Hansard

I am pleased to be able to contribute to the debate in advance of international women’s day on 8 March, so that we—as women parliamentarians—can mark the occasion in the chamber. Over the years since I was first elected, in 1999, I have contributed to a great many debates about women and girls, sex inequality, and sex discrimination. Unfortunately, over the same period, this Parliament has dropped from second place in the world in terms of women’s parliamentary representation—in 2003—to 35th place now.

I am proud to represent a party with a record of championing equality for women of all backgrounds, and which has used affirmative action to increase women’s representation. However, we must all do better in increasing the representation of black and minority ethnic women and women with disabilities. In addition, given that women are still underrepresented in this chamber, I hope that all political parties will take action to address that for next year’s election. Maybe one day, to celebrate international women’s day, we can have a debate in a chamber that is filled solely by women MSPs.

As we know, a critical mass of women can make a difference by having an inherent understanding of sex inequality and of specific issues that women need addressed. As the minister said, we have led the way in this Parliament in that regard. To name but a few examples, we have had legislation on domestic abuse, my own breastfeeding legislation, and Monica Lennon’s period poverty bill, which passed at stage 1 only last week. As such, we can recognise and congratulate ourselves as Government and as legislators on the work that we have done to help address the unequal treatment of women. However, there is still much to do and, sadly, many of the issues remain the same as those that we faced back in 1999.

As we have heard, the UN theme this year is each for equal, which highlights the personal responsibility of each one of us to challenge women’s inequality. Although I support that, I must emphasise the need for collective action. The world-renowned feminist Gloria Steinem once said:

“The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”

We can be under no illusion, worldwide, that the fight for women is as real and as urgent as it was when socialist women from 17 countries came together in 1910 to claim a day as theirs, and to highlight the struggle of working women. Here in Scotland, recent Police Scotland figures show that, where sex is known, 79 per cent of domestic abuse incidents involved a female victim and a male perpetrator and 94 per cent of rapes and attempted rapes had a female victim.

Women are 52 per cent of the Scottish population, and yet we remain massively underrepresented in the public sphere. According to Engender, of the 39 different public areas that it researched, only five had achieved 50 per cent women. Men are still overrepresented in positions of authority and influence in Scotland. The “Sex and Power in Scotland 2020” report that Engender recently produced is sobering reading, and I recommend it to everyone. Men are tenaciously holding on to their power in boardrooms, in local councils, in schools and universities, in this Parliament—in fact, everywhere. The dominance of men is good for no one; it does not reflect the needs of the Scottish population and it perpetuates inequality for women and marginalised groups.

With nine women judges out of the 34 at the Supreme Court, and two women senior police officers out of a total of 15, it is no surprise that the one in five Scottish women who will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime struggle to get access to justice. Low conviction rates for rape, domestic abuse, and the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation, together with one of the highest levels of women’s imprisonment in northern Europe, are clear evidence that justice and the law are not working for women in Scotland. The statistics that I quoted also show the absolute need for data that is gathered on the basis of sex, so that we can see those patterns.

Over the coming week, Scotland’s local councils will yet again be forced to cut local services because of underfunding, and women and children will bear the brunt of those cuts and the closure of services upon which they rely.

We should not forget that Professor Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, noted on his visit in 2018 the unequal burden of austerity that has been borne by women in the UK.

I will mention a social enterprise project that I learned about last week, which is partially funded by the Scottish Government. The access2safety service has been set up to help overcome the barriers to services that black and minority ethnic women can experience, including for domestic abuse, rape and sexual abuse, exploitation or abusive cultural practices. The service provides interpreters who are trained in recognising violence against women and trauma response. It empowers women by helping some of the most vulnerable women in Scotland and creating jobs for marginalised women who speak their languages.

Ten years after the Equality Act 2010 was passed, the sex-based rights for women that were recognised in that act are being questioned by some people and there are attempts to silence women who want to discuss those legal rights. They are vital, for example, in providing safe spaces for women free from the presence of men and for ensuring that women can have female providers for personal intimate care requirements and can organise politically against sex-based oppression by males. The very suggestion of their removal is a timely reminder that we can never be complacent about our past achievements and, as democrats and parliamentarians, we have a duty to speak up and not allow our voices to be silenced by men.

Last week, Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned against complacency on women’s rights at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the “Beijing Declaration”. According to Ms Bachelet, the risks of setbacks to women’s rights are real and growing. She called on the international community to resist any challenge to “a hard-won affirmation” that

“women's rights ARE human rights”.

I wish all my sisters in the Parliament a happy international women’s day when it comes.