intersectional approach in their mainstreaming work.Why is gender mainstreaming important to your organisation?

While CRER is an anti-racist organisation and our work is primarily focused on race equality, we adopt an intersectional approach where possible. People’s identities are multifaceted, and everyone has multiple protected characteristics, so it's not feasible to get mainstreaming right for one characteristic without considering the others.