Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 04 March 2021
As many of us have said, the theme of this year’s international women’s day is “choose to challenge”. It is good to see so many challenging women speaking today. They are women who speak truth to power, and women who say what needs to be said, even when it is uncomfortable—in fact, sometimes especially because it is uncomfortable.
There are those who would rather that we challenging women sat down and shut up. There have been folk like that throughout the ages, and they exist today: “Don’t make a fuss”, “Stop banging on”, “Be nice”, “Where’s your smile?” and so on. There are people who demand that women apologise for men’s bad behaviour, and men who promote only those in their likeness. There are people who turn a blind eye to inequality because they think that it does not affect them. Of course women’s inequality affects them: it stymies the prosperity and wellbeing of every society that it stubbornly persists in.
I will use my short time in the debate to supply some challenges; I promise that, if we meet them, it will be good for all of us, men and women alike.
I challenge this country to do everything that it can to close the gender pay gap. I challenge everyone in this country to share caring and housework responsibilities equally between the sexes—not least you, John Martin. I challenge this country to end female sexual exploitation and violence against women in all its forms. I challenge this country to reduce gender segregation in jobs in sectors such as care, technology, engineering and science. I challenge every party in the chamber to return 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women representatives in May. I challenge our Covid recovery to prioritise redressing the imbalance of the adverse effect on women and to commit to erasing the inequalities that have widened during the pandemic. I challenge us to put respect and consent at the core of everything that we teach our children about relationships. I challenge everyone to check their misogyny and, while they are at it, to challenge everyone else’s misogyny. Finally, I challenge everyone to stop abusing women online and to take oxygen away from those who do.
If we meet those challenges, our economy will thrive. More women will pay more tax, which will be good for public spending. Our wellbeing index will soar, our health outcomes will be better, and better policy decisions will be made that will make life for everyone better. If it takes being labelled as a difficult or challenging woman to achieve those things, that suits me just fine.
Our society is all the better because of so-called difficult or challenging women throughout history. Challenging women have certainly made life better for women in Scotland. This Parliament is set to lose some of the most excellent of their number in three weeks’ time—women in my party who have inspired and supported so many, including me: Ms Cunningham, Ms Watt, Ms Freeman, Ms Ross, Ms White, Ms Fabiani and Ms Campbell, who is in the chamber today. We will also lose women speaking today who represent other parties—women whom I have not always agreed with but who I greatly admire and respect: Ms Lamont and Ms Smith.
Happy international women’s day. Here’s to women who challenge. Where on earth would we be without you?
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