Hansard

I, too, take the opportunity to welcome the minister to her role.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on international women’s day. The theme this year is “Inspire Inclusion”, which recognises that, when people understand and value women’s inclusion, they forge a better world.

Standing in this Parliament, I feel proud to recognise that our Scottish Cabinet is a testament to that, with more women than men in the top roles. It shows our young women that reaching the top positions in politics can be an achievable goal. That is something that we should never give up on. It is something to protect and should be the norm. Studies show that that also makes us truly better off. States where women hold more political power are less likely to go to war or to be weak on human rights. That is significant and highlights the practical importance of having women in positions of power.

Of course, much more must be done on representation. According to Engender’s report “Sex & Power in Scotland 2023”, women account for only 27 per cent of council leaders, 26 per cent of university principals and 7 per cent of chief executive officers of Scotland’s top businesses. Although the report notes improvements in some areas, such as political institutions and the health sector, the figures show that women are still missing from key roles. When the burdens of childcare, household labour and care for relatives still rest firmly on women’s shoulders, it can feel more difficult for women to progress. That is not how it should be, but studies have found that women undertake three times more of the world’s care and domestic work than men. That is why it is so important to celebrate how far the Scottish Government has gone to alleviate some of that burden and to ensure that women here are not forced out of their jobs or of public life.

The Poverty Alliance correctly asserts that women’s poverty is completely interlinked with child poverty. That is why the Scottish child payment is so important and welcome, along with the expansion of free childcare, which has made 1,140 hours a year available to all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds. The introduction of carers allowance supplement corrected a wrong that was created and maintained by successive Westminster Governments, and other measures that ensure that women are treated as equals include the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021, which, following collaborative work, enshrined free access to period products in law. Although more can be done, those measures are significant and they make an impact on women’s lives.

When we reflect on international women’s day, it is important that we look more widely and take a global perspective rather than focusing only on our country, and doing so highlights the discrepancies in women’s equality and inclusion in public life across different countries. There is no escaping the fact that conflict always has a gendered nature. In the second year of the invasion of Ukraine, that is very clear. Women are giving birth in basements and in high-stress conditions, and men were forced to remain behind while women and children migrated out of Ukraine to neighbouring countries. In Gaza, women and children are expected to be hardest hit as women tend to vastly deprioritise their food intake when access to food is restricted and they face even higher health and malnutrition risks, not only for themselves but for their babies. Overcrowding and a lack of privacy in temporary shelters, coupled with scarce resources, can lead to disputes and violence, including gender-based violence. The lack of access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene facilities for menstruation hygiene management affects women’s and girls’ dignity as well as their mental and physical health.

That is why the Scottish Government’s investment in women as advocates for human rights and initiatives such as the warm Scots future, the women in conflict 1325 fellowship, the human rights defender fellowship and the commitment to the feminist approach to international relationships are so important in the long term, as the minister mentioned.

International women’s day is also a time to recognise the work of local groups in our community and to thank them for everything that they do to support women. My sincere and eternal thanks go to Clydebank Women’s Aid and East Dunbartonshire Women’s Aid, which provide support, information and refuge to women. They are quite literally lifelines to many women out there.

Today also serves as a call to action for our leaders to redouble their efforts to create a world where women are included. We must work to dismantle systems that hold women back. Importantly, we must take an intersectional approach when we consider women’s inclusion to ensure that women of colour, disabled women, refugee women, women of minority faith communities, LGBTI women, older and younger women, women from deprived areas and women from other minority groups are deeply involved in their communities and feel included.

I welcome all the contributions to today’s debate. Let us collectively forge a more inclusive world for the women out there.