Meeting of the Parliament 19 June 2025
Meghan Gallacher makes an excellent point. It is incumbent on us all, in debates such as this one, to remind young women in particular of the health interventions that are available to them, which could keep them in better health or even save their lives or protect their unborn children. I will come on to talk about younger women if I have time.
The appointment of Professor Anna Glasier as Scotland’s first women’s health champion was absolutely a step forward, but for many, the progress still feels painfully slow.
Endometriosis is another stark example of an area that is misunderstood. Too many women continue to suffer for years before receiving a proper diagnosis or treatment. That is not equality of healthcare.
If we are serious about gender equality, we must also transform access to work. Today, women in Scotland are more likely to be in insecure work, stuck in low-paid, stereotypically female sectors, and less likely to reach senior roles, even with the same qualifications as their male peers and even with the policies that the Parliament has introduced. That is still a fact. That must change.
The 1,140 hours of free childcare for three and four-year-olds is key to that. As we know, the bulk of childcare still falls on women, despite our wish to change our societal norms. Across much of Scotland, local authorities are cutting back on that provision by providing free hours from the term after the child’s third birthday, rather than from the day after their birthday. That means that many families are missing out on up to four months of free provision. Again, women bear the brunt of that.
The Government needs to ensure that local authorities are provided with the funding that they need to roll out support consistently across the country to avoid that postcode lottery. The last thing that mothers who are trying to return to work need is an unfair roadblock. My party wants to go further by extending funded entitlements so that more two-year-olds get the benefit, with a view to extending the provision to one-year-olds as well.
However, all those policies must be backed with workforce support, proper pay and reliable delivery, or they risk becoming empty promises. That brings me to the unpaid workforce that keeps our society going. In 2023-24, 73 per cent of unpaid carers were women. One in four economically inactive women cited looking after family and home as the reason for their being economically inactive. That is nearly four times the rate of men.
The Liberal Democrats have consistently championed carers’ rights, and we have led calls to make the carers allowance system fairer and more flexible. We won an increase in the earnings threshold for carers allowance, allowing unpaid carers to earn more from part-time work without losing vital support through benefits.
I welcome the ambition and focus of the annual statement, but action and delivery are what count.