Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2014
Thank you, Presiding Officer.
I start my contribution to the debate by paying tribute to the feminist economist Ailsa McKay, whom we lost last week. Ailsa was a friend and adviser to both ministers and officials in the Scottish Government and was highly respected internationally as well as here in Scotland. She was truly passionate about the work that she did and she was highly regarded by all of us as an absolute expert on equality matters, particularly in relation to gender. As a member of both the strategic group on women and work and the equality budget advisory group, she did not hesitate to remind us of the commitment to equality that we have made as a Government. It is now incumbent on us all to continue with the work that she believed in so very strongly.
As Johann Lamont said, international women’s day is not only an opportunity to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women but a stark reminder of the challenges that women continue to face at home and abroad. The challenges are many and varied, and they include violence against women. This Government, like previous Administrations, views violence against women as both a cause and consequence of gender inequality. We are internationally respected for our understanding of violence against women and our approach and work in the area. It is important that Parliament knows that the new violence against women strategy is currently in development and is due to be published in June.
According to last month’s labour market statistics there are now more women in Scotland in work than at any time since the current records began in 1992. Women’s access to employment opportunities is important not just because of the impact on their personal circumstances and choices but because of the effect on the country’s future growth.
Of course, there is still much to do to improve the plight of women in work and to get more women into work. I was struck by a conversation that I had last week with some young mums when I visited One Parent Families Scotland at a project in Motherwell. They said that they are still routinely asked at job interviews whether they have children and whether they have childcare arrangements. That is utterly unacceptable.
That is why the recommendations that were made at the women’s employment summit are important, and we continue to progress the work with the oversight of an expert group that I chair. An update on the work was jointly published last week by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Trades Union Congress, and I urge members to have a look at it.
One area that the summit looked at closely is women and enterprise. In Scotland, only 21 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises are led solely by women. Figures show that, if women in Scotland started businesses at the same rate as men, we could see economic growth at 5.3 per cent. That would be a huge increase, which confirms how important the work is. Additional support and investment was announced last week with the publication of the women in enterprise framework, which is very much about reducing the gap in enterprise.
We are delivering more modern apprenticeship opportunities than ever before, and women now make up 43 per cent of new starts, but we recognise that more has to be done to ensure that the modern apprenticeship programme is properly balanced and accurately reflects Scottish society. We want to see more men in childcare and more women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics related frameworks. This week is make young people your business week, with the theme of information and communications technology and digital technologies, and a focus of the campaign is to attract more women, including young women, into the STEM sectors. That is important because tackling occupational segregation is key to tackling the gap in pay.