Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2014
I, too, pay tribute to Professor Ailsa McKay for her work in the promotion of women’s issues, and I regret her all-too-early passing. Her wise counsel will be sorely missed by many.
Johann Lamont mentioned, as does the motion, the conference that was organised by the Scottish Women’s Convention to mark international women’s day. That was just one of many events that have taken place around the country. On Friday, I had the good fortune to attend the conference that was organised by the University of Aberdeen, which was entitled “Inspiring Women: It’s a (Wo)man’s World”. The event was hosted by Vice Principal Professor Neva Haites, who is responsible for equality and diversity at the university. The university has the goal of being a beacon for gender equality, and judging by the line-up of speakers on Friday it is taking that seriously. The day was just the beginning of a series of projects to promote women and their successes.
One of the principal speakers at the conference was Anne Glover. Formerly of this parish as the chief scientific adviser to the Scottish Government, she is now the chief scientific adviser to the President of the European Commission. She put in context the change that has already occurred. In her view, there has not been enough change, and the rate of change is far too slow. She said that, among other things, we had to identify what women-friendly workplaces should look like, so that organisations know what they should be striving for.
It is interesting that Professor Glover works for the European Commission. On 28 February, the Commission marked European equal pay day, which highlights the 59 days that women in Europe work for free—to put that another way, the average difference in hourly earnings between men and women stands at around 16 per cent.
I am glad that the Commission is looking at options for action at a European level to improve pay transparency in order to tackle the pay gap and put into practice the principle of equal pay. As Christina McKelvie mentioned, the oil and gas industry should take note, because traditionally it has been notorious for its pay gap between men and women. To be fair to the industry, it is beginning to take note that it must do better at attracting young women as well as men into the sector. Two speakers at the conference, who are high-flyers in BP, said that that engagement must begin pre-14 years old, and that parents have a role to play in encouraging their daughters to aim higher.
Also at the conference was the honourable Gail Prudenti, an alumnus of the University of Aberdeen. She is the chief administrative judge for the New York state unified court system and is responsible for a budget of more than $2 billion, 3,600 judges and 15,000 other staff. I have a copy of her pamphlet from the conference, in which she stresses the importance of mentoring in helping women to progress in their careers.
A lot of very good work is going on in the field of promoting equality. That work is paying dividends, with more women in employment, and the work that the Scottish Government, businesses and the trade unions are carrying out together is helping that along. I am sure that, with better childcare, the situation will be even better. We should also acknowledge the funding from the Scottish Government that helps women in other countries into work and to run their own businesses.
I thought that the debate might be consensual. The Labour Party should stop playing politics with procurement. At the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee today, the Deputy First Minister offered to enter into dialogue with the Opposition on the living wage, despite the European Commission’s advice. The Labour Party refused that offer, as its vote showed.
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