Meeting of the Parliament 04 October 2018
It may seem difficult to imagine, but I was very sporty when I was younger; I played hockey and netball and ran in relay teams. One reason for that was that my school was quite close to where I stayed—I walked to school; indeed most schools at the time were close to where their pupils stayed. The school was open at night and at weekends, so we could go along and play netball and hockey on the sports fields.
This is not just about encouraging women to do sport; it also dips into the health and education portfolios. When I was on the Equal Opportunities Committee, we ran an inquiry into the huge gap that Anas Sarwar, Alison Johnstone and others have described. All the matters that they raised came up in our inquiry, but so did other factors such as social pressure from peers and cultural issues. It is important that we address this through all parliamentary portfolios, not just one.
Like other members, I am very pleased with the £300,000 of Government funding that Jenny Gilruth mentioned. That is to be welcomed, because it will encourage women and girls to join in or go further with sports. I know that applications for money for programmes to get more women and girls into sport are open to Scottish sport governing bodies and local authorities, and I encourage them to apply as soon as possible.
On a more recent note, I congratulate the Scotland women’s squad on its amazing success, which others have already mentioned. They are great, but we should not be surprised—we all know that women excel beyond men in lots of things. It is just a question of encouraging them to come forward in sport.