Meeting of the Parliament 26 March 2024
As a very new member of the committee, I am pleased to speak in today’s debate. As the convener said, this is essentially a single-issue bill and an exercise in tidying up. It adjusts the statute book to reflect something that has been the case since 2022 and will provide clarity by removing a redundant definition.
The committee raised the wider point about whether there should be consideration of a way to address technical fixes without requiring primary legislation. The Government may want to reflect on that. I agree with the convener’s comments in that regard.
I take the opportunity to reiterate the importance of legislating for more diversity in leadership, because such diversity benefits everyone. We should continue reducing barriers to participation. Quotas can have a very powerful impact: statistics shared by UN Women show that women’s representation is 5 per cent higher in Parliaments and 7 per cent higher in local government bodies where there is a legislated candidate quota.
Having women represented in positions of power allows women’s needs to be reflected in decision making. In its report “Sex & Power in Scotland 2023”, Engender says:
“Women are not able to participate fully in public life or to exercise equal citizenship with men when they do not have the same access to opportunities and power.”
Research by Engender suggests that the justice sector is one of the least representative spheres of Scottish public life. Domestic abuse and sexual crimes are, unfortunately, all too common, yet those crimes have some of the lowest conviction rates. Having women from a wide range of backgrounds well represented in positions of power is an important step towards ensuring that those highly gendered issues are understood and tackled.
Women’s participation can help to advance gender equality. It also has an impact on the range of policy issues that are considered and, more important, the solutions that are proposed. However, that is not enough on its own. Leadership from everyone in positions of power is vital. We need to ensure that the barriers to participation that women experience are tackled at every level. In my view, that is a positive step, and it is certainly in line with the SNP’s consistent commitment in government to ensuring that representation of women and girls is increased in both the wider public sector and politics. It is amazing that, since 2014, the Scottish Government has been one of only a few Governments in the world to have a gender-balanced Cabinet, and that the current SNP-led Cabinet is the first to be made up of a majority of women. We should all agree that that is a huge achievement.
It is important that messaging on the bill is strong so that people understand its purpose and its technical nature. It is also important that the Government reflects on how technical fixes to legislation can be achieved in a less time-consuming manner.
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