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Gender Audit 1997

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Gender Audit 1997 GENDER AUDIT 1997 This is the fifth report on the position of women in Scottish life, compiled on behalf of ENGENDER, an information, research and networking organisation for women in Scotland. Editors: Fiona Mackay and Chrisma Bould Contributors: Esther Breitenbach, Alice Brown, Jill Brown, Chrisma Bould and Elspeth Hosie, Megan Ciotti, Sarah Coleman, Lorna Guthrie, Fiona Mackay, Gill Scott, Connie Smith, and Jan Webb. Published by ENGENDER, 1997 ISBN: 0 9523593 4 0. Print version by Edinburgh University Reprographics Unit Web version also available on Engender site: http://www..engender.org.uk PDF version by Lesley Duff, Quine Online, http://www.quine.org.uk CONTENTS A call for action 3 Introduction 5 Overview 10 PART ONE: COMMENTARIES Party Politics and the 1997 General Election 25 Women, Equality and a Scottish Parliament 32 Poverty 40 Violence 52 PART TWO: UPDATES & STATISTICAL TABLES Arts 72 Business 80 Childcare 83 Education 88 Employment 102 Family Trends and Family Law 111 Health 118 Housing 131 Law 135 Local Government 140 Media 145 Poverty 149 Public Bodies 155 Trade Unions 163 Violence 164 Voluntary Organisations 172 End note 176 What is Engender 177 A call for action ENGENDER has long argued that the development of accurate data on women’s lives is essential if action to empower women is to work, if targets are to be set and if progress is to be monitored. ENGENDER has demanded that the production, collation and publication of statistics which ‘put Scottish women in the picture’ becomes a priority of the government as a necessary precondition to the effective monitoring and promotion of positive change. Women and girls in Scotland still experience considerable inequality and disadvantage in economic, social and political life as compared to men and boys. This disadvantage is further compounded by their relative exclusion as a focus of research and the unevenness in the collection and availability of statistics disaggregated by both country/region and gender. Many other organisations in Scotland, notably the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, have argued similarly. The government does, of course, produce a large volume of statistics, and some of those statistics are gender disaggregated. Indeed many of the statistics used in the Gender Audit come from various government publications. However data collection about women is uneven; good in some areas and poor in others. Furthermore not all information that is gathered is necessarily published; relevant statistics are not always easy to locate; and are seldom collated in ways which present a comprehensive picture. A related issue is research. In-depth research is vital to fill gaps in knowledge, to explore complex issues beneath headline statistics, to provide different perspectives; and to potentially offer explanations and pointers for change. However Scottish women face a double deficit: firstly, because little research is done on women as a group; and secondly, because what research is carried out tends to focus upon women in England although purporting to be British. A recent research review carried out for the EOC in Scotland highlighted the lack of research which is both gender and country specific. Research which addresses the multiple discrimination faced by certain groups of women within Scotland, for example, black and ethnic minority women, lesbians, disabled women and rural women, is still rarer (Brown, Breitenbach and Myers, 1994, currently being updated). This information deficit in relation to the position of women in Scotland, and their diverse experiences and needs, matters in a number of key ways. • Policy makers and politicians at British, Scottish and local level may be making decisions which affect the daily lives of women on the basis of poor and partial information. • A lack of information presents real difficulties for women, as individuals and in groups, in their campaigns for greater equality. • The obscuring of the position of women in Scottish society frustrates or limits the ability of women’s groups, the government and other organisations to monitor change - either positive or negative. ENGENDER has done its best to fill the information gap for half a decade. Since 1993 we have produced an annual Gender Audit; it has been produced on an unpaid basis, with tiny resources by a small group of volunteers. Our key aim in producing the Gender Audit is to make information about women in Scotland accessible to as wide an audience as possible. We hope that readers will find the information contained in the 1997 Gender Audit useful. We stress that the contents do not represent a comprehensive analysis of all available sources. ENGENDER does not have the financial Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 3 and other resources required for this type of exercise. We note Labour’s commitment, prior to the election, to improve the collection and collation of gender statistics; and the monitoring of the gender impact of government legislation. We also note that the production of good, transparent gender data was a priority action area agreed by the UK government as part of the Beijing Platform of Action which emerged from the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. In a number of other countries, gender statistics are produced by government departments as a matter of course, and are published annually to allow for the monitoring of progress across all government policy areas. For instance in Sweden, the annual gender report is Statistics Sweden’s best seller! ENGENDER believes that the time has come to move beyond words. We call upon the Scottish Office as a priority to produce its own annual Audit, disaggregated by gender, region, and where appropriate, race, disability, sexuality and age; and to chart the progress each year towards gender equality between women and men in Scotland. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 4 Introduction This is the fifth annual Gender Audit - the latest stage of a major project to research and map the position of women in all areas of Scottish life and society - produced by ENGENDER, the information, research and networking organisation. Drawing from varied sources, ranging from government statistics and academic research to annual reports from voluntary organisations, the Gender Audit pulls together available information and statistics on a range of areas and offers commentary on key points. The Audit is essential reading for all individuals and groups who are interested in the position of women in Scottish society - and who want positive change. In 1996 ENGENDER was awarded a European Commission Scottish Equality Award. In announcing their decision, the judges said that the Award for the Promotion of Gender Equality was made “in recognition of the unique and comprehensive body of work the Gender Audit represents and of the contribution it makes to raising awareness of gender issues.” ENGENDER published its first Gender Audit in 1993 largely as a response to the demand from women for more information. To date there has been very little relevant research on women in Scotland; and the statistics that are available are often inaccessible, insufficiently detailed, or out of date. This means that the full picture remains hidden. The aim of the Gender Audit is three-fold: • to make information about women accessible to women - as a resource and a campaigning tool. • to campaign for better information. • to monitor change over time. The General Election of May 1997 and the landslide victory by the Labour Party has radically changed the political landscape. A record number of women MPs, both Scottish and British, has been returned to the British Houses of Parliament; and prospects for a Scottish Parliament look their brightest yet. The Gender Audit 1997 highlights the representation of women in party politics after the General Election; provides an update on the campaign for ‘50/50’ representation; and previews some of the potential opportunities that any Scottish Parliament might present for positive change for women. This year’s Audit also provides a detailed commentary on the issue of women and poverty, and reports on developments in the field of violence against women, two of ENGENDER’s other priority areas. In addition, there is an overview essay, and information on Arts, Business, Child Care, Education, Employment, Families and Family Law, Health, Housing, Law, Local Government, Media, Public Bodies, Trade Unions and Voluntary Organisations. The Gender Audit is a valuable resource for campaigning, lobbying and teaching purposes. It is deliberately produced in a format that is easy to photocopy. The Gender Audit is available on the Engender web site. Find us at: http://www.engender.org.uk Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 5 As always we are keen to hear readers’ views on the Gender Audit. Please send any comments or suggestions to Fiona Mackay or Chrisma Bould at: ENGENDER 13 Gayfield Square c/o One Parent Famlies (Scotland) Edinburgh EH1 3NX Tel: 0131 558 9596 Fax: 0131 557 9650 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://www.engender.org.uk Acknowledgements We are grateful for the help of: June Andrews, RCN; Sheena Briley, TRAINING 2000; Kate Brown, Fife Zero Tolerance Co-ordinator; Morag Brown, Scottish Local Government Information Unit; Gillian Bruce, City of Edinburgh Council Equalities Unit; Shona Campbell, Central Scotland Rape Crisis; Louise Carlin and Rosina McCrae, Zero Tolerance
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