Meeting of the Parliament 19 June 2025
I am pleased to speak on behalf of the Scottish Liberal Democrats but I am ashamed that, as the cabinet secretary rightly pointed out, I am one of only four men in the chamber. This issue should matter to all of us. As I said in my intervention, we will only get meaningful progress if we enlist men as allies in the crusade and change the way in which we raise our boys. That is a lesson to all of us.
The Liberal Democrats absolutely welcome this first annual statement on gender policy coherence. It is right that the Scottish Government has responded in the way that it has done to the recommendations that were laid out by the national advisory council. Recognition matters, and the statement recognises that gender inequality is structural, persistent and entirely unacceptable in modern Scotland.
However, recognition alone of that fact is not enough. The cultural shift that we seek towards genuine gender equality demands action and delivery from the Government and from us all as parliamentarians. It demands that women’s voices are heard and respected, not only in policy papers but in this Parliament and in the council chambers across Scotland’s 32 local authorities. We are still far behind where we need to be, particularly when it comes to female representation in those local authorities.
I would like to focus my remarks specifically on health and health inequalities. In 2021, one in five women aged 16 to 24 reported a mental health condition. When it comes to physical health, women live longer than men—that is a statement of fact—but they spend less of their lives in good health. We have also seen tangible examples in recent years of how women’s health concerns are too often downplayed and treated as an afterthought. I will never forget—and I am sure that colleagues will never forget—the injustice faced by the women who suffered the devastating effects of transvaginal mesh implants and how they had to fight to be recognised and compensated. If it had been an implant for males, I am not sure that the fight would have needed to be so long lasting or so strong, but there we are.
The women’s health plan that was introduced in 2021 was a step forward. It rightly widened the lens beyond reproductive health and included menopausal care, post-natal contraception and conditions such as cardiac disease—areas that are too often overlooked or misunderstood in women.