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IMPROVING THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN SCOTLAND: AN AGENDA FOR ACTION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Group and this report

The Group was asked by the Minister for Communities (the then Minister for Social Justice), Margaret Curran MSP, to take a strategic look at the issues facing women in Scotland today and to suggest an agenda for action for the next Scottish Executive. The report:

• sets the scene for the Group's recommendations by describing inequalities that are still experienced by women in Scotland.
• sets out the Group's recommendations in a number of key - and mainly familiar - areas that affect most women such as employment and pay, childcare and other forms of caring, poverty and exclusion, violence, influence and decision-making.
• suggests some ways in which political institutions such as the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive can improve the way in which they deal with women's issues.
• is a contribution to the process of improving the position of women in Scotland which, if acted upon, should bring about a substantial improvement in various aspects of the lives of women in Scotland.
• stresses the importance of recognising and understanding the diverse experiences of women across Scotland, but does not look in detail at how different groups are affected by the key issues discussed.

The position of women in Scotland today

• Inequality between women and men is both a widespread and persistent feature of contemporary Scottish society.
• Although there have been many great advances for women over the last century and a higher profile for equal opportunities in Scotland since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive, in general women today still have less access than men to income and other material resources, less time that is their own, less political power and have a 1 in 5 chance of experiencing domestic abuse during their lives.
• Not all women experience the same degree of inequality though discrimination and prejudice can still affect women whatever their social status and earning power.
• Social and economic disadvantage, problems associated with living in rural areas, and other types of discrimination and prejudice such as racism, ageism, homophobia, or discrimination against disabled people, affect both women and men, but tend to have a greater impact on women because of the underlying gender inequalities and sexism that permeate Scottish society.
• The factors that contribute to this inequality are complex and inter-related, so the strategies we adopt to tackle these issues have to take into account all the areas that impact on women's lives.
• Thinking about the needs of different groups of women and adapting policies and services to meet those needs - mainstreaming gender equality - has to become part of the everyday work of all policy makers, service providers and organisations in general.

Key Policy Areas: Recommendations

All of the following recommendations should be viewed in the light of the Group's recognition that women are not all the same and that issues of ethnicity, language, faith, age, geography, sexual orientation, disability, social and economic status must be taken in to account in implementing each recommendation.

EMPLOYMENT: Equal Pay

The Scottish Executive should develop a strategic plan for reducing the gender pay gap which includes the following:

• Setting targets for the reduction of the gender pay gap in both the short term and longer term
• Prioritising sectors within the Scottish economy for action on equal pay
• Requiring public bodies to carry out pay reviews and encouraging their conduct within the private sector
• Identifying how public sector procurement policies can advance compliance with equal opportunities and promoting the use of such policies
• Promoting flexible working arrangements for employees' benefit
• Setting up programmes to tackle gender segregation
• Increasing the numbers of women decision makers in business and economic development, as well as in the public sector

EMPLOYMENT: Low Pay, Job Segregation and Unemployment

• The Scottish Executive should set up a short life working group for schools and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education to look at gender issues , including the gender issues that affect career choice and opportunity, sexual harassment in schools and gender in the curriculum.
• EOC should be invited to conduct more investigations into unlawful practices which maintain barriers to women pursuing particular careers
• Key bodies should encourage more women and men into non-traditional sectors and occupations. The Scottish Executive should examine the value to employers of carrying out training audits
• The Scottish Executive, business organisations and trade unions should collaborate in identifying good practice in providing better in-work training opportunities. The Scottish Executive should commission research to identify how training is being advanced for women in low paid jobs.
• The Scottish Executive should extend mentoring schemes for women.
• Public sector bodies should develop strategies on equal pay and job segregation.
• The Scottish Executive should provide, through Careers Scotland, careers guidance and advice to cater for older women and women in rural areas.

EMPLOYMENT: Promoting Diversity in the workplace

• The Scottish Executive, EOC, the Enterprise Networks, employers' organisations such as the CBI and FSB and other agencies should be actively making and promoting the business case for diversity
• The Scottish Executive should explore how it can assist SMEs in promoting diversity in the workplace and raise with UK government the need for greater support to employers who are interested in good practice.
• The Scottish Executive should undertake research on costs/benefits of flexible working.
• The Scottish Executive should promote good practice on flexible working in the public sector
• The Scottish Executive and EOC in collaboration with agencies in Scotland working on age issues should promote the link between gender equality and legislation on age discrimination, which comes into force in 2006.
• The Scottish Executive should ensure that measures to engage women fully in economic activity are part of the Fresh Talent initiative.

CHILDCARE

• The Scottish Executive should set specific targets for increasing provision for pre-school and school age children.
• The Scottish Executive should improve funding mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of childcare provision.
• The Scottish Executive, local authorities and the voluntary sector should increase community based childcare provision, particularly in rural areas.
• The Scottish Executive should consider providing some childcare support through social economy initiatives
• The Scottish Executive and EOC should encourage employer support for childcare
• The Scottish Executive should enhance the quality and value of the childcare workforce. There should be a review of the pay and conditions of childcare workers in the public and private sectors.
• There should be improved liaison between the UK government and Scottish interests to ensure that the impact of employment and benefits policies on lone parents in Scotland are understood.
• The Scottish Executive should provide figures for Scotland on value of unpaid childcare work using the ONS Time Use and Household satellite Accounts.
• The Scottish Executive should examine its scope for encouraging fairer shares in childcare and enabling men to take more time with their children.

CARING (FOR OLDER PEOPLE AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES) AND PERSONAL ASSISTANCE

• The Scottish Executive and local authorities should continue increasing support for those who provide care or assistance for older people and disabled people by providing more and better professional help.
• The Scottish Executive should encourage employers to support those who have caring responsibilities for older people and disabled people through flexible working arrangements and information about local carer support services.
• UK Government should improve its liaison with Scottish interests to ensure that the impact of UK employment and benefit policies take account of Scottish circumstances.
• The value of unpaid carer work for older people or disabled people should be recognised through calculating its financial value
• Care policies need to enable choice about who provides assistance or care for both providers and recipients.

POVERTY AND EXCLUSION: Poverty and Social Exclusion

In general the Scottish Executive should ensure that gender is effectively mainstreamed in its social inclusion strategies. In particular this should include the following:

• Collecting information such as benefit take-up and access to financial services which reflects the respective positions of men and women. The Scottish Executive should ensure that it reports on gender as part of its social inclusion work
• Providing support for projects like childcare and training that are particularly beneficial to women and to include a focus on teenage girls in low income households
• Taking measures such as targeted consultation to ensure the women are engaged in the projects and strategies for regeneration of communities.
• UK Government and the Scottish Executive raising awareness about the links between poverty and age

POVERTY AND EXCLUSION: Difficulties in access to services, including in rural areas

• The Scottish Executive and local authorities should review the extent to which gender perspectives are taken into account in the strategic planning of public services, including taking into account particular problems in rural areas.
• Relevant authorities should be invited to examine how the position of women workers in public services can be improved. Local authorities should be invited to consider how schools can be better used as community resources.
• The Scottish Executive should reconsider the rules relating to relatives as childcare providers in rural areas, where there may be no pre-five provision, and urban areas where there may not be sufficient places to meet demand, including discussion with the UK Government about related taxation and benefits issues.

VIOLENCE AND SAFETY

• The Scottish Executive should maintain the momentum already achieved on tackling domestic abuse against women
• The Scottish Executive should consider whether existing work on domestic abuse addresses the needs of disabled women, older women, women from minority ethnic communities, women in rural areas and those in same sex relationships.
• The Scottish Executive should consider treating assaults on basis of gender, disability, age and sexual orientation as aggravated assaults.

INFLUENCE AND DECISION-MAKING

• Women's organisations and in particular the EOC should be invited to undertake work with political parties to increase women's political representation.
• The Scottish Executive should ensure that reform of the electoral system for local government helps to contribute to the increased representation of women
• The Scottish Executive should set new targets for women's representation on public bodies and take active steps to improve it.
• Public, voluntary and private sector bodies should be actively encouraged how? to increase women's representation in their decision making.
• The Scottish Executive should continue to support improved dialogue with women and women's organisations.
• The Scottish Civic Forum should be invited to report on how it is engaging women and women's organisations.

Political Institutions and Policy Approaches: Recommendations

THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

• The Scottish Parliament should be invited to debate the Group's report on key issues for the agenda for women in Scotland;
• The Scottish Parliament should consider creating a mechanism to monitor the mainstreaming of gender issues in all committee business.

THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT: Equal Opportunities Committee

• We hope the Committee will give a higher profile to the issues of women's inequality and it should seek to engage with the relevant women's organisations that can provide evidence as appropriate to areas of policy development and legislation.
• The Committee is invited to take this report into account in drawing up its next workplan, including its work to mainstream equalities into the work of all of the other committees in the Parliament.

THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE - POLICY APPROACHES AND CONSULTATION WITH WOMEN

Mainstreaming Equality

• All new policy development and draft legislation should consider the impact on men and women and different groups of men and women from the outset, and should seek to reduce gender inequalities. This should entail use of existing research or commissioning of new research as appropriate, consultation with groups likely to be affected by the policy, and the development of evaluation and monitoring systems as an integral part of policy development.
• Progress on mainstreaming needs to be kept under review and annually reported on, 'champions' who will promote mainstreaming within each department should be identified, information on mainstreaming should be included on the Scottish Executive website by the end of 2003, and mechanisms for measuring success should be developed by the end of 2004.

Monitoring, research and evaluation

• A body of in-depth empirical research in Scotland is required which describes, analyses, and offers explanations for persisting gender inequalities, and which is applied to policy making as a matter of course. The development of systems of evaluation that provide assessments of gender impacts of policies, and which are integral to policy making, is also needed. Scottish Executive Departments should consider commissioning such research. This work should start now.
• By the end of 2004 all new projects should be properly monitored or evaluated and guidance on how to do this should be made available to project managers. Data collection should be standardised; key policy areas where mainstreaming can be more effectively developed by integrating gender analysis of data and research should be identified; and more effective strategies to disseminate the results of gender research to policy-makers and others should be developed.
• All Scottish Executive Departments and other stakeholders should think through what their role should be in taking forward the recommendations listed in this report, whether there is other action they could take to improve the position of women and whether/what research would be required to facilitate them to do so.
• As a matter of course, there should be regular reporting on all agreed objectives listed in this report, and research and evaluation programmes should be put into place alongside practical initiatives. This should include:

Employment

Childcare and other forms of caring

Poverty and exclusion

Violence and Safety

Influence and decision-making

Statutory duty requiring public bodies to promote gender equality

• It is recommended that an assessment of the impact of statutory duties in promoting gender equality should be carried out, and that consideration should be given to how this policy approach may be applied in Scotland as part of an overall mainstreaming strategy.
• In addition evidence of the impact of the relevant equality clauses of legislation passed in the first session of the Scottish Parliament should be reported on regularly. If it is being found to be effective, an equality clause should be considered in all Scottish Executive legislation.

Awareness raising and campaigning about gender equality issues

• The Scottish Executive should raise the profile of women's inequality and the issues facing women through a campaign, such as those run on domestic abuse and anti-racism. In particular there is a need to dispel the myth that women have achieved equality and there is little left to address. Any campaign could include the strategy set out in this report and key forthcoming events. Such awareness raising campaigns should include looking at the information which is given in schools and in particular should consider making information on employment rights and entitlements available.

Consultation with women

• The Scottish Executive should provide a vehicle for women's organisations in Scotland to come together to provide a further channel for them to engage with the Scottish Executive, Scottish Parliament and other institutions; and to provide strategic input from women's organisations into policy development in order to mainstream key issues of importance to women in Scotland. The new Scottish Women's Convention should take over most of the intended work of the WISCF; the Forum should live on as an annual meeting to celebrate International Women's Day. The Convention should be looked to provide a strategic input into policy development on particular topics. To do that it will need to be properly resourced and have access to and engagement with the relevant people in the Executive, Parliament and other decision-making organisations. We would invite the Women's Convention to consider this report.
• Local events and consultations involving the Executive, Parliament and women's organisations should continue, to allow discussion of issues of local and national importance.
• The Minister for Communities should enter into dialogue as soon as possible with the different women's interests and organisations working with other groups of which women are potentially members and explore in more detail the issues arising from multiple identity and/or compound discrimination. This report could serves as a basis for that dialogue but the Scottish Executive should be open to broadening the agenda if required to encompass the different perspectives which must be reflected.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE AND THE UK GOVERNMENT

• The relevant government departments should be invited to take a more proactive role in promoting UK policies in the Scottish context and in working collaboratively with the Scottish Executive where these dovetail with Executive activities more generally.
• The Scottish Executive has an important role to play in ensuring that the views of women in Scotland are reflected at a UK and European level through the appropriate government machinery, and could usefully consult with the Equal Opportunities Committee as part of this process.
• The Scottish Executive should provide better information on gender issues on its website and provide links to the Women and Equality Unit, and other departments in Whitehall.
• The Scottish Executive should make a strong case for as much devolution of authority as possible to Scotland within the structure of a Single Equality Body, and for adequate resourcing of this to ensure that the distinctive nature and differing priorities relating to the position of women in Scotland is addressed.

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