Hansard

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on international women’s day. This year’s theme is “embrace equity”, which brings a focus on the fact that people start from different places and that, therefore, true inclusion and belonging bring equitable action. The theme clearly recognises the fact that equity is not just nice to have—it is a must-have. That point was articulated well by the First Minister in her contribution, and I was pleased to see her opening today’s debate.

It must be acknowledged that the First Minister has done a great deal in leading the Scottish Government and making significant progress on achieving equity. I pay tribute to everything that she has done and achieved since becoming Scotland’s first female First Minister. As has already been mentioned, she brought in Scotland’s first gender-balanced Cabinet. Her leadership has been strong and determined, but perhaps she will not miss First Minister’s question time every week, when all the Opposition parties’ male leaders line up to shout.

Of course, it is not just up to women to achieve equity. This morning, I met community representatives at Clydebank town hall for a flag-raising event to highlight international women’s day. There was strong support for the event, and it was good to raise awareness in that manner. We are a strong community. I pay tribute to Women’s Aid and the wider support groups in my constituency. They are a tower of strength to many women at the time of their greatest need. Quite simply, they have saved lives and supported women. That is why one of the features of international women’s day must be remembering all those strong and determined women who have gone before us and what they have achieved.

There are so many to mention, but one such woman with a strong connection to my constituency is Jane Rae. She was a political activist who took part in the Singer sewing machine factory strike in 1911. Jane was among the 400 workers who were sacked for their involvement in the strike, which ran from March to April in 1911. From 1922 until 1928, she served on Clydebank Town Council. She was part of an anti-war network and a supporter of the suffragette movement. She even chaired a meeting with Emmeline Pankhurst in Clydebank town hall.

Jane is especially famous for her role in the Clydebank rent strike, which has been described as one of the key events in the legend of red Clydeside. If we could muster just a small part of the energy that Jane showed to secure equity, we would achieve so much. It is right that we are fuelled by her achievements and those of many others.

When striving for equity, we must also reflect on what has been achieved by the Scottish Government and our Parliament. Those achievements include the introduction of the world-leading Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, which made psychological domestic abuse and controlling behaviour a crime; the publication of the women’s health plan to reduce inequalities in health outcomes and improve information in services for women; the appointment of our first women’s health champion; the expansion of free childcare, to make available 1,140 hours of childcare a year to all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds; the full mitigation of the benefit cap and the introduction of the Scottish child payment, with no Westminster-like two-child benefit policy and its abhorrent rape clause; the carers allowance supplement, which corrects a wrong that was created and maintained by successive Westminster Governments; the collaborative work on period poverty, which has already been mentioned and which enshrined in law access to free period products; the implementation of the equally safe strategy, to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls and to tackle the underlying attitudes that perpetuate it; and the refreshed fair work action to tackle the drivers of the gender pay gap.

Those are significant milestones. However, as a woman and, indeed, the first female MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, I know that much more needs to be done.

In Scotland, the gender pay gap is lower than it is in the rest of the UK, but it is still a significant and major barrier to equity. With the burdens of caring still falling on women—although improved assistance to unpaid carers is welcome—we also want to see the new carers assistance recognise the further reforms that are needed.

The Poverty Alliance has highlighted that women are twice as dependent on social security as men. The UK social security system is not fit for purpose, and increases to conditionality for women with children have made it worse. We need to address that through further devolution and a minimum income guarantee for all.

Those are just some of the things that we need to fix if we are to make further progress. However, let us celebrate international women’s day and push for the equity that all women deserve.