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| In April 1998, the Scottish Office appointed a Women's Issues Research Consultant for a period of two years. A core area of work in the first year has been to conduct an overview of available research on women in Scotland and identifying gaps, with a view to developing a strategy for women's issues research in the Scottish Office and more widely. The first stage was to collate and disseminate existing information across a wide range of groups and individuals, with the express intent of tapping into less visible sources of information. |
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| Using this information, the WIRC and the Women's Issues Research Advisory Group are developing a Research Strategy to ensure that key information is available. This Research Findings outlines the main outcomes of this first stage of work and outlines plans for the next stages. |
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| Main Findings |
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- Research on women in Scotland is limited in scope and depth, with few major studies, and little that goes beyond the purely descriptive.
- Much of the research is of limited ambition, produced for specialist audiences, such as policy makers and practitioners, and is poorly disseminated.
- Many studies are small scale, without the capacity to monitor change.
- There is little work that compares regions within Scotland, or Scotland with other parts of the UK.
- Factors which produce gender differences and the forces which underpin women's unequal position in society remain poorly understood.
- The main concentration of research on women in Scotland is on employment and education, with limited work on women's access to justice and women's economic independence. There is little research which deals with multiple discrimination, sexual harassment, the operation of the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts, benefits, pensions or rural issues.
- Collection of statistical information on women is uneven and even where available, is not much analysed.
- In response, a series of Research Findings on Women's Issues has been launched, with the aim of disseminating research more widely. Future findings will focus on key areas of policy and practice.
- The Women's Issues Research Advisory Group has agreed to develop a programme of seminars and meetings to pool information held by different groups and identify specific areas where further research is required.
- On the basis of these developments and following wider consultation, a strategy for research on women's issues will be launched over the next few months.
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| Research on women's issues in Scotland. |
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| Background |
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| The Scottish Office appointed a Women's Issues Research Consultant in April 1998 for a period of two years. A Women's Issues Research Advisory Group was set up in August 1998 to supervise and support the work of the consultant. The Women's Issues Research Advisory Group aims to promote gender sensitive research, to provide a focus for research networks, to assist in mapping research on women's issues in Scotland, and to raise public awareness of existing research. |
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| The first stages in this process are the review of existing research on women's issues in Scotland, the encouragement of dissemination of findings, and the identification of major gaps. Publications which have provided an overview of research on women's issues in a range of fields are two research reviews published by the Equal Opportunities Commission, and the Engender Gender Audits, published annually since 1993. Useful though these reviews are, it should be noted that they do not cover every policy area relevant to women's issues. These reviews cover major areas such as employment, education, violence against women, and women in political and public life. This briefing, in addition to outlining the scope of existing research into these areas, will also outline general characteristics of research on women's issues in Scotland. |
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| Research on women's issues in Scotland |
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| Commentators on research on women's issues in Scotland have found a number of limitations. It is generally considered to be limited in scope and depth, many studies are small-scale, coverage of topics is uneven, and in some areas there is virtually no research. |
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| The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) commissioned a research review on equality issues in Scotland (Brown, Breitenbach, Myers, 1994) and subsequently also commissioned an update of this review (Myers and Brown, 1997). This was limited to areas which came within the EOC's remit: employment, incomes, education, consumer affairs, multiple discrimination, and regional differences. However, the general conclusions about the characteristics of research on equality issues are likely to apply to other topic areas. |
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The general findings of the EOC's reviews were that: - research on women in Scotland is limited in scope and depth, with few major studies, and little that goes beyond the purely descriptive;
- much of the research identified in the reviews was of limited ambition, produced for specialist audiences such as policy makers and practitioners, with poor dissemination of findings;
- many studies were small scale, without the capacity to monitor change;
- there was little work that made comparisons between regions within Scotland, or between Scotland and other parts of the UK;
- factors which produce gender differences and the forces which underpin women's unequal position in society remain poorly understood;
- the main concentration of research on women in Scotland has been in the areas of employment and education, with limited work on women's access to justice and women's economic independence.
- In a number of areas little or no research was identified:
- issues of multiple discrimination;
- sexual harassment;
- the operation of the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts in Scotland;
- benefits and pensions;
- consumer affairs;
- regional differences;
- rural issues.
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| The conclusions of the EOC's reviews on the uneven and limited nature of research on women in Scotland are confirmed by the findings of the Gender Audits, produced annually since 1993 by Engender, a Scottish feminist research and campaigning organisation. The inequality and disadvantage that women still experience in Scotland is compounded by their relative exclusion as a focus of research and by the unevenness in the collection and availability of statistics disaggregated by country (within the UK), region (within Scotland), and by sex. The Gender Audits provide a statistical view of the position of women in Scotland, collating statistics from official sources, but also statistics and information derived from academic research, from local government and from the voluntary sector. In addition, the Gender Audits offer comment and analysis on a range of areas, drawing on current research and debates. The experience of the Gender Audits suggests that provision of data on the position of women in Scottish society is uneven according to topic area, and that it is often not systematically collected. Where detailed statistics are regularly available, there is little research analysing factors underlying any observable changes or trends. |
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| Both the EOC research reviews and the Gender Audits help provide an overview of research on women's issues in Scotland, its unevenness and limitations. However, neither provides comprehensive coverage of research on women's issues. The EOC's reviews were limited to the topic areas relevant to the EOC's remit, and the Gender Audits, since they have been dependent on voluntary contributions, have not been able to be fully comprehensive in their coverage. It is likely therefore that there is further research on women's issues that falls outside the scope of these publications and therefore of this 'Research Findings on Women's Issues'. For example, a significant area that is not covered here is that of Health. This is a field in which there is likely to be a considerable literature on women's and gender issues, though perhaps a limited amount with a specifically Scottish focus. However, there is no research review as yet in this area comparable to the work of the EOC research reviews. |
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| Summary of findings by topic area |
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| Women in political and public life |
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| The topic of women in political and public life was not covered in the first of the EOC research reviews, but was covered in the update, published in 1997. It was considered that the changing structure of local government and the potential establishment of a Scottish Parliament made this area particularly salient to a survey of research on gender and equality, since it highlights the impact of policy changes on women as employees, political representatives, and users of services. A number of papers covering women's representation in politics and on policy areas relevant to the Scottish Parliament were published in a report of a conference on Gender and Scottish Society, held at the University of Edinburgh in 1997 (Howson and Breitenbach, 1998). Research on equal opportunities structures and gender sensitive policies, and on participation, was commissioned by the Consultative Steering Group from the Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland, University of Edinburgh. Both these studies drew on comparative research and experience in other countries, and outline models for equal opportunities structures, and a range of methods for enhancing democratic participation. |
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| The studies which have been conducted suggest that the personal, cultural and structural barriers identified in the context of employment have their parallels in the sphere of political representation and participation in public life. Though women continue to be under-represented in political and public life, there are a small number of studies that suggest that women have been able to influence the policy agenda within local government. However, within the local authority workforce there continues to be a pattern of gender segregation, and women are under-represented in management positions. Data on the position of women in local government are patchy, with no systematic monitoring taking place of the position of women as councillors, or in the workforce across authorities. |
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| The government produces official figures on the gender breakdown of appointments to public bodies, and increasing women's representation on public bodies is seen as an important goal for the Scottish Office. While women comprise more than 40% of the membership of Scottish Office public bodies they are under-represented among chairs and deputy chairs. Women's membership is also unevenly distributed across different boards, and is lowest within economic and industrial, agricultural, and transport bodies. However, there is little research to suggest the opportunities or barriers these provide to women's involvement. |
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| There is no detailed information on the position of women in other areas of decision making, such as economic decision-making, trade unions, or professional bodies, though such quantitative data as does exist suggests a typical pyramid effect i.e. the higher the management level, the lower the proportion of women. Quantitative data suggest that women's participation in decision making in the voluntary sector is greater than in the public and private sectors, though larger organisations are more likely to be led by men. |
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| Findings from equal opportunities monitoring carried out by the Scottish Arts Council have been reported in the Gender Audits. While the picture is complex, and while women are often highly visible in arts organisations and education, the SAC's findings suggest that women are also under-represented in decision-making positions in the arts, and are under-represented as recipients of funding support. Apart from this monitoring there appears to be little research into the position of women in the arts in Scotland. |
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| A recent report on Women in Decision-Making in Scotland (see CRU Research Findings No 2) confirms the general pattern of women's under-representation in political, administrative, economic and voluntary sector decision making, and also outlines the gaps in knowledge of women's representation and experience. Existing quantitative data are both limited and patchy, and available research on these areas tends to be descriptive rather than theoretical. |
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| Women's economic independence |
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| The theme of women's economic independence has been an important focus for the EOC and has also been a focus of the research reviews which they have commissioned. An assessment of the extent to which women may achieve economic independence entails an examination of women's access to income and to resources such as housing, as well as looking at the consequences for women of changing patterns of family formation. Official figures provide data about changing patterns of household composition, about marriage, divorce, cohabitation, teenage pregnancies, and so on. Yet there is little research on the implications of these changes for the lives of women, apart from a number of studies examining the impact of legal changes on financial settlements in divorce cases. |
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| As noted above there is little research on women's employment, pay or conditions, in Scotland, nor are there studies of women's experience of unemployment or poverty. Information about the extent of child and family poverty in Scotland has been much enhanced by the publications and briefings produced by the Scottish Poverty Information Unit, and this work also underlines the extent to which women are vulnerable to poverty, in particular as lone parents and as pensioners. |
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| Official figures for recipients of a variety of benefits give an indication of women's vulnerability to poverty, but as some benefits are allocated to households rather than to individuals it is not possible to give a completely accurate picture of the gender breakdown of benefit recipients. Women are particularly vulnerable to low pay, but even official figures on this may underrepresent the true situation. There remains virtually no empirical research on poverty in Scotland that specifically addresses gender issues, nor are there any studies on the position of women in Scotland in relation to benefits and pensions. |
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| Employment |
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| While official figures are regularly available on the position of the women in the labour market, the types of jobs they do, their wages and hours, etc, empirical research on gender and labour market issues in Scotland is very limited. Statistical information about women in professions such as medicine and nursing, and in teaching, is regularly published in official statistical publications. Figures have been obtained regularly from the Law Society in Scotland, and from official sources on the position of women in the legal profession for publication in the Gender Audits. However, with respect to other professions information is not regularly published, though may be available on request from professional bodies, associations, or trade unions. There is little research into the position of women in the professions in Scotland, though there have been some studies of the issue of the 'glass ceiling' both in the public and private sectors. The EOC research review update of 1997 found that there had been a diminution of work on barriers to promotion, though what studies there are suggest that women remain disadvantaged in terms of opportunities for career progression, and they remain under-represented at management levels. Only minimal information is available about the position of women in business, and there is no regular collation of data to monitor change. |
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| The EOC research reviews found that a key issue for research studies had been the identification of barriers to women returning to the labour market, and that the major topic of research in this field had been childcare provision. Studies tended to focus on a particular local authority region or locality, and indicated that adequate or affordable childcare remained a barrier to women taking up training or adult education opportunities, as well as to taking up employment. There had also been studies examining women entrepreneurs, homeworkers, and training. |
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| In general, continued gender segregation both across and within occupational sectors suggests that women still have access to a narrower range of work opportunities than men, and gendered notions of appropriate work for men and women remain entrenched within some industries and occupations. Areas such as pay and conditions have been little researched, and neither issues of multiple discrimination nor sexual harassment have been researched. |
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| Education |
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| Education is probably the field that is best served both in terms of regular collation and publication of gender disaggregated statistics, and in terms of research. Nonetheless there remain limitations and gaps. Many studies in the field of gender and education have been small scale, some areas have not been researched at all, and little is known about the inter-relationship between other variables such as class, ethnicity, geographical location and age. Studies have looked at gender differences in participation in the curriculum, the promotion of teachers, equal opportunities policies, the academic performance of secondary school pupils in relation to class and gender, teachers' reasons for leaving the profession, women's access to higher education, and women's participation in adult education. |
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| In recent years there has been an increase in the amount of research activity in this field. The range of studies has included explorations of gender differences in subject choice and attainment at secondary school levels; participation and attainment in post-compulsory education; women in management in education; the implementation and impact of equal opportunities policies in education; and the impact of management reforms on gender equality issues. Though girls often outperform boys in school examinations, subject choice at secondary school level and in vocational and higher education remains gendered. Studies of equal opportunities policies in education reveal a pattern of variable and uneven development across education authorities and schools. Though some of these studies go beyond the small scale localised research noted in previous years, much of the work remains descriptive rather than analytical or theoretical. |
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| Access to justice |
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| Much research activity on access to justice has focused on women's experience of violence and the response of services to this. A broad definition of access to justice could include work on Zero Tolerance and women's politics, which suggests that campaigns of this kind have played an important role in raising awareness of the prevalence of male violence. More specifically there have been some studies on the service response to victims of violence and the judicial response to perpetrators. The surveys undertaken suggested that women seeking redress may often be ill-informed or mis-informed about their rights, and may experience a very variable response from support agencies. |
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| Most studies of the criminal justice system are not gender specific, but there are a small number of studies which suggest a gender bias in its operation. In particular, it has been found that in those areas where women are the main 'complainers' such as sexual offence trials, though legislation has been enacted with the intention of excluding evidence on women's sexual character and history, in practice evidence of this nature was still being produced in court. |
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| There has been little research which has looked at the experience of women within the Scottish Criminal Justice system as offenders. A study of young offenders suggested gender differentiation in response and outcomes, with women offenders being dealt with more harshly if their behaviour contravened gender stereotypes. A recent Scottish Office report on women offenders concluded that women's offending and women offenders' needs were often different from those of men, that the number of women offenders sent to prison could and should be reduced, and that women's offending frequently related to drug abuse and was often rooted in poverty. |
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| There has been no research investigating the operation of the Industrial Tribunal system in Scotland. A Scottish case study was found in a GB study of the Equal Pay Act, but otherwise no research has yet been carried out on the operation of the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts in Scotland. |
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| Violence against women |
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| There are considerable problems in this area about definitions and collection of data, and there are no accurate data available on the incidence of domestic violence in Scotland. This is for a combination of reasons, including under reporting of domestic violence, under recording, and variations in the definition of domestic violence or domestic abuse used. A Scottish Office working party is currently working on developing a standard definition of domestic violence which can form the basis of statistical information collated by Scottish police forces. Women's Aid and Rape Crisis groups produce figures on the numbers of women contacting them and using their services. |
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| Though in general the topic of violence against women has been researched widely, specifically Scottish based research is more limited. Some local surveys on the incidence of violence against women have been undertaken, as have a number of studies on women's experience of violence and crime. Evaluations have also been conducted of Edinburgh Council's 'Zero Tolerance' Campaign. Common themes which emerge from these studies are the lack of awareness amongst women of their rights, and the variable response of support agencies. This latter theme was also underlined by research commissioned by the Scottish Office, Service Provision to Women Experiencing Domestic Violence in Scotland (Henderson, 1998), which recommended the development of minimum standards and levels of service in order to encourage consistent service delivery throughout Scotland. A number of local authorities in Scotland have also participated in a study focusing on young people's attitudes to violence against women. The particular difficulties experienced by women living in rural areas have also been identified. |
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| A study analysing police structures set in place to respond to women and children who have been subjected to abuse or violence highlighted some of the improvements these units have introduced in terms of procedures, attitudes and facilities. An evaluation of programmes for violent men found evidence of a reduction in violent and controlling behaviour among programme participants. |
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| As noted above in the section on access to justice some studies have suggested gender bias within the criminal justice system, and the effectiveness of legislation on sexual history and sexual character evidence in sexual offences trials has been assessed. |
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| Housing |
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| Official figures on housing tend to focus on households or on housing conditions e.g. patterns of tenure, overcrowding, amenities, state of repair, etc. The consequence of this is that women only tend to become visible if they are heads of households, such as lone parents, or elderly women living on their own. |
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| Access to housing, which is closely related to the issue of economic independence, has been the focus of a number of studies, particularly with respect to the housing consequences for women of marital breakdown, to homelessness, and to housing for single parents. The context for these studies appears to have been changes in legislation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and they tended to be funded by local authorities, housing agencies and voluntary organisations. This appears to have had the effect of restricting the studies to policy recommendations, rather than exploring issues of direct or indirect discrimination. Despite the fact that, as the 1994 EOC research review noted, women are far more dependent than men on public sector housing, and that therefore reduction of public sector stock was a matter of concern for women, no research appears to have been carried out exploring the gender implications of changing patterns of housing tenure in Scotland. |
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| Health |
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| Official statistics provide information about gendered patterns of morbidity and mortality, and about health provision and take up of various services for women such as breast and cervical screening. There is no review of research on women's health in Scotland, however, comparable to the EOC reviews on equality issues. |
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| Women have greater average life expectancy than men, but experience a greater amount of ill health during their lives. In particular, women's health is adversely affected by greater exposure to poverty, by childbearing, and by old age. As the Gender Audit (1998-99) indicates, women's health campaigners have noted that gender bias occurs in the way that routine data is collected and disseminated, and that the type of research which is undertaken can result in the exclusion of information about women and the marginalisation of women's health as an issue. |
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| References |
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| Brown, A, Breitenbach, E and Myers, F (1994) Equality Issues in Scotland: a Research Review, Glasgow, Equal Opportunities Commission. |
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| Gender Audit (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998-99), Edinburgh, Engender. |
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| Henderson, Sheila, (1998) Service Provision to Women Experiencing Domestic Violence in Scotland, Central Research Unit. |
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| Howson, A and Breitenbach, E (eds.) (1998) Gender and Scottish Society, Edinburgh, Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland, University of Edinburgh. |
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| Long, G, MacDonald, S and Scott, G (1996) Child and Family Poverty in Scotland: the Facts, Glasgow, Save the Children/Glasgow Caledonian University. |
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| Myers, F and Brown, A (1997) Gender Equality in Scotland: a Research Review Update, Glasgow, Equal Opportunities Commission. |
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| Myers, Fiona (1999, forthcoming) Women in Decision-Making in Scotland: a Review of Research, Research Findings No 2, Central Research Unit, The Scottish Office. |
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| Unit for the study of Government in Scotland (1998) Citizenship Participation and Social Partnerships: Involving Civil Society in the Work of Parliaments, USGS, University of Edinburgh |
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| Unit for the study of Government in Scotland (1998) Mainstreaming Equal Opportunities, USGS, University of Edinburgh |
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| Women Offenders - A Safer Way, HMCIP and SWSI, April 1998 |
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| Women's Issues: A Scottish Office Progress Report, 1998 |
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| Contact addresses for publications |
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Central Research Unit,
The Scottish Office,
Room J1 0,
Saughton House,
Broomhouse Drive,
Edinburgh,
EH11 3XA.
Tel: 0131 244 2112 Fax: 0131 244 2109 |
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Equal Opportunities Commission,
Stock Exchange House,
7 Nelson Mandela Place,
Glasgow G2 1QW.
Tel: 0141 248 5833 Fax: 0141 248 5834 |
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Engender,
13 Gayfield Square,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3NX.
Tel: 0131 558 9596 Email: engender@engender.org.uk |
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Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland,
University of Edinburgh,
Chisholm House,
High School Yards,
Edinburgh EH1 1LZ
Tel: 0131 650 2456 Fax: 0131 650 6345 |
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Scottish Poverty Information Unit,
Glasgow Caledonian University,
Park Campus,
1 Park Drive,
Glasgow, G3 1LP. |
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| About these research findings |
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In 1995, the UN Fourth World Conference on Women listed 12 strategic objectives for improving the lives of women around the globe. As part of its strategy to take forward its commitments, the Scottish Office appointed Esther Breitenbach as Women's Issues Research Consultant (WIRC) in April 1998. The key tasks were: - To establish a database on women's organisations in Scotland
- To advise on priorities for research on areas of concern to women
- To identify gaps where further research or information is required and possible options for filling these gaps
- To provide advice on women's issues research and strategic options for developing research in this area.
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| The Scottish Office has also established a Women's Issues Research Advisory Group (WIRAG). This group, which includes members of the Women in Scotland Consultative Forum, oversees research on women's issues, as well as providing a valuable resource for the development of women's issues research in Scotland. |
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| This Research Findings provides a summary of the main sources of research information on women in Scotland and points out where the information gaps are in a range of key policy areas. It will provide the basis for the development of a Research Strategy which will address key priority policy and practice issues for women in Scotland. |
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Further copies of this Research Findings may be obtained from:
The Scottish Office Home Department
Central Research Unit
Room J1-0
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
EDINBURGH
EH11 3XA |
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| This report can also be ordered online from: www.thestationeryoffice.co.uk |
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| This document and other Research Findings and Reports may be viewed on the internet at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/ |
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Further information on the Women in Scotland Consultative Forum and the WIRAG can be obtained from Esther Breitenbach,
J1-4, Saughton House,
Broomhouse Drive,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3XA,
or on email at: esther.breitenbach@scotland.gov.uk |