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 Charitable Trust; Kate Cavanagh, University of Glasgow; Jean Cuthbert, Scottish Women’s Aid; Pat Davers, BBC Scotland; Daphne Francis, Dumfries Rape Crisis; Saskia Gavin, Department of Public Medicine, Lothian Health; Lily Greenan, Edinburgh Rape Crisis; Sue Laughlin and Clare Boulton Jones, Glasgow Women’s Health Working Group; Barbara Lindsay, CoSLA; Cara MacDowall; Louise McLellan, Aberdeen Zero Tolerance Co-ordinator; Lesley Orr Macdonald, CTPI, University of Edinburgh; Annie Moelwyn-Hughes, Action for Change; Staff at Scottish Office Home Department Statistics; Caroline McDougall and Pamela Lamb at Scottish Office Education Statistics; Shakti Women’s Aid; Susan Stewart, Glasgow City Council; Moira Tasker; Siân Thomas, RCN; members of the Women’s Co-ordination Group; Denise Young, Greater Glasgow Health Board; Georgie Young; and members of the Engender Research Group and the Engender National Committee.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 6 References
Alice Brown, Esther Breitenbach and Fiona Myers (1994 and forthcoming), Equality Issues in Scotland: A Research Review , Research Discussion Series no.7, Manchester, EOC. Engender (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996), Gender Audit, Edinburgh.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 7 Overview
This section aims to provide an overview of the position of women in Scottish society in 1997, and to draw out the main points from the updates and the statistical section. No other publication to date provides such an extensive collection of statistics and analysis of the position of women in Scottish society, however it must be stressed that it is beyond the scope of the Gender Audit to provide a truly comprehensive picture.
Progress is not always linear or easy to trace. In a number of fields, such as employment, wage levels and poverty, change is very slow. Within the time scale of five Gender Audits 1993-1997, there are instances where there has been little or no appreciable change. Therefore, this year we have taken a closer look at one of these issues, poverty, in order to get behind the headline statistics to discuss some of the key issues and to draw out some of the themes and implications.
In a number of areas, problems relating to the paucity or inaccessibility of data in terms of either a gender or a Scottish focus remain. For instance, gender statistics on poverty are limited in a number of respects: firstly, the major sources of statistics on benefits and low incomes do not give a breakdown by sex that would allow a calculation to be made of the total numbers of women in poverty. Some information is available, but it is incomplete.With respect to Scotland in particular, there is an additional problem in that some sources of statistics do not give Scottish figures. But the main reason why it is impossible to quantify accurately the numbers of women in poverty is because much data is based on the household as a unit, rather than on individuals (see section on Poverty). Similarly, housing statistics are not routinely broken down by gender of head of household. For instance, latest figures show that around 84,000 properties in Scotland are classified as ‘Below Tolerable Standard’ (BTS). The properties, mostly flats in the private sector, lack one or more standard amenity, for instance running water or a wc for exclusive use by the household. Additionally, the properties may have serious problems of damp etc. The statistics are not broken down by gender of head of household, although we know from other sources that women are likely to live in poorer quality housing than men.
This illustrates the point that, although much of the information used in the Gender Audit comes from official sources, it is difficult to extrapolate from. Statistics which could build up a picture of women’s lives and status in Scottish society are not centrally collated. Furthermore, not all the information gathered on gender may be published or be widely available. For instance, the Scottish Statistics fact card 1996, which provides key summary statistics, only contains references to gender in its population headline figures, its life expectancy and its deaths figures.
Women and Multiple Discrimination
In particular the lack of information about the lives and needs of black and minority ethnic women, women with disability or learning difficulties, rural women and lesbians in Scotland is striking. The Scottish Office report, Ethnic Minorities in Scotland (Smith, 1991) referred to in previous Gender Audits remains the only Scottish-wide collection of statistics on the minority ethnic population in Scotland. This report covers the minority ethnic population as a whole, but gives some information on gender differences. The report indicated that, in 1991, minority ethnic women in Scotland, compared with minority ethnic men were:
• less likely to be employed
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 8 • less likely to speak English fluently
• less likely to have educational qualifications
• less likely to participate in activities, whether religious or community based
• more likely to have friends of the same ethnic origin
• less likely to have white friends There were, however, significant differences between minority ethnic groups.
Minority ethnic women compared with white women were:
• less likely to be employed
• more likely to be at home looking after the family
• likely to have more children
• more likely to be married
• much less likely to be divorced, separated or single parents The statistics in the report suggested considerable differences in the experiences of minority ethnic women and minority ethnic men; and minority ethnic women and white women. Despite the difference, there is virtually no research focusing specifically on minority ethnic women. A research review conducted for the Equal Opportunities Commission (Brown, Breitenbach and Myers, 1994), which is currently being updated, found that there are a small number of local studies, which include women and girls, but which often do not specifically focus on the issue of gender.
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in Scotland launched a Visible Women campaign in June 1997. A national Scottish initiative, it aimed to prioritise and publicise the issues affecting black and minority ethnic women, to promote labour market issues and dispel stereotypes. A major conference is planned in Edinburgh in the autumn.
Scant information exists about the lives, experiences and needs of lesbians in Scotland. There is still no legal recognition for same sex relationships. Lesbian and gay parents frequently face prejudiced attitudes in the Courts when arrangements are being made for children after marital breakdown, or when seeking to adopt children. Furthermore, there is currently no national legal protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in areas such as employment. There is some evidence that lesbians and gay men experience harrassment and violence, although at present there are few data. Glasgow City Council launched a public education campaign in April 1997 in support of lesbian and gay citizens in Glasgow stating the Council’s public recognition of the rights of its lesbian and gay citizens to equality of service and respect. Leaflets and posters distributed and displayed across the city bore the message that,
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 9 “lesbians and gay men are daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins, grandparents, uncles, aunts, in-laws, adopters, carers and cared for, friends, work colleagues, customers and service users” and ends with the message that
“Glasgow City Council believes that lesbians and gay men are entitled to the same rights as any other Glasgow resident.”
Similarly, the needs and experiences of women living and working in the rural areas of Scotland have been largely invisible. Until comparatively recently, little research has been carried out into the particular problems associated with living in rural Scotland, less still has had a gender dimension. However, a recently published collection of research gives new insight into the lives of rural women (Chapman and Lloyd, 1996). The issues raised include: low female economic activity rates; significant unemployment levels including high unemployment amongst well qualified women; and the out- migration of women to pursue further and higher education. A lack of public transport, childcare provision and educational opportunities all act as barriers to women’s increased participation in employment in rural communities.
Statistical data on disabled people in Scotland is poor, and what information there is does not always differentiate by gender. Although there are a number of local studies, information on those needs and experiences which disabled women share with other groups of women; and those needs and interests which are distinctive remains sparse.
It should be a priority of the Scottish Office to collect and publish more comprehensive data on all Scottish women; and to support research which fills the gaps in our knowledge of women’s diverse lives; which gives voice to different perspectives; and which counterbalances short term priorities and agendas with a long term strategy for positive change.
This year’s Gender Audit 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. It 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.
Party Politics and the 1997 General Election
Since the publication of the last Gender Audit, there have been some major developments which have impacted not only upon the position of women in British and Scottish politics, but also upon the future shape of Scottish politics itself. The 1997 General Election was remarkable for a number of reasons, not least for the record new levels of women’s representation.
• The number of women MPs doubled from the 1992 figure of 60 to a total 120 (18.2%). 102 women were elected from the Labour Party (including the Speaker, Betty Boothroyd) - almost one-quarter of Labour’s MPs.
• There was a total number of 362 female candidates from three of the main parties - Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats - some 18.8% of the total and a slight increase on 1992.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 10 • Five women now hold positions of Secretary of State. A further nine women became Parliamentary Under-Secretaries.
• Women have been given appointments in non-traditional female areas, including Mo Mowlam as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Margaret Beckett as President of the Board of Trade, Dawn Primarolo in her appointment to a post in the Treasury and Ann Taylor who became Leader of the House.
In Scotland:
• The number of women MPs rose from five elected at the 1992 General Election to a record number of 12 (16.6%). There are now 9 Labour, 2 SNP and 1 Liberal Democrat female MPs in Scotland.
• Two of these new women MPs defeated a current and a former Secretary of State for Scotland (Anne McGuire won Stirling from Michael Forsyth and Lynda Clark won Edinburgh Pentlands from Malcolm Rifkind).
• On a less positive note, all of the five appointments to positions in the Scottish Office are men, with Henry McLeish being given responsibility for Women’s Issues in addition to his other responsibilities. With the election of a government committed to reform, we are now on the brink of major constitutional change and the prospect of the establishment of a Scottish Parliament before the year 2000. Shortly before the Gender Audit went to press, the government issued its White Paper outlining its proposals for change and is to hold a Referendum on September 11, 1997 with two questions, one on the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and the other on tax varying powers. As a key player in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, the Labour Party not only supported the scheme for a Parliament set out in the Convention’s final document, Scotland’s Parliament, Scotland’s Right, it committed itself to the principle of equal representation by signing the Electoral Agreement. The equal representation of women and fair representation of others who are traditionally excluded from selection as candidates has been a key aspect of Engender’s campaigning work. Although the government’s broad statement outlined in the White Paper (see discussion in Party Politics section) is to be welcomed, much still requires to be done to ensure that the political parties involved in the Convention honour the Electoral Agreement signed as part of the final plans and that the other parties are also encouraged to adopt a similar policy. In these circumstances, the 50/50 Campaign to ensure that half of the seats in Scotland’s first parliament since 1707 are held by women is certain to continue.
Women, Equality and a Scottish Parliament
Women in Scotland have much to gain from a Scottish Parliament and in working together in campaigning for a Double ‘Yes’ Vote in the Referendum. The White Paper containing the new government’s proposals for the Scottish Parliament proposes to devolve considerable powers to the Scottish level in areas which will have an impact on women’s lives. The Scottish Parliament will be able to make laws in relation to matters including:
• Health
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 11 • Education (from pre-5 education to higher education)
• Training
• Local Government
• Social Work
• Housing
• Economic Development
• Transport
• Law and Home Affairs
• Environment
• Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
• Sport and the Arts
• Research and Statistics A disappointment for women’s groups like Engender in the Government’s White Paper is that equality legislation (covering racial, gender and disability discrimination) will be “reserved” - that is, it will remain the responsibility of Westminster. However, the Scottish Parliament will have control over a broad range of domestic policy. Crucially, it is stated in the White Paper that
“ The Scottish Parliament and executive will be able to promote equal opportunities through policies and legislation in the full range of devolved matters. There will continue to be arrangements for the Scottish voice to be heard on UK-wide subjects such as women’s issues.”
Although equality legislation is reserved, the Scottish Parliament will have power over equality matters in all devolved areas and to invite reports from the EOC. An aspect that is not clear from the White Paper is the institutional structure for delivering equal opportunities. Although legislative power is reserved, there is still scope for administrative power to be devolved. A quinquennial review of the Equal Opportunities Commission is just being completed. In the event of a Scottish Parliament being set up, there is a strong case to be made for the EOC itself to be devolved especially as its areas of responsibility extend beyond employment matters. In addition, a strong case can be made for setting up an effective equality structure within the Scottish Parliament. The John Wheatley Centre has already explored this issue through the work of a Policy Commission examining Equal Opportunities Policy under a Scottish Parliament.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 12 Arts
The picture of gender imbalance that emerges in Scottish Arts Council research remains a complex one, where women are highly visible in most organisations and throughout education, and yet absent from the positions of real influence in decision-making and presentation and creation of work. In particular, the larger the organisation the less likely women are to hold positions of power. For example, those arts organisations with the largest turnover are predominantly music and drama companies (including the four National Companies) where all artistic directors are male, as are 80 percent of chairs of the board. In 1996:
• Of the works presented by music organisations, 99 per cent were composed and 99 per cent were conducted by men.
• 85 per cent of writers and directors of drama productions were male.
• Just over 40 per cent of artists featured in solo exhibitions of contemporary art were women.
• All choreographers were male.
Business
Latest figures show that women make up around a third of managers and administrators in Scotland and three quarters of secretaries and clerical workers, although it is not clear what level of seniority they are at, nor what relative proportions are employed in the public and private sector. The message from previous Gender Audits has been that the position of women in business in Scotland has been very slow to change. This remains the case.
• With the exception of women who have started their own companies, no major Scottish business has ever been headed by a woman.
• Around 7% of the Scottish membership of the Institute of Directors are women.
• There are just three women on the boards of Scotland’s top 20 companies. Although a number of positive initiatives have been undertaken since the Gender Audit last reported on the topic in 1995, the barriers to women’s progression in the workplace such as lack of child care, low pay and stereotypical attitudes persist in 1997.
Child Care
More than half of all women with children under five work (60% in 1994), 36% work part time. Nearly three quarters (74% in 1994) of women with children aged five and over have jobs. The largest increase in mothers returning to work over the last five years has been amongst those with school age children.
The number of child care places available in Scotland continues to increase, with the fastest growth reported in the private and voluntary day care sectors. In contrast, local authority nursery school Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 13 places have, for the first time in ten years, shown a decline. However:
• Less than 5% of under three year olds living in Scotland have access to publicly funded child care
• There are now nearly 10,000 places at Out of School Care Clubs in Scotland, a three fold increase from the early 1990s. Recent evaluations suggest they help women with school age children to seek and stay in work, particularly lone parents.
• The percentage of children with access to school age child care, however, remains low - less than one in 12 children has access.
Education
In the 1993 Gender Audit we recorded that the examination performance of girls in Scottish secondary schools was consistently better than that of boys, but that this was not translated in terms of entry to higher education and the labour market. These are all trends which have continued in the intervening period.
• Girls in Scottish secondary schools continue to consistently achieve better results than boys but this is not translated in terms of entry to higher education and the labour market. A smaller proportion of girls with the necessary qualifications go on to university compared with boys. However, a higher proportion of girls enter other forms of higher education, such as teacher training, and non-advanced further education.
• The proportion of women on full time courses in higher education has remained fairly constant over the past few years, while there has been a slight decline in the proportion of full-time women students in further education. In both higher and further education there has been an increase in the proportion of part-time women students.
• Over time the segregation of girls and boys in terms of subject choice in secondary school has become less pronounced, but there are still significant differences with girls forming the majority of those taking languages, business studies, and home economics, and boys the majority of those taking physics, computing subjects, and technological subjects. In Higher education, a pattern of gender segregation is also observable with women forming the majority of those taking social studies, business administration and languages, and men the majority of those taking physical sciences, mathematics and computing, and engineering and technology. In terms of employment, in no sector are female headteachers found in the same proportion as women are present in the workforce. For example:
• Women are 90% of primary teachers (FTE); 85% of special school teachers; and 51% of secondary school teachers.
• 73% of primary head teachers; 76% of special school head teachers and 7% of secondary school head teachers are female. Women are to be found in greatest proportions in sectors which are perceived to be less high status, and less well paid. For instance, there are more than a thousand female nursery school teachers in Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 14 state funded nursery schools in Scotland (1023) but only eight men.
At Higher Education level, women’s presence decreases in inverse proportion to the status of the position. Women constitute around 29% of university lecturers; 14% of senior lecturers and 7% of university professors. The proportion of women professors has doubled since 1991. However there are only 90 female professors in Scottish universities, compared with 1,169 male professors. Around two thirds of all female academic staff in Scottish universities are on temporary contracts, compared with around a third of men.
• There is only one female Principal of a Scottish Higher Education institution.
Employment
There has been little appreciable change in the general characteristics of women’s work in Scotland since the first Gender Audit in 1993 gave a summary of the position of women in the labour market. Women workers are concentrated in a relatively small number of areas of the Scottish economy, in particular the service sector; and are concentrated in lower occupational grades than men. Latest figures indicate the following features of women’s work:
• Women make up half the workforce in Scotland.
• 53% of working women in Scotland work full-time, and 47% work part-time. Part-time workers, both women and men, are particularly vulnerable to low pay, but almost half of all women who work full time are also low paid.
• Full-time women workers earn on average 72.1% of their male counterparts’ wages, a slight decline compared to the two previous years.
• A higher proportion of ethnic minority than white women are self-employed, and a smaller proportion work full time. Educational participation rates for ethnic minority women are twice as high as for white women.
Family and Family Law Trends
The statistics show that families in contemporary Scotland are increasingly diverse. More people than ever before live on their own (nearly 6% more than 10 years ago). Although the ‘traditional’ nuclear family still remains the norm, it co-exists with increasingly diverse family arrangements: cohabiting couples with and without children; lone parents; ‘reconstituted’ families created by remarriage and other kinds of changes of partners; extended families; and lesbian and gay families. Some family forms reflect changing social and economic trends; others have always existed, but have become more visible. Here are some of the key facts and issues.
• The number of marriages has tended to decline over the past ten years, while the number of divorces has remained more stable, with the result that the proportion of divorces to marriages has risen to around 40%.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 15 • There were 60,051 live births in Scotland in 1995, the lowest number recorded since civil registration was introduced in 1855. One third of all live births in Scotland were to unmarried mothers.
• There were almost 63,000 people from black and minority ethnic groups living in Scotland in 1991, 1.3% of the population. The largest single black and minority ethnic group in Scotland is Pakistani, followed by Chinese and Indian. Minority ethnic households are significantly larger averaging at 4.6 members than white households averaging at 2.4 members.
• 29% of all Scottish households include children aged 15 and under. Of all households with children, one in five is headed by a lone parent. The vast majority, 93%, of lone parents are women.
• In Scotland, almost one third of all households in 1991 had at least one person of pensionable age.
• Families with an adult or child with disabilities often have: reduced access to employment; increased living costs; and greater vulnerability to poverty. They face personal and institutional discrimination. Women’s Aid groups and The Law Society of Scotland are very concerned about the number of women in situations of domestic violence who are not taking legal proceedings because of costs. In a Scottish Woman’s Aid survey, 78% of solicitors remarked that after the amendments to civil Legal Aid in 1993 there was a fall in the number of abused women who wished to proceed with an action after they had discussed costs and contributions. 57% of solicitors saw the figure drop again after the introduction of fee changes. Scottish Women’s Aid estimate,
“that since the introduction of the new fee structure, a court order for protection against domestic violence has increased by over 300 per cent.” (SWA, 1996).
Immigration laws can have a devastating impact upon women and families. In particular, the Primary Purpose Rule ( which has recently been relaxed by the new government) has kept families and partners apart; and the One Year Rule places some women in the impossible position of choosing between remaining in an abusive marriage or leaving to face penury and eventual deportation.
Health
The health of Scottish women is particularly poor; and ill health and premature death are linked with levels of deprivation. Despite Scotland’s poor ranking in various international health league tables, there is still no national strategy to improve women’s health. A National Women’s Health Policy in Scotland would help legitimise current local activity but would require considerable campaigning and lobbying. In the absence of a national policy, the Glasgow Model for Women’s Health has set a precedent for a strategic approach in other areas in Scotland.
• Women are expected to outlive men by an average of five and a half years. In 1995 the expectation of life (at time of birth) was 72.1 for men and 77.6 for women.
• Women live longer than men, but experience a greater amount of ill-health during their lives.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 16 Women have particular health needs because they have reproductive systems which require care at particular stages of their lives. Women’s health is also adversely affected by current social and economic roles.
• There is some evidence to show that women’s health problems are given less importance than those of men. For example, women may be less likely than men to be referred for treatment for some symptoms of heart disease, or to receive heart transplants.
• In Scotland the premature death rate from lung cancer is increasing in women whereas, for men, it is falling.
• The leading cause of premature death (before the age of 65) in Scottish women is ischaemic heart disease, the same as for men. Women from some black and minority ethnic communities are up to 30% more likely to die from ischaemic heart disease than women from the indigenous white community.
• Until recently, twice as many women as men were admitted to Scottish psychiatric hospitals suffering from depression and anxiety. A study in Edinburgh found that 33% of women experienced depression and anxiety at any one point in time. The limitations of official statistics which rely heavily on measures of death and sickness as proxy measures of health have also been commented upon. For instance, sickness rates are aggregated in such a way that they give little indication of their relationship with the factors that influence health: for example gender, social and economic status and environment (Gender Audit, 1994). A project to provide more accessible gender health statistics is underway and data will be reported in the next Gender Audit.
Housing
In the Gender Audit 1994 it was noted that a number of gender specific barriers existed for women trying to gain access to suitable and decent housing for themselves and their children. The result of this was that, despite changing household structures, women tend to be better housed if they live with men.
Gender statistics in connection with housing are patchy, however a variety of sources indicate that the quality of women’s housing is likely to be poorer than that of men. Women heads of households, in particular lone parents, are far likelier to be in local authority housing than in other forms of tenure. In contrast the majority of male heads of households are owner occupiers. A number of key points drawn from census data and other studies follows. Full references can be found in the Housing section.
• Women may be trapped not only in poor quality housing, but also in abusive or unsatisfactory relations, because of their inability to gain independent access to suitable accommodation. Poor housing is related to low income, and women are more likely to be low paid, or lack an independent income.
• Access to social housing for minority ethnic groups may be reduced as a result of language barriers and culturally specific assumptions in the provision and allocation of social housing.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 17 In general, ethnic minority households are more likely to own their own homes than whites; ethnic minority households are significantly larger averaging at 4.6 members than white households averaging at 2.4 members.
• Women heads of households, in particular lone parents, are far likelier to be in local authority housing than in other forms of tenure, and than male heads of households, the majority of whom are owner occupiers.
• 70% of lone parents live in public authority housing.
• A survey of Scottish local authorities and housing associations showed no evidence that young lone parents are being rehoused at the expense of two parent families. Lesbians and gay men face discrimination in access to social housing because housing providers do not always accept applications from ‘single’ people wanting to share, not do they always recognise the housing needs of lesbian and gay couples. Lesbians and gay couples also frequently face discrimination from building societies when they apply for mortgages.
A recent survey of the housing needs and housing experiences of young lesbians and gay men in Scotland’s central belt has uncovered high levels of vulnerability, insecurity and harrassment. Of the young people (under 27 years) who responded, around half believed they had to conceal their sexual orientation in order to secure or keep their homes; a third had had to leave their family home as a result of their sexual orientation; and 43% had been forced to leave private rented accommodation once their sexual orientation had become known. One in three had experienced harrassment by, for instance, neighbours because of their sexuality (SFHA, 1997 forthcoming).
As the report comments:
“Being lesbian or gay does not, in itself, represent a housing need. But, as a result of hostility and discrimination, lesbians and gay men face difficulty in gaining safe, secure and affordable housing. This inevitably leads to discriminatory practices in relation to housing provision, with lesbians and gay men being given less favourable rights.”(SFHA, 1997 forthcoming, p.4).
Ten years ago, Levison and Atkins (1987) estimated that women were about half of all local authority housing staff in Scotland, but were grossly under-represented at senior management levels (5%). In 1994 there were only two women Directors of Housing in Scotland out of 56 housing authorities, and there had only ever been one other (Gender Audit, 1984). Post local government reorganisation, there are now 32 unitary authorities which all have responsibility for housing. In 1996 there were two female Directors of Housing, one female Director of Housing & Social Work, one female Director of Community Services (including Housing); and one female Chief Housing Officer.
Law
Previous Gender Audits (1994, 1995, 1996) reported on the under-representation of women at all levels of the legal profession, and discussed trends in the numbers and proportions of women entering different branches of the profession over the last decade or so. Although the proportion of female lawyers is increasing overall, the rate of change in some sections of the legal profession remains slow. The profile of the profession in 1997 is very similar to the 1996 picture.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 18 • There is only one female judge in Scotland.
• In the past year women have slightly increased their representation amongst Advocates and Queen’s Counsel. Women continue to appear to be making the greatest progress in the legal profession as solicitors.
• Women form about a third of all solicitors on the Solicitors Roll in Scotland.
• Equal numbers of men and women were admitted to the Solicitors Roll in 1996. There has been a small but steady increase in the proportion of female police officers. Women comprise 13 per cent of all police officers in Scotland, and have slightly increased their representation at most levels.
Local Government
Local government has a crucial relationship, through its statutory and non statutory roles, with many of the subject areas with which the Gender Audit has been concerned: for example, childcare, education, employment, housing, women’s health, party politics, poverty, trades unions, voluntary organisations and violence. There remains considerable uncertainty about the shape of Scottish local government and the status of women and equalities issues within it. Reorganisation is taking place in parallel with severe budgetary constraints, and it is therefore difficult to assess what impact is due to reorganisation alone and what is due to the financial difficulties which new authorities face.
Councils are some of the largest employers of women in Scotland and the rest of Britain, and women make up between 50 and 70 per cent of the workforce of most local authorities, predominantly concentrated in low-paid, low status work.
• There are no female Chief Executives in the Scottish unitary authotities, where prior to local government reorganisation there were three. There appears to have been little change in the overall proportions of women at chief officer level; although women may have made some gains in ‘middle management’ levels.
• Women make up around 1 in 5 of councillors. Five of the 32 Scottish authorities have women Leaders (15.6%): only one authority has both a woman Leader and a woman Provost or Chair
• The average weekly pay for female non-manual workers in local government is £219 compared with £337 for males.
Between 1995 and 1996, women manual workers’ pay fell by 11.6%, while men’s pay declined by 1.1%. The statistic indicates that women manual staff have been particularly adversely affected by the operation of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) and the use of ‘market rates’ to lower women’s pay relative to men’s.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 19 Media
The media plays a powerful role in public life in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK. There has been little research to date about the status and position of women workers in the media in Scotland. Neither has there been systematic scrutiny of the extent to which there is equality of access to the mass media by women and men; nor to whether women and women’s interests are adequately represented.
In 1997:
• There are no female editors or depute editors of Scottish national daily or Sunday newspapers
• There is one female news editor and one female editorial executive.
• Women may have made greater progress in Scotland’s regional and local newspapers, but that information is not readily available. BBC Scotland (Television and Radio) appears to have made substantial progress in its equal opportunities strategy . In 1997:
• A third of top management positions at BBC Scotland are held by women.
• Half of editors and senior producers are now women.
• 98% of secretaries and radio production assistants are women.
• BBC Scotland exceeded two of its three gender employment targets. The Women’s National Commission (WNC) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) have called upon the UK government to implement the Beijing Platform of Action by taking additional measures to improve women’s participation in key decision-making roles in the media.
Poverty
Much work on poverty has been gender blind, and therefore has not been sufficiently aware of the ways in which women are more vulnerable to poverty, and in which ways women’s experience of poverty may differ from men’s. In general women in Scotland are more vulnerable to poverty than men. Women in Scotland experience poverty through unemployment, as lone parents, and as pensioners.
• More than one in three of Scottish children are living in poverty (35%), and 42% of under 5s are living in poverty.
• Nearly three times as many children of lone parents, than children of unemployed couples, are dependent on Income Support.
• Ethnic minority families are at greater risk of experiencing poverty than white families, and both men and women in ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of unemployment
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 20 than the white population. The fundamental causes of women’s poverty are the economic dependence and restricted labour market participation that result from family responsibilities that are not shared equally with men, or indeed even shared at all. Family responsibilities shape women’s work patterns, the type of occupations they work in, their earnings and their social security benefits. They push women into financial dependence upon men or upon state benefits.
Public Bodies
• In 1996, women held 43% of positions on Scottish Office public bodies, an increase of 4% on figures in 1994. However, women in Scotland are particularly concentrated in the Tribunals and grossly under-represented in Executive Bodies and Advisory Bodies and are scarely represented at all on the Nationalised Industries.
• Only 20% of Chairs and 36% of Deputes are women.
• Women hold around a third of positions on NHS Bodies which reflects the Scottish Office policy decision to appoint more women to the self-governing Hospital Trusts. Yet, just 8 of the women in the NHS bodies hold the position of Chair, against 58 men.
• One of the first actions of Henry McLeish, as the Scottish Minister of State with responsibility for women’s issues, has been to order a review of the procedures for making appointments to public bodies .
Trade Unions
• Women trade unionists account for around 38 % of Scotland’s 700,000 trade union members affiliated to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC). A number of reforms have been implemented or recommended to improve the representation of women in the structures and processes of STUC trade unions. They include: the annual alternation of key positions of President and Vice-President of the STUC between women and men; and a phased timetable to achieve gender proportionality of representation of delegates to the STUC Congress by 1999.
• In addition, women have a strong presence in a number of non affiliated trades unions, most notably the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). The RCN nationally has 300,000 members, around 31,500 in Scotland, of whom 92% are women. The top official in the RCN in Scotland is a woman, as are 13 of the 22 elected seats at the RCN Scottish Board. At national (UK) level, 17 out of 25 members of the RCN Council are women as are 8 out of 9 Chairs of Council policy committees. New research on women and trade unions is currently underway, but was unavailable for this edition of the Gender Audit
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 21 Violence
There are considerable difficulties in assessing the true scale of violence against women and children which is, by its nature, hidden, minimised and ignored. However rape, sexual assault and domestic violence are believed to be massively under-reported. For example, researchers Rebecca and Russell Dobash estimate that only 2% of domestic violence is reported to the police (1979). A forthcoming report from the Scottish Forum for Public Health estimates that of the 2,169,930 women aged over 15 years who live in Scotland as many as 174,000 may have experienced physical violence and 260,000 may have experienced mental cruelty within the last 12 months (1997). Other research suggests as few as one in five rapes are officially reported.
There are high levels of activism in Scotland by women’s groups and other agencies to campaign and lobby for political action and social change; and to provide front line services to women and children who have experienced violence and sexual abuse. Some key points follow:
• The cost of domestic violence in Scotland is estimated at between £84 million and £147 million each year in terms of health costs and loss of productivity. This figure is likely to be an under estimate.
• Using mid range figures, one model estimates that domestic violence against women in Scotland costs around £8 million in Accident and Emergency treatment, £23 million in gynaecological services and £53 million in providing psychiatric care.
• Domestic violence accounts for a quarter of all recorded violent crime in Scotland.
• Some abused women in rural Scotland may have to travel eighty miles to reach a Women’s Aid refuge, and have to travel by ferry and bus.
• Around two thirds of women (4,710) and over 6,057 children and young people who asked Women’s Aid for help last year could not be found a refuge space where and when they wanted.
• The risk of sexual abuse and assault of adolescents and adults with a learning disability is probably seven times as high as the risk for other groups of people.
• Research suggests that 90% of disabled women are raped, abused or sexually assaulted some time in their lives. Two thirds of disabled women are physically or sexually assaulted before they reach their teens.
• Whilst recorded rapes increased by 40% between 1988 and 1994, the rate of conviction in the same period has almost halved. Recent figures show that only 9% of recorded rapes result in a conviction.
• Research in Scotland suggests that violent men who attend re-education programmes can be supported to change their behaviour.
• There is still no national Scottish or national UK campaign for tackling violence against women and children. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 22 Voluntary Organisations
Women form the majority of paid staff and volunteers in the voluntary sector; and constitute around half of the managers. However a higher proportion of women as compared to men are employed part time and at the lower end of the pay scale.
• Only 8% of women in the voluntary sector are paid more than £19,000 compared with 22% of men.
• At the other end of the scale, 17% of women are paid less than £6,700 compared with 8% of men. Voluntary organisations continue to face deep financial uncertainty and, in many cases, cutbacks as a result of local government reorganisation and budgetary constraints upon new councils. This affects women as direct users of voluntary services, as employees of voluntary organisations and as informal carers who must make up the shortfall for cutbacks in service provision. Fiona Mackay
References
Alice Brown, Esther Breitenbach and Fiona Myers (1994 and forthcoming), Equality Issues in Scotland: A Research Review , Research Discussion Series no.7, Manchester, EOC. Pollyanna Chapman and Siobhan Lloyd (1996) (eds), Women and Access in Rural Areas, Aldershot, Avebury. Engender (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997) Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (1997, forthcoming), Obtaining a Fair Deal: Pride in Housing. Scottish Office (1997), Statistical Bulletin, Housing Series HSG/1997/1 (Feb), Edinburgh. Patten Smith (1991), ‘Ethnic Minorities in Scotland’, Central Research Unit Papers, Edinburgh, The Scottish Office. Glasgow City Council, Media release, April 7, 1997.
* References to all summary points can be found in the relevant sections of the Gender Audit.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 23 PART ONE
COMMENTARIES Party Politics
Since the publication of the last Gender Audit, there have been some major developments which have impacted not only upon the position of women in Scottish politics, but also upon the future shape of Scottish politics itself. The 1997 General Election was remarkable for a number of reasons, not least for the number of records that were broken in the early hours of Friday, 2 May:
• Across the whole of Britain, votes for the Conservative Party fell from 41.9% to 30.7% - the party’s worst ever result;
• Scotland and Wales now have no Conservative MPs;
• The Labour Party won an overall majority of 179 - the largest for any administration since the National government of 1935 and Labour’s best showing ever;
• The Liberal Democrats now have 46 MPs - their best result since 1929;
• The Scottish National Party returned 6 MPs - their best result since 1974 - and in Wales the nationalist party - Plaid Cymru - had 4 MPs elected;
• Martin Bell was elected as MP for Tatton - the first Independent to enter the Commons since 1950;
• A record number of 3,717 candidates stood for election;
• 259 new members entered the House of Commons - the highest number since the war; and
• One-third of the new members are under forty years of age with some 200 MPs in their twenties or early thirties. New record levels of women’s representation were also achieved:
• Representation of women in the House of Commons doubled from the 1992 figure of 60 to a total 120 (18.2%)
• 102 women were elected from the Labour Party (including the Speaker, Betty Boothroyd) - almost one-quarter of Labour’s MPs;
• There was a total number of 362 female candidates from three of the main parties - Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats - some 18.8% of the total and a slight increase on 1992;
• Five women now hold positions of Secretary of State;
• A further nine women became Parliamentary Under-Secretaries;
• Women have been given appointments in non-traditional female areas, including Mo Mowlam Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 25 as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Margaret Beckett as President of the Board of Trade, Dawn Primarolo in her appointment to a post in the Treasury and Ann Taylor who became Leader of the House. In Scotland, the number of women MPs rose from five elected at the 1992 General Election to a record number of 12 (16.6%). Two of these new women MPs defeated a current and a former Secretary of State for Scotland (Anne McGuire won Stirling from Michael Forsyth and Lynda Clark won Edinburgh Pentlands from Malcolm Rifkind). On a less positive note, all of the five appointments to positions in the Scottish Office are men, with Henry McLeish being given responsibility for Women’s Issues in addition to his other responsibilities. Scotland’s 12 women MPs (9 Labour, 2 SNP and 1 Liberal Democrat) are now as follows:
Irene Adams Paisley North (Labour) Anne Begg Aberdeen South (Labour) Lynda Clark Edinburgh Pentlands (Labour) Maria Fyfe Glasgow Maryhill (Labour) Helen Liddell Airdrie and Shotts (Labour) Anne McGuire Stirling (Labour) Rosemary McKenna Cumbernauld and Kilsyth (Labour) Sandra Osborne Ayr (Labour) Rachel Squires Dunfermline West (Labour) Roseanna Cunningham Perth (SNP) Margaret Ewing Moray (SNP) Ray Michie Argyll and Bute (Liberal Democrats)
This information can be presented in table form as follows:
TABLE 1 Elected Women MPs in the House of Commons representing Scottish Constituencies (General Elections of 1987, 1992 and 1997)
Party 1987 1992 * 1997 Conservative 000 Labour 139 Liberal Democrat 111 Others (SNP) 112 Total 3 5 12 (4.2%) (6.9%) (16.6%)
* A further 2 women were elected in parliamnetary by-elections in 1994 (Helen Liddell, Labour, Monklands East) and 1995 (Roseanna Cunningham, SNP, Perth and Kinross) bringing the total to 7
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 26 The equivalent information for Britain is as follows:
TABLE 2 Elected Women MPs in House of Commons (General Elections of 1987, 1992 and 1997)
Party 1987 1992 1997 Conservative 17 20 14 Labour 21 37 102 Liberal Democrat 222 Others (SNP) 112 Total 41 60 120 (6.7%) (9.2%) (18.2%)
At 18.2% the representation of women in the House of Commons has reached an all-time high and brings Britain into line with other European Union member countries. However, it is still far short of equal representation and well below the level of women’s representation in Scandinavian countries at around 40%.
Women’s Representation and the Scottish Parliament
With the election of a Labour government committed to constitutional change, there is the prospect of the establishment of a Scottish Parliament before the year 2000. As a key player in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, the Labour Party not only supported the scheme for a Parliament set out in the Convention’s final document, Scotland’s Parliament, Scotland’s Right, it committed itself to the principle of equal representation by signing the Electoral Agreement.
Electoral Agreement
The Electoral Contract or Agreement endorsed by those political parties involved: a) accepts the principle that there should be an equal number of men and women as members of the first Scottish Parliament; b) commits the parties to take into account both the constituency and additional member list candidates to select and field an equal number of male and female candidates for election; and c) ensures that these candidates are fairly distributed with a view to the winnability of seats.
The Steps Towards Equal Representation in a Scottish Parliament
It is worth recording the involvement women have had in the long process and campaign for change:
Step 1: Campaign for a Scottish Assembly (Parliament) - CSA/CSP
The CSA was established following the failure of the Scotland Bill in the 1970s. It aimed to keep the issue of home rule on the political agenda and to work towards creating a wide consensus for Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 27 constitutional change. The organisation changed its name to the Campaign for a Scottish parliament in the 1980s reflecting the shift of policy to establish a Parliament in Scotland with tax varying powers.
Step 2: The Claim of Right 1988
Following the 1987 General Election in which the Conservative Party was re-elected for a third period of office with only 10 MPs from the 72 Scottish constituencies, the CSA published the document A Claim of Right for Scotland in July 1988. The document proposed the establishment of a Scottish Constitutional Convention (SCC) as a forum for discussing and planning the future government of Scotland.
Step 3: The Scottish Constitutional Convention 1989
The SCC was established in 1989 with representatives from the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the Green party and the Communist Party (now Democratic Left) together with members from a broad range of organisations that make up Scottish civil society - trade unions, churches, business community, voluntary sector, local authorities and other interest groups. Women’s groups were also represented in the Convention. The Convention held its first meeting in March 1989 and unanimously acknowledged the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine their own form of government. Committees were formed to examine detailed constitutional questions including the Women’s Issues Group chaired by Maria Fyfe MP.
Step 4: A Woman’s Claim of Right 1989
A Woman’s Claim of Right Group was formed in recognition of the need to make a specific claim for women and partially in response to the fact that the Convention had only 10% female representation. It, and other women’s groups, made a submission to the Convention’s Women’s Issues Group. They later published a book entitled A Woman’s Claim of Right in 1991. The Group no longer exists, but the campaign for gender equality has continued to flourish.
Step 5: 50/50
The Convention’s first report Towards Scotland’s Parliament, published in 1990, put forward the view that the Scottish Parliament would provide the opportunity for a new start and that positive action would be taken to
“allow women to play their full and equal part in the political process”.
Although women involved were agreed that steps had to be taken to improve the participation and selection of women, no consensus existed at that time between activists on the best method of achieving gender equality. Some women, particularly those in the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the SNP, believed that electoral reform itself would improve the representation of women, whilst others argued for positive action in the form of quotas. What was, in some ways, the most radical option - the 50/50 scheme (one man and one woman to represent each parliamentary constituency, thereby achieving equal representation at a stroke) - was proposed first by the STUC Women’s Committee. This policy was subsequently adopted by the Labour Party in Scotland at its conference in March 1991 and later endorsed by the STUC itself at its Congress in April of the same year.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 28 Step 6: 1992 General Election
The return of the Conservative government to power in 1992 (this time with 11 MPs from 72) meant that a Scottish Parliament was not established following the election. However, the pressure and demand for change continued and women’s groups and women within the parties, trade unions and local government continued their campaign.
Step 7: Campaign Groups Post-1992
A number of campaign groups were formed following the 1992 General Election and women in Scotland also continued to work for change. Engender itself was formed and launched in 1992 and an umbrella group, the Women’s Co-ordination Group, was also established in the same year to co- ordinate the campaign for equal representation within a future Scottish Parliament. The aim of 50/ 50 representation was re-stated.
Step 8: Scottish Constitutional Commission 1994
The Scottish Constitutional Convention established a Commission which reported in 1994 and recommended:
• Parliament of 112 (72 constituency and 40 additional members)
• AMS ( Additional Member System, see below) electoral system
• 40% voluntary target for women’s representation
Step 9: Electoral Agreement 1995
Women activists in Scotland responded to the Commission’s report, and were critical of the voluntary target of 40% for women’s representation and the small size of the Parliament. The Women’s Co- ordination Group brought women together from the main parties in the Convention (Labour and Liberal Democrats) to see if they could agree a scheme that was acceptable to both sides. They were successful in getting their respective party conferences to endorse an Electoral Contract to ensure gender equality in the first Scottish Parliament.
Step 10: Scottish Constitutional Convention’s Report 1995
The final report of the Convention, Scotland’s Parliament Scotland’s Right, was published on St Andrew’s Day (30 November 1995) and contained proposals for a Parliament with:
• 129 Scottish MPs (73 constituency and 56 from the additional list)
• AMS electoral system The Electoral Agreement/Contract on women’s representation was also included in this document, having been signed separately by the party leaders and also by Rhona Brankin from the Scottish Labour Party and Marilyn McLaren from the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 29 Where Are We Now?
With the election of a government committed to reform, we are now on the brink of major constitutional change. The government has issued its White Paper outlining its proposals for change and is to hold a Referendum on September 11, 1997 with two questions, one on the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and the other on tax varying powers.
In line with the Convention’s scheme, the White Paper proposes that the Scottish Parliament will consist of 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) elected under a form of additional member system (AMS). The majority will be elected from 73 constituencies (the same as the constituencies of the Westminster Parliament except that Orkney and Shetland will become 2 separate constituencies). The remaining 56 members - the ‘additional members’ - will be selected from party lists drawn up for each of the current European Parliament constituencies (7 from each of the 8 European constituencies). Details of the system are outlined in an Appendix of the White Paper.
In addressing the question of who will be eligible for selection and election to the Scottish Parliament, the government state that they are
“keen to see people with standing in their communities and who represent the widest possible range of interests in Scotland putting themselves forward for election to the Scottish Parliament. In particular the government attach great importance to equal opportunities for all - including women, members of ethnic minorities and disabled people.”
The government then urges
“all political parties offering candidates for election to the Scottish Parliament to have this in mind in their internal candidate selection processes.”
The equal representation of women and fair representation of others who are traditionally excluded from selection as candidates has been a key aspect of Engender’s campaigning work. Although the government’s broad statement outlined above is to be welcomed, much still requires to be done to ensure that the political parties involved in the Convention honour the Electoral Agreement signed as part of the final plans and that the other parties are also encouraged to adopt a similar policy. The precise details of how the political parties are to select candidates for election to a Scottish Parliament are still to be announced. This is a crucial area on which Engender and other women’s organisations can campaign. It is particularly important as the new electoral system will result in a more plural legislature in which the relationship between the votes for the parties and the seats gained will be much closer than on the first-past-the-post electoral system. Under the AMS system proposed, it is unlikely that any of the parties will obtain an overall majority of seats - not even the Labour Party which benefits from the current electoral system. In such circumstances, the competition for seats will be intense.
If the people of Scotland vote for a Scottish Parliament to be set up, the selection of candidates for seats could take place early in 1998 with the first elections being held in 1999. In these circumstances, the campaign to ensure that half of the seats in Scotland’s first parliament since 1707 are held by women is certain to continue. Alice Brown
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 30 References
Engender (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996) Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Scottish Constitutional Convention (1995) Scotland’s Parliament. Scotland’s Right, Edinburgh. Scottish Office (1997) Scotland’s Parliament , (Cm 3658), HMSO.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 31 Women, Equality and a Scottish Parliament
Women in Scotland have much to gain from a Scottish Parliament and in working together in campaigning for a Double ‘Yes’ Vote in the Referendum. The Women’s Co-ordination Group organised a rallying meeting for women to join in the Scotland FORward campaign for a Scottish Parliament. The meeting, held in Glasgow on 7 June 1997, was addressed by Henry McLeish, Minister of State at the Scottish Office. This section overviews some of the issues about the representation of women’s interests and policy concerns in any new Scottish Parliament.
The Powers of the Scottish Parliament
The following summary of the powers of the Scottish Parliament is based upon the government White Paper Scotland’s Parliament, published in July 1997. The scheme proposed is broadly in line with that detailed by the Scottish Constitutional Convention when it reported in 1995 and contains few surprises. The government has, therefore, kept faith with the broad consensus of opinion that informed the discussions within the Convention and met its commitment to proceed quickly with its plans for constitutional reform. It has also taken on board constructive proposals put forward by the Constitution Unit and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). It is proposed that the legislation setting up the Scottish Parliament will specify those powers which are to be reserved to the UK Parliament. These areas will include:
• The Constitution of the UK
• UK Foreign Policy including relations with Europe
• UK Defence and National Security
• The Protection of Borders
• The UK’s Fiscal, Economic and Monetary System
• Common Markets for UK Goods and Services
• Employment Legislation (including industrial relations, equal opportunities, health and safety)
• Social Security
• Regulation of Certain Professions
• Transport Safety and Regulation
• Certain Other Matters presently subject to UK or GB regulation or operation Areas that are not specifically reserved to the UK Parliament will be devolved to Scotland. The Scottish Parliament will, therefore, be able to make laws in relation to all devolved matters including:
• Health Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 32 • Education (from pre-5 education to higher education)
• Training
• Local Government
• Social Work
• Housing
• Economic Development
• Transport
• Law and Home Affairs
• Environment
• Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
• Sport and the Arts
• Research and Statistics The Women’s Co-ordination Group, of which Engender is a member, has outlined some of the main areas in which the powers of a Scottish Parliament could impact upon women’s lives.
Childcare
Scotland has one of the lowest levels of pre-school provision in the EU, and there are few resources available for after school care for school age children. Lack of childcare remains an effective barrier to women’s participation in work, education and training. Pre-school provision brings significant benefits to children, and contributes to better educational performance at school. Flexible, affordable, good quality childcare available to all parents who want it would be an enormous benefit to families.
The Scottish Parliament will have responsibility for pre-school provision, and for children’s services provided through Social Work departments.
Health
Scotland suffers a serious problem of poor health, and Scottish women have some of the highest rates of coronary heart disease and breast cancer in the world. Many women also suffer mental health problems such as depression. Community Care imposes burdens that put the health of women carers at risk. A national strategy to improve women’s health in Scotland is urgently needed.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 33 The Scottish Parliament will have responsibility for the NHS in Scotland, for Community Care, and for family planning.
Housing
Women are more likely to be reliant on council housing than to be home owners, and some groups of women, such as lone parents and elderly pensioners, are likely to live in the poorest quality housing. The ‘right-to-buy’ legislation and spending constraints have reduced the amount of housing available to people on low incomes, many of whom are women. New houses are needed, and in particular, houses which are affordable for people on low incomes.
The Scottish Parliament will have responsibility for housing, including regulation of rents, rent allowances, and rebates.
Safety
In Scotland domestic violence accounts for about a quarter of all reported violent crime. The number of rapes and sexual assaults occurring in Scotland remains unacceptably high, particularly as recorded incidents are likely to be much lower than the actual incidence of these crimes. Recent campaigns challenging violence against women, such as the Zero Tolerance campaign, have done much to raise awareness of these issues, and have contributed to the rise in the numbers of women seeking help from Women’s Aid refuges. Women’s Aid, however, do not have enough refuge spaces to cope with the demand, and require more funding to provide these.
Women are much more dependent than men on public transport, and thus good transport services, and good street lighting, help make the streets safer for women. Increased refuge provision, better transport and street lighting would all help to make Scotland a safer place for women.
The Scottish Parliament will have responsibility for housing, transport policies, and local government.
Education, Arts and Culture
Girls in Scotland have been achieving better exam results at secondary school than boys for some time now. Boys, however, are more likely to go on to University. In the teaching profession, both in schools and universities, women are under-represented at senior levels. In broadcasting and the media women are also under-represented at senior level. Stronger equal opportunities policies and the employment of more women in top posts would promote further change for women in education, the arts and culture.
The Scottish Parliament will have responsibility for all aspects of the education service from nursery schools to universities, and it will also have responsibility for broadcasting, the arts and culture.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 34 Work and the Economy
Women make up half of Scotland’s workforce, but on average their pay is still only 72% of men’s. Many women work part-time, and many are in low paid jobs. Their skills are under-valued, and they are offered little training to enhance their skills and improve their opportunities. Economic development and training policies could help improve women workers’ pay and opportunities.
The Scottish Parliament will have responsibility for industrial development and for training provision.
Law and Regulation
Family Law is important for women as it regulates divorce, custody, and financial settlements. The Criminal Justice system deals with rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence, and should offer protection to women. More sensitive handling of court cases would protect the privacy of victims of rape and sexual assault.
The Scottish Parliament will have responsibility for legislation on Family Law, and the Criminal Justice system.
Equal Opportunities under a Scottish Parliament
A key disappointment for the Women’s Co-ordination Group, of which Engender is a member, in the Government’s White Paper is that equality legislation (covering racial, gender and disability discrimination) will be “reserved” - that is, it will remain the responsibility of Westminster. Anti- discrimination laws have helped women to gain equal opportunities, but remain limited in their powers and application. They require strengthening to be of greater benefit to women.
However, the Scottish Parliament will have control over a broad range of domestic policy. Crucially, it is stated in the White Paper that
“The Scottish Parliament and executive will be able to promote equal opportunities through policies and legislation in the full range of devolved matters. There will continue to be arrangements for the Scottish voice to be heard on UK-wide subjects such as women’s issues.”
The government also propose that
“the Scottish Parliament should have the power to invite the submission of reports and presentation of oral evidence before its committees from bodies operating in reserved areas in relation to their activities in or affecting Scotland.”
The Equal Opportunities Commission is given as an example of such a body.
Thus, although equality legislation is reserved, the Scottish Parliament will have power over equality matters in all devolved areas and to invite reports from the EOC. An aspect that is not clear from the White Paper is the institutional structure for delivering equal opportunities. Although legislative power is reserved, there is still scope for administrative power to be devolved. A quinquennial
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 35 review of the Equal Opportunities Commission is just being completed. In the event of a Scottish Parliament being set up, there is a strong case to be made for the EOC itself to be devolved especially as its areas of responsibility extend beyond employment matters. In addition, a strong case can be made for setting up an effective equality structure within the Scottish Parliament. The John Wheatley Centre has already explored this issue through the work of a Policy Commission examining Equal Opportunities Policy under a Scottish Parliament.
Policy Commission on Equal Opportunities
In anticipation of the creation of a Scottish Parliament, the John Wheatley Centre organised a series of Policy Commissions looking at areas over which the Scottish Parliament will have responsibility. The purpose of the Policy Commissions was to bring together proposals in a range of policy areas, which would then be circulated for wider debate and discussion. Amongst the Policy Commissions was one on equal opportunities. The aims and objectives of the Equal Opportunities Policy Commission were:
• To consider ways in which the responsibility for Equal Opportunities could be advanced within a Scottish Parliament;
• To produce recommendations and proposals to ensure the development of effective equal opportunities policy and practice under a Scottish Parliament;
• To stimulate debate on the issues within political parties, trade unions, the business sector, voluntary organisations and other individuals, groups and organisations with an interest in equal opportunities. In its draft report, the Policy Commission took the view that it is crucial that:
• the Scottish Parliament should establish itself as a site of social justice;
• the principles of equality should underpin the machinery and practice of the Parliament;
• the Parliament should establish agencies designed to eliminate discrimination;
• a healthy interaction between the state and civil society should be engendered;
• support should be given to organisations representing disadvantaged groups and channels of communication should be established between them. The report covers:
1) The legal context
The legal context in which legislation on equal opportunities might take place, i.e. the European Union. Any legislation introduced by the Scottish Parliament must not be incompatible with or in breach of EU law. However, in certain areas of discrimination there are not currently binding EU laws (as there are in the area of Equal Treatment between women and men), such as race, age, religious, disability, and sexuality discrimination. Thus a Scottish Parliament would be free to legislate in these areas. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 36 2) Equalities Structures: External Agencies
A number of options are examined regarding the structure of organisations such as the Equal Opportunities Commission, Commission for Racial Equality, and National Disability Council. Given current discussions about the possibility of an overarching Human Rights Commission being created by the Government, it is uncertain what framework will be created for the UK. However, the report urges that is crucial that institutional arrangements for equal opportunities are put into place very quickly in Scotland. Thus several steps are envisaged as being necessary, while there still needs to be debate about the final outcome. The stages proposed in the report are, firstly, that responsibility for equal opportunities in Scotland is transferred to the Scottish Office; secondly that equality agencies are set up, resourced from public funds, but independent - a Scottish EOC, Scottish CRE and Disability Scotland; thirdly, there are two options to be considered in the context of the development of a Human Rights Commission - 1) an umbrella Human Rights Commission that incorporates all equalities; 2) the maintenance of separate commissions, but with an institutional link and direct relationship with the Human Rights Commission.
3) Parliamentary Equality Unit/Ministry
The report recommends the establishment of an Equality Unit, located within key decision-making offices of the Scottish Parliament with appropriate ministerial recognition and posts. Gender and equalities should be portfolios at senior ministerial level and have status within the key government committees. The Equality Unit should have a responsibility for liaison and work with the various external bodies responsible for equality issues, and should also set up an Equality Network, to co- ordinate the equality responsibilities of every department in the Scottish Parliament. There should also be an Equal Opportunities Committee made up of members of Parliament.
4) Equal Opportunities in Employment
The key themes identified under this heading were that the Scottish Parliament should be an exemplar of good practice in employment; that recommendations relating to employment by bodies with relevant expertise, such as the EOC, CRE and National Disability Council, should be taken up; that anti-discrimination policies on disability, gender and race should have the same status; that support should be given to organisations promoting the interests of disabled, women and ethnic minority employees, such as the funding of special training and employment projects; and that there should be collation of relevant data for public education and monitoring purposes. In addition there are specific recommendations relating to specific groups. With regard to women priority areas for policy change are identified as amendment of existing sex discrimination legislation; pay and conditions; working time; childcare; and training and skills.
5) Access and Participation
A key aspect of the Policy Commission’s work was to investigate access and participation issues, and to look at possible structures needed to encourage the widest possible participation. A number of detailed recommendations are made under the broad headings of Access to Information, Education for Citizenship, Policy Making and Implementation, and Policy Monitoring and Evaluation.
The report of the Policy Commission, ‘Equal Opportunities under a Scottish Parliament’ is currently being circulated for discussion. Copies are available from the John Wheatley Centre, 20 Forth Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3LH. Tel/fax: (0131) 477 8220
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 37 How the Scottish Parliament will work
The Scottish Constitutional Convention outlined the way in which the new Parliament should work. In Scotland’s Parliament.,Scotland’s Right it is emphasised that the Parliament should prioritise accountability, accessibility, openness and responsiveness, and that it should embody values of equal opportunity and fairness. It proposed that working arrangements be very different from Westminster, and that to ensure the greatest possible involvement of the people, it will vary the location of its meetings, work to standard business hours, and provide appropriate facilities for Members, the media, and the public. This would include recognition of women’s responsibilities as carers, and appropriate support for women to effectively play their part as MSPs, and for women to have access to the Parliament as members of the public. Women’s groups, community groups, and individual women should be able to make their voices heard.
The White Paper broadly follows the proposals of the Convention. There is additional scope for wider involvement in the democratic process in the plans set out under Parliamentary Arrangements. For example, the government sets out its intention that Standing Orders should be designed to ensure openness, responsiveness and accountability. Further, it is stated that
“The Government expect that the Scottish Parliament will adopt modern methods of working; that it will be accessible, open and responsive to the needs of the public; that participation by organisations and individuals in decision making will be encouraged; and that views and advice from specialists will be sought as appropriate.”
In detailing its plans for the committee structure, it is also envisaged that the committees could
“initiate legislation, scrutinise and amend the Scottish Executive’s proposals as well as having wide-ranging investigative functions. Such a role for the Scottish Parliament committees will mean that the proposals of the Scottish Executive will be appropriately scrutinised. The committees might meet from time to time at appropriate locations throughout Scotland so that people can see how their country is run.”
Public access to parliament and its proceedings and decisions is an equality issue. If the parliament is run along the above lines, it will provide different kinds of opportunities for women’s organisations and others to participate and to be involved in debates over policies and legislation. Importantly, such participation will not be confined to people in the central belt of Scotland. The intention to utilise information technology to improve information exchange and communication would also enhance the democratic process. Esther Breitenbach and Alice Brown.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 38 References
Engender (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997), Gender Audit, Edinburgh Scottish Constitutional Convention (1995) Scotland’s Parliament, Scotland’s Right, Edinburgh. Scottish Office (1997) Scotland’s Parliament , (Cm 3658), HMSO. John Wheatley Policy Commission (1997), Equal Opportunities under a Scottish Parliament (draft report), Edinburgh. Women’s Co-ordination Group (1997), A Scottish Parliament for Women, STUC, Glasgow.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 39 Poverty
In previous Gender Audits a few basic statistics about women in poverty have been given, essentially in an attempt to outline numbers and proportions of women dependent on state benefits, through unemployment, single parenthood, or old age. This information is, however, very limited for a number of reasons, although it may be indicative of the major groups of women vulnerable to poverty. This contribution attempts to give some background to the basic figures previously presented, and to indicate some of the reasons for women’s poverty. The first thing to be said is that data on women’s poverty in Scotland is limited in a number of respects. In most respects these limitations are similar to those applying to UK figures in general. That is to say that the major sources of statistics on benefits and low incomes do not give a breakdown by sex that would allow a calculation to be made of the total numbers of women in poverty. Some information is available, but it is incomplete, as will be seen from the tables below. With respect to Scotland in particular, there is an additional problem in that some sources of statistics do not give Scottish figures. For example, Households Below Average Income, which is probably the most important source of information on families on low incomes, does not give Scottish figures. But the main reason why it is impossible to quantify accurately the numbers of women in poverty is because much data is based on the household as a unit, rather than on individuals.
The benefits system, of course, treats households as a unit, and where that unit is made up of a woman, man and child/ren, social security benefit (Income Support) is usually paid to the man. Prior to the introduction of Equal Treatment rules in 1983 Supplementary Benefit in respect of a married or cohabiting couple was always paid to the man. The Equal Treatment Rules, introduced to comply with an EU Directive, made it possible for the woman in a couple to be the recipient of benefit for the household. However, these rules were cumbersome and little used. Since the introduction of Income Support in 1988, either partner is allowed to claim when both are unemployed.
In recent years feminist academics have developed a critique of the way in which poverty has been discussed in academic disciplines. The essence of this critique is that much work on poverty has been gender blind, and therefore has not been sufficiently aware of the ways in which women are more vulnerable to poverty, and in which ways women’s experience of poverty may differ from men’s. In particular, the focus on the household as the unit of analysis has meant that
“until very recently women’s poverty has been largely invisible, hidden within mainstream analyses which, in general, have defined poverty in relation to the financial circumstances of families or households and taken little or no account of what goes on within these units.” (Millar and Glendinning, 1992:3).
The invisibility of women’s poverty has operated in a number of ways -
“providing no separate information on women and men in data on poverty; presenting results which show women to be more at risk of poverty than men but ignoring or trivialising this; or conceptualising poverty in ways such that women’s poverty is obscured. This latter [...] is inherent in conventional approaches to defining poverty which employ household or family-based measures and which thus ignore the distribution of income within households” (Millar and Glendinning, 1992:8).
As Millar and Glendinning go on to point out measures of poverty based on aggregate units such as the household assume that within the unit resources and living standards are shared more or less
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 40 equally. However, a growing body of research on this issue has shown this assumption to be false. In particular research by Carolyn Vogler led her to the conclusion that only 20% - one in five households - used an egalitarian ‘pooling’ system and that women generally commanded less of the ‘family’ income than men (Millar and Glendinning, 1992:8). Women’s access to income may be very limited in certain circumstances and the sum of money within their control shockingly low. For example, Esam and Berthoud (1991) estimated the proportion of men and women in Britain with independent incomes of less than £25 a week. In 1990/91 this added up to about 4.6 million women, compared with just 0.4 million men.
“Thus when income is measured on an individual basis, women are ten times more likely than men to have very low incomes: 20 per cent of adult women compared with only 2 per cent of adult men were below the £25 level” (Millar and Glendinning, 1992:9).
It is true, of course, that poverty is a burden for all who experience it - men, women and children. However, the purpose of a gender analysis of poverty is to establish whether the answers to questions about the likelihood of falling into poverty, the duration of poverty, the consequences of poverty, and policies designed to combat poverty, are the same for men and women, and indeed whether there are different answers for distinct groups of men and distinct groups of women.
In general it can be argued that
“Women will always remain at greater risk of poverty than men, as long as the current gendered division of labour continues” (Millar and Glendinning, 1992:10).
Women are more likely to suffer from poverty than men; they often have limited access to incomes of their own, and frequently less than an equal share within households with couples; and on average women’s incomes are much lower than men’s. Women form a significant proportion of groups vulnerable to poverty, and in some groups make up the majority. As the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) have pointed out,
“It is the unemployed, low paid and pensioners who account for most of the people living in poverty” (Oppenheim, 1990:29).
In 1992/93 between 13 and 14 million people in the UK were living in poverty (Oppenheim and Harker, 1996:24).
Looking at typical household and family structures it can be seen that women make up a majority of those in poverty. In 1992/93 of those living in poverty (below 50% of average income):
• 10% were married pensioners;
• 11% were single pensioners;
• 37% were married couples with children;
• 11% were married couples without children;
• 17% were single parents;
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 41 • 14% were single people without children.
(Oppenheim and Harker, 1996:35).
Because the major sources of data on poverty are not broken down by sex CPAG made a rough estimate of how many women were living in poverty in the UK by making assumptions about the number of women who are single parents, pensioners, and so forth. In 1992 5.4 million women and 4.2 million men were living in poverty - thus women make up around 56% of adults living in poverty (Oppenheim and Harker, 1996:93). It is not likely that this distribution would be significantly different in Scotland, though Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have higher proportions of people in poverty than England. Northern Ireland has a significantly larger proportion of its population living in poverty than any other part of the UK.
Causes of women's poverty
The fundamental causes of women’s poverty are the economic dependence and restricted labour market participation that result from family responsibilities that are not shared equally with men, or indeed even shared at all. Family responsibilities shape women's work patterns, the type of occupations they work in, their earnings and their social security benefits. They push women into financial dependence upon men or upon state benefits.
Women remain responsible for the bulk of domestic work. In particular responsibility for childcare has a knock-on effect on women's employment and earning capacity.
“Heather Joshi estimated that if a woman on average earnings had two children, she would lose £122,000 over a lifetime in lost earnings. This is a result of 8 years out of the labour market in the early years of having children, and working fewer hours and having lower earnings on return to work” (Oppenheim, 1990:98).
Much of women’s work is part-time and low paid, and though women’s earnings make a significant contribution to household income they are often insufficient to provide economic independence. The way in which the benefits system operates also means that women in low-paid jobs may find it not worthwhile to continue working if their partner becomes unemployed, and this has contributed to the growing polarisation between two-earner households and no-earner households. There is also the problem of the distribution of income within households, which often leaves women with a less than equal share, and with the responsibility of budgeting for the family with inadequate resources.
Women in poverty in Scotland
The section below looks at some of the available data on people dependent on benefits in Scotland, and comments on what this tells us about the position of women in particular. Given the way in which statistics are currently published, it is not possible to calculate the total number of women living in poverty in Scotland. This is because in somc cases the available data do not distinguish between men and women in all categories of claimant; entitlement to some benefits overlaps, and people may be claiming more than one, thus to add up numbers of benefit recipients would result in a degree of double counting; recipients of certain benefits can earn income without suffering loss of benefit, therefore some recipients of the relevant benefits will have incomes above poverty levels.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 42 The following comments can be made about the composition of Income Support claimants (see Table 2). Of pensioners the majority will be women (in 1988, the CPAG estimated that three times as many women pensioners as men were dependent on Income Support). Of lone parent claimants it is estimated that 96% are women. Table 1 below gives the breakdown by sex for claimants of disability benefits for GB (a breakdown by sex is not available for Scotland). An OPCS study based on surveys conducted in the late eighties suggested that in Scotland there were 611,000 adults and 33,000 children who had some form of disability (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:52). Carers of people with disabilities are more likely to be women. For example, in 1985 nearly a quarter (24%) of women aged 45 to 64 were carers, compared to 16% of men (Oppenheim, 1990:75). Responsibility for caring often results in poverty for carers, as well as for the person being cared for, as caring responsibilities reduce the capacity for earning, or force people to give up work altogether. The majority of unemployed claimants are likely to be families, though of single unemployed claimants men are in a majority. Looking at the population dependent on Income Support, it can be assumed that there are more women living in poverty than men or children. This would be in line with CPAG’s calculation quoted above, which estimated that approximately 56% of adults living in poverty are women.
Women as Benefit Men Women % of total
Severe Disablement Allowance 135 213 61.2
Attendance Allowance 143 316 68.8
Disability Living Allowance 868 820 48.6
Disability Working Allowance 5029 3311 39.7
Invalid Care Allowance 74 242 76.6
TABLE 1 Disability Benefits GB 1995 (000s)
(Note: some of these benefits overlap, and claimants may be entitled to more than one)
Source: Social Security Statistics, 1996
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 43 TABLE 2 Recipients of Income Support in Scotland, May 1995
Number Receiving Recipients Income Support 1995
Pensioner 161,818
Disabled 85,687
Lone parent 94,774
Unemployed 168,075
Other 54,587
All recipients of Income Support 564,941
Source: Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University
TABLE 3 Income Support Claimants by Client Grouping, Scotland 1995 (%)
Unemployed Disabled Lone Parent Pensioner Other
28.0 15.0 17.0 29.0 10.0
Source: Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University
Of serious concern is the number of children currently growing up in poverty in Scotland. According to the Scottish Poverty Information Unit more than one in three of all children in Scotland are living in poverty - 38% of Scottish children, and 42% of under 5s (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:9). Of these it is particularly the children of lone parents who are vulnerable to poverty. Nearly three times as many children of lone parents, than children of unemployed couples, were dependent on Income Support in 1995.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 44 TABLE 4 Children under 16 Dependent on Income Support by Claimant Grouping, Scotland, 1995
Type of Number of Number of children Percentage of under Claimant claimants under 16* 16 population** Unemployed 168075 55465 5.3 Disabled 85687 27420 2.6 Lone Parent 94774 161116 15.5 Pensioner 161818 1942 0.2 Other 54587 13647 1.3 Total 564941 265522 25.6
* Estimates based on a dependency ratio from the Benefits Agency ** Under 16 population taken from Registrar General’s mid-year population estimates
Source: Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University
**TABLE 5 Recipients of Family Credit in Scotland, May 1995
Number receiving % within recipient Recipients Family Credit* category* Couples… 29,260 100 with main earner female 9,640 32.9 with main earner male 19,620 67.1 Lone parents… 38,280 100 female lone parents 37,280 97.4 male lone parents 1000 2.6 **All families receiving 67,540 100 Family Credit
Source: DSS, Analytical Services Division, Newcastle (quoted in Child and Family Poverty in Scotland: the Facts)
Figures on Family Credit again bear out the vulnerability of lone parents to poverty. Family Credit is a benefit available to people in work on low incomes. The majority of claimants of this benefit (57%) are lone parents. While Family Credit takes people above Income Support levels it may remain difficult for people to substantially increase their incomes, and they may remain at this level for considerable periods of time. As the Scottish Poverty Information Unit report notes, the trend has been for families to remain on Family Credit for longer periods of time than was the case a few years ago (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:21).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 45 TABLE 6 Recipients of Unemployment Benefit and Income Support in Scotland, November 1995
Women Men * Recipients (1000s) (1000s) All recipients of Unemployment Benefit 12 31 Unemployment Benefit only 10 20 Unemployment Benefit + Income Support 2 11 Recipients of Income Support only 25 104 People registered unemployed but not in receipt of Unemployment Benefit or Income 714 Support Total 44 149
Source: Social Security Statistics , 1996
In the last 18 years the government has made around 30 changes to the way official unemployment figures are calculated. This has had the effect of lowering official figures and concealing the true level of unemployment. The Labour government is currently investigating this issue, and it is to be hoped that they will soon introduce more accurate measures of recording unemployment. However, one dimension of the inaccuracy of unemployment figures that has received insufficient attention is that of women’s unemployment. Tackling this is not simply a matter of undoing the massaging of figures that became the norm under the Conservatives, but it is also a matter of addressing the way in which the benefits system operates to conceal women’s unemployment. As Claire Callender points out official figures
“particularly misrepresent the numbers of women who do not have paid work and want employment or who are underemployed.”
Thus it has been estimated that one in four women who lose their jobs do not appear in the monthly claimant count. The variation in the definitions of unemployment used in statistics creates differing estimates. For example the spring 1990 Labour Force Survey (LFS), which enumerates women who would like a job and are available for work, includes almost three and a half times as many women as the monthly claimant count and puts the figure of female unemployment at about 1 million higher than the claimant count. By contrast, the LFS estimates lower numbers of unemployed men compared with the claimant count (Millar and Glendinning, 1992:130). The Scottish Poverty Information Unit have illustrated the impact that different methods of calculation make to overall unemployment rates for women and men in Scotland, as shown in the following table.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 46 TABLE 7 Unemployment Rates, Scotland 1993-95
Claimant count Standard LFS Broad LFS
All Men Women All Men Women All Men Women
Autumn n/a n/a n/a 9.5 10.5 8.3 12.8 12.5 13.1 1993 Autumn 8.9 12.4 4.5 8.7 10.2 6.9 12.4 12.9 11.9 1994 Autumn 7.7 10.7 3.9 9.1 10.3 7.7 12.5 12.9 12.0 1995
Source: Working Brief, No 54, No 63, No 73. (Quoted by Scottish Poverty Information Unit)
The broad Labour Force Survey includes ‘discouraged’ workers, that is those who have not looked for work in the four weeks prior to the Labour Force Survey reference week, because they believe that no job is available, because they are sick or disabled, or because they are looking after a home or family. It can be seen from the above table that while official claimant count figures suggest that the rate of women’s unemployment is about half that of men’s unemployment, the Broad Labour Force Survey suggests that the rate of unemployment experienced by women and men is roughly the same. In 1996 unemployment in Scotland stood at 147,500 for women, and 444,000 for men, or rates of 4.1 and 11.3 respectively. If, as the Broad Labour Force Survey figures suggest, women’s rate of unemployment is comparable to men’s this would suggest the real level of women’s unemployment in Scotland in 1996 was over 400,000.
Women are disadvantaged in terms of access to redundancy payments ( which depend on length of service), access to Unemployment Benefit/Job Seekers Allowance because of contribution conditions and through exclusion of part-timers who are below the National Insurance threshold (It has been suggested that during the late 1980s there was a gradual increase in both the absolute numbers and the proportion of the workforce outside the NI net. It was estimated by Catherine Hakim that in 1987/8 about 2.2 million people in employment fell outside the net, four fifths of them women. ( See Claire Callender, in Millar and Glendinning, p 136), the need to satisfy the DSS that they can make adequate care arrangements for children or other dependants, and emphasis on formal methods of seeking employment.
The new Job Seekers Allowance further disadvantages women. Firstly, the contribution based Job Seekers Allowance is only available for 6 months (compared to a year for Unemployment Benefit), and thereafter unemployed people are dependent on means-tested benefits. This is likely to restrict women’s access to incomes in their own right, as the household is the unit of assessment for means tested benefits. In addition the Job Seekers Allowance is accompanied by tougher ‘actively seeking work’ and ‘availability for work’ tests with which it is likely to be harder for women to comply.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 47 TABLE 8 Recipients of Widows Benefits in Scotland, 1995
Number of Recipients recipients (1000s)* Widowed Mother’s Allowance 5.6 —with dependent children Widowed Mother’s Allowance 0.6 —without dependent children Standard rate widow’s pension 10.1
Age related widow’s pension 18.4
All recipients of widows’ benefits 34.7
Source: Social Security Statistics, 1996
It should be noted with respect to Widows Benefits, and similarly with respect to State Retirement Pensions, that recipients may earn income without their benefits being affected. Thus figures for these will include people who have other income, and are not wholly dependent on state benefits. If a widow remarries, her Widows Benefit is withdrawn completely, as this benefit exists to replace the earnings of her late husband. If a widow cohabits, however, her Widows Benefit is merely suspended for the period of cohabitation.
TABLE 9 Recipients of State retirement pension in Scotland, 1995
Number of Recipients recipients (1000s) Women 550.7 Women on own insurance 253.5 Wives on husband’s insurance 150.0 Widows on husband’s insurance 147.2 Men 273.2 Women as % of total 67.5
* numbers do not add up because totals are rounded
Source: Social Security Statistics, 1996
The table above on recipients of state retirement pension illustrates the extent to which elderly women are dependent on state benefits, rather than occupational or private pensions. But it also illustrates the extent to which elderly women are still dependent on benefits acquired through men’s earning capacity. To some extent we might expect this pattern to change as women participate more in the labour market. However, it is only women who work full-time, with minimal interruptions to Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 48 their employment, who are likely to accrue pension benefits comparable with men’s. Many part- timers remain outside occupational schemes, and even if this situation changes, will only receive benefits that relate to their contributions, which are proportional to earnings. The recent media attention focused on the division of pension assets in divorce settlement might have led many to think that this issue had only just arisen, although in Scotland this has already been legal for the past ten years. Under Scots law pension benefits which are accrued during the marriage are taken into consideration in divorce settlements. However, research on divorce settlements in Scotland showed that pension assets were often used to bargain with husbands over relinquishing a share in the matrimonial home (Wasoff, Dobash, and Harcus, 1990). The research study found that the idea of a clean financial break was given more prominence than was warranted by legislation, and that this clashed with the principle of equal or fair sharing of matrimonial property and the need to provide for children as a joint, continuing responsibility. In addition, calculations relating both to pension assets and to maintenance costs did not give sufficient attention to the real value of assets or the real cost of maintaining children. However, the subsequent introduction of the Child Support Act has made continuing maintenance for children a legal obligation and this will have had an impact on the way in which divorce settlements are negotiated.
The Child Support Act has done little to help women, and has made things worse for some. There are no Scottish figures available relating to the Child Support Act, but some information is available for the UK as a whole. In 1995/6 2,277 parents with care came off benefit and became totally dependent on maintenance (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:24). A large number of parents are dependent on a combination of benefit and maintenance. By November 1995 there were 73,000 absent parents who paid between £0.01 and £2.35 in maintenance per week. As this indicates, many absent parents are themselves living on low incomes. Lone mothers on means-tested benefits have not benefited financially from the Child Support Act, and those who may be trying to move from benefits into employment often have to put up with difficulties caused by delayed or unreliable maintenance payments.
Just as poverty is not evenly distributed by sex, or class, it is not distributed evenly by ethnic group or by region. Ethnic minorities in Scotland are at greater risk of experiencing poverty than white families. As the Scottish Poverty Information Unit report notes,
“low paid employment and unemployment are crucial factors, but poverty is also about the way in which racism and discrimination produce unequal access to services” (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:55).
On average both men and women in ethnic minority groups in Scotland experience higher rates of unemployment than the white population. There are, however, significant differences between ethnic groups in terms of participation in the labour market. Pakistani and Bangladeshi women have low rates of participation, while the rates of participation of Chinese women are much higher. Numbers of lone parents within ethnic minority groups are much lower than in the white population, and within some ethnic groups lone parents appear to be virtually non-existent.
While poverty and deprivation may be concentrated in urban areas in Scotland, rural poverty is also a significant problem. It has been estimated that 65% of households in rural areas had incomes below the Scottish Low Pay Unit threshold (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:37). In general the incidence of low pay is higher in rural areas than in urban areas, in particular for women workers. In 1995, for example, 66.2% of women workers in the Borders were low paid, 62% in Dumfriess and Galloway, and 59.3% in Highland. This compared with 46.3% in Strathclyde and 40.4% in Lothian (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:38). Women on low incomes in rural areas are likely to suffer Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 49 disadvantage in terms of poor housing, lack of transport, lack of childcare facilities, lack of employment opportunities, and may also experience difficulty in gaining access to health, advice and welfare services.
Conclusion
This chapter has attempted to indicate the extent of women's poverty in Scotland and to outline the major causes. There are many consequences of poverty, particularly long term poverty, such as poor health, premature ill health and death, poor housing conditions and homelessness, and low levels of educational attainment. There is not the space here to examine these in any detail. Nor is there the space to examine what women themselves do about this, though it is important to note that women are often the key activists in community groups challenging poverty and campaigning for change in many parts of Scotland. Finally, there is not the space either to look at policies which might combat poverty for women. Suffice it to say that this has to be much wider than tinkering with the benefits system, and will be different from what is done to combat men's poverty. The major policy plank in attacking men's poverty is reducing unemployment. For some categories of women increasing participation in the labour market, supported by child-care facilities, will help - in particular lone parents. However, while unemployment is a more serious problem for women than the official figures suggest and than is often supposed, the major problems for women to overcome if they are to avoid poverty are: access to jobs which pay a decent wage, rather than access to jobs per se; and compensation for interruptions to employment caused by caring responsibilities. This should be in the form of adequate financial support during periods of child bearing and rearing, or periods of caring for other dependants, and adequate support in old age. Securing an independent income for women must also be an important goal, as dependency on men too often means struggling on inadequate resources to meet the needs of the family, which usually results in women putting their own interests last, and paying the price in terms of poor diet, stress and ill health. Esther Breitenbach
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 50 Sources
Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University Social Security Statistics, 1996 Working Brief, No 54, No 63, No 73. (Quoted by Scottish Poverty Information Unit) DSS, Analytical Services Division, Newcastle (quoted in Child and Family Poverty in Scotland: the Facts)
References
Millar, J and Glendinning, C, (eds), (1992) Women and Poverty in Britain, Hemel Hempstead, Harvester Wheatsheaf. Long, G, Macdonald, S, and Scott, G (1996) Child and Family Poverty in Scotland: the Facts, Glasgow, Save the Children and Glasgow Caledonian University. Oppenheim, C, (1990) Poverty: the Facts, London, Child Poverty Action Group. Oppenheim, C, and Harker, L (1996) Poverty: the Facts, 3rd edition, London, Child Poverty Action Group. Callender, C (1992) 'Women and Unemployment' in Millar, J and Glendinning, C, (eds),Women and Poverty in Britain, Hemel Hempstead, Harvester Wheatsheaf. Wasoff, F, Dobash, R.E, and Harcus, D (1990) The Impact of the Family Law(Scotland) Act 1985 on Solicitors’ Divorce Practice, Edinburgh, Scottish Office. Esam, P and Berthoud, R (1991) Independent Benefits for Men and Women, London, Policy Studies Institute.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 51 Violence
Introduction
There are considerable difficulties in assessing the true scale of violence against women and children which is, by its nature, hidden, minimised and ignored. However rape, sexual assault and domestic violence are believed to be massively under-reported. For example, researchers Rebecca and Russell Dobash estimate that only 2% of domestic violence is reported to the police (1979). A forthcoming report from the Scottish Forum for Public Health estimates that of the 2,169,930 women aged over 15 years who live in Scotland as many as 174,000 may have experienced physical violence and 260,000 may have experienced mental cruelty within the last 12 months (1997). Other research suggests as few as one in five rapes are officially reported.
There are several key features to the problem of violence: men are predominantly the perpetrators of violence and sexual assault; and women and children are predominantly its victims. Statistically, women and children are more at risk in their homes from men they know, than they are at risk from strangers out of doors. Additionally, much violence and abuse remains secret and hidden; and self blame is commonly felt by victims and survivors.
For more than 20 years, feminist activism has worked to break the silence which surrounds domestic violence, sexual assault and child sex abuse; and a variety of women’s groups have mobilised to demand political and social action. In Scotland, as elsewhere, Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis groups have been at the forefront of the provision of practical help in the form of refuges for women escaping violence, crisis help-lines and long-term support and counselling for survivors of violence and sexual assault.
This chapter reports on some of the recent developments concerning violence against women in Scotland. Whilst it cannot provide a comprehensive overview of all the relevant work it seeks to:
• Report on campaign work which seeks to raise public awareness and lobby for political action.
• Outline some of the difficulties in gaining information about the needs and experiences of different groups of women in Scotland.
• Update information on the work of key groups like Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis who provide support services to the women who have experienced violence and abuse.
• Summarise some recent research on the economic costs of domestic violence and re-education programmes for violent men.
Lobbying and Campaigning
The issue of violence against women has been kept on the public and political agenda in Scotland through the campaigning work of organisations like Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis groups, local authorities, the Zero Tolerance campaign and other committed groups and individuals. Positive progress has been made, particularly in terms of public awareness initiatives both local, national
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 52 and international, since the last Gender Audit. However, on the negative side, front-line agencies report a continuing crisis of resources; support services are chronically under funded and abused women and children continue to be turned away. In 1995/1996, 3,137 women and their children were given refuge by Scottish Women’s Aid, however 4,710 women and 6,057 children and young people could not be found a refuge space where and when they wanted.
There is still no national Scottish or national UK campaign for tackling violence against women and children, although the new Labour Government may take a more proactive stance.
Statement of Intent
The Zero Tolerance Trust co-ordinated a campaign to put violence against women and children on the political agenda during the General Election with the drawing up of a national Statement of Intent on violence which calls for the issue to be given a high political priority, and for political parties to work with other groups to draw up a national strategy to combat male violence. A number of public meetings were held in April 1997, and individuals and organisations were encouraged to lobby candidates.
The Statement of Intent has been supported by a wide range of organisations and groups in Scotland and the rest of the UK, including front-line groups such as Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Network Scotland, Barnados, Childline; and other organisations like the Business and Professional Women UK.
Candidates from all the main parties were invited to sign up to the Zero Tolerance Statement of Intent. A total of 1,995 statements were sent out. The overall return rate was 16%; 128 individual replies from Labour (18%); 127 individual replies from Liberal Democrats (18%); 50 individual replies from the SNP (69%); 18 individual replies from Conservatives (2%). They also received 22 non signing but supportive letters (McCrae, May 1997). Post election, The Zero Tolerance Trust are continuing to consult and lobby. A Plan of Action is expected to be drawn up by the Autumn.
What the Labour Party has pledged about violence against women
The following key points are taken from ‘New Labour’s Agenda for Women” the response of the then Shadow Minister for Women, Janet Anderson MP in February, 1997 to the questionnaire on “In Pursuit of Equality - A National Agenda for Action” sent out by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and the Women’s National Commission (WNC) to all political parties.
• A full review of the law governing domestic and sexual violence towards women (building upon consultation document in October 1995, “Peace At Home”).
• Create a greater awareness of the problem among relevant agencies, as well as the public at large.
• National statistics on domestic violence. Improvements to the collection and collation of appropriate data.
• Work in partnership with local councils and voluntary bodies towards a network of women’s refuges across the country.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 53 • Review of law on provocation in respect of long term abuse as a mitigating factor for women who kill or seriously injure their abusive partners.
• Possible changes to law to prevent rape defendants cross examining witnesses where it is reasonably suspected that they are only seeking to intimidate the victim.
• Greater protection to overseas workers.
• In addition, a full review of UK immigration laws has been pledged, including the One Year Rule which can keep women trapped in abusive relationships.
Zero Tolerance Campaign
The Zero Tolerance Campaign is a ground breaking public education initiative, pioneered by Edinburgh District Council’s Women’s Committee in 1992, which uses a variety of media and other activities to promote its message of Zero Tolerance of violence against women and children. It is a radical initiative in that it seeks to challenge existing power relations and effect far-reaching social change. The campaign challenges all men to acknowledge male violence, and individual men to take responsibility for their violence. In addition, it ‘names’ violence as a political issue; it uses a feminist analysis of violence as a male abuse of power and it links sexual violence, domestic violence and child sexual abuse as part of what has been identified as the “continuum of violence” (Kelly, 1988). The campaign was taken up by a number of other Scottish local authorities who worked in partnership with neighbouring councils, Health Boards, the police, other agencies and community groups to challenge male violence. The campaign has also been run in parts of England, in South Australia, New York and South Africa (Gender Audit 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996).
The Zero Tolerance Trust was set up in 1994/95 to co ordinate the Zero Tolerance campaign on a national basis and to work with local authorities, statutory and voluntary agencies and community groups. The Trust entered into a new phase in 1997 with the employment of paid workers: a National Co-ordinator and a Policy/Campaigns Officer. It launched a Justice Campaign in Scotland with participating local authorities; and co ordinated a lobby for a national strategy to tackle violence against women.
Seven Scottish local authorities affiliated to the Trust in 1996 /1997 and participated in the Zero Tolerance Justice campaign (Jan - March 1997). They were: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. Three further Scottish Authorities: Argyll and Bute, South Lanarkshire and West Dumbartonshire plan to run the campaign later this year.
(i) The Justice Campaign:
The Justice Campaign uses posters, leaflets, billboards, bus advertising and public events to expose the perceived inadequacies of the criminal justice system to deliver justice to abused women and children. For instance, an analysis of Scottish Office statistics by Louise Carlin, Zero Tolerance Trust National Co-ordinator, reveals that :
• Whilst the number of rapes being recorded by the police has increased by 60% between 1985 and 1994, the proportion of those being proceeded against (prosecuted) has halved.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 54 • A comparison of 1988 and 1994 figures reveals that whilst recorded rapes increased by 40% in that period, the rate of conviction has almost halved
• In 1994 only 9% of recorded rapes resulted in a conviction, the lowest rate for the last decade (although the average conviction rate is only 13%).
(Zero Tolerance Justice Campaign, Rape Briefing, 1997).
The report notes that,
“This effectively means that in 91% of alleged rapes, no sanction is imposed by the criminal justice system on the accused’ (ZTT, 1997). The campaign also highlights the humiliating questioning women who are raped may face in court and the lack of weight given to the evidence of women and children where there are no witnesses, arguing that ‘violent men see a criminal justice system that effectively condones their crimes’”.
Politicians, lawyers and the public were urged to sign a Justice Pledge calling for an open, accountable and representative legal system. A recent report to Edinburgh City Council Women’s committee reported that whereas there had been positive response from voluntary organisations, women’s groups and individuals in the City, there had been a poor response to date from Edinburgh lawyers and law firms (May 22, 1997).
(ii) Work with young people:
The next phase of the campaign will be focused upon young people and will build upon work already developed by a number local authorities and other organisations. For example, Aberdeen Zero Tolerance Campaign has produced an innovative schools pack which was distributed to every school in the city in May 1997. The Zero Tolerance materials and issues raised had been adapted as appropriate for primary pupils and for students in Secondary years One and Two.
The forthcoming Zero Tolerance Young Person’s Campaign will also be informed by research currently underway which examines the attitudes of 1,500 young people aged between 15 and 19 years towards violence. Two Scottish authorities and one English authority are involved in the pilot research with the Zero Tolerance Trust. The findings are likely to be published in the autumn of 1997.
(iii) Europe:
The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights is considering the launch of a European- wide campaign for zero tolerance of violence against women (Women of Europe, April 1997).
Violence , Women and Multiple Discrimination
A number of reports commissioned by Strathclyde Zero Tolerance Campaign before local government reorganisation examined the commonalities and the differences in terms of diverse groups of women’s experiences of violence; their different needs; and additional barriers which may face women in reporting abuse and seeking support. The reports marked the recognition of campaigners that the campaign and related services may be fail to reach or include certain groups of women, for instance,
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 55 women with disabilities, black and ethnic minority women and women in rural areas. The three reports (Cosgrove and Macleod, 1995; McCrae and Brown, 1995; Cosgrove and Forman, 1995) all highlight the lack of good information about violence against women from different groups and communities in Scotland.
“We are No Exception” (Cosgrove and Macleod, 1995) which reports on male violence against women with disability states that there is very little research in a Scottish or UK context. However the authors draw upon Canadian studies which suggest that :
• 90% of disabled women are raped, abused or sexually assaulted some time in their lives.
• Two thirds of disabled women are physically or sexually assaulted before they reach their teens.
• 90% of offenders are known to their victims. The extent to which violence is responsible for causing or worsening disability is not known, and to a large extent is not recorded by either health care practitioners or support agencies.
Scottish women consulted for the report felt that men perceived women with disability as being more vulnerable, therefore they felt at greater risk from assault. They also had an additional barrier to reporting abuse. It was felt that support organisations were unwilling to raise or tackle abuse by carers; and some women feared that if they did report abuse by family members or carers they might be moved into institutional care. (Cosgrove and Macleod, 1995: pp.6-8).
Meanwhile, the Zero Tolerance Campaign in Fife has worked with a group of women with learning disabilities to produce an information leaflet to highlight the issues and to present the message in inclusive and appropriate ways. The risk of sexual abuse and assault of adolescents and adults with a learning disability is probably seven times as high as the risk for other groups of people.
Very little research has been carried out into the lives of black and ethnic minority women in Scotland; still less upon the issue of violence. This lack of research can be placed within a context in which statistical data on black and ethnic minority communities remains sparse. However, women consulted for No Voice-No Choice, a report on domestic violence within black and ethnic minorities in the former Strathclyde Region, all agreed that it existed.
“Given the overwhelming evidence on the barriers facing abused women, it is absurd that both statutory and voluntary organisations do not record or resist recording domestic violence in some formal way and fail to monitor ethnic origin” (McCrae and Brown, 1995:p.7).
Interviewees noted that whilst many of the problems facing abused women are the same, they were compounded for black and ethnic minority women because of their specific circumstances. In particular, the marginalised and isolated position of minority communities; and the difficulties of discussing the violence of black and ethnic minority partners in a wider racist society; and immigration issues. Current immigration laws, particularly the One Year Rule, place some women in the impossible position of choosing between remaining in an abusive marriage or leaving to face penury and eventual deportation (For further details see Families and Family Law section of this Gender Audit).
The diversity of family forms within the black and ethnic minority communities in Scotland was emphasised. However, there is a great deal of pressure from concepts such as ‘family honour’ and Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 56 community loyalty that problems which arise within families should be dealt with within families and communities. Women who leave abusive relationships may find themselves and their children isolated.
The authors write:
“It was felt by interviewees in this report that statutory agencies often did not fully appreciate the problems. There was a tendency to say “there is no real problem” or expect the community to deal with it, or stigmatise the ‘culture’. None of these approaches were felt to be helpful. It was stressed that there was a real need for an approach that understood the complexities and subtleties involved.” (McCrae and Brown, 1995:p.9).
There is scant research on violence against women in rural areas in Scotland or Britain. There is evidence from Canadian studies that domestic violence may be more prevalent in rural and isolated areas than in urban areas. The experience of women living in rural areas differs in a number of ways from that of women living in urban areas in Scotland’s Central Belt. Women living on islands or in remote housing on the mainland are isolated geographically from sources of help and information. Additional problems and barriers identified by women consulted for the Scottish report included: women’s isolation in rural areas, traditional roles and religious pressures, lack of confidentiality, lack of access to resources and outside information and advice, poor transport which makes it difficult to get help, poor housing, no access to telephones.
For example:
• Abused women in some parts of rural Scotland may have to travel eighty miles to reach a Women’s Aid refuge, and have to travel by ferry and bus.
• Women may have no access to a telephone to call for help.
• Women living in ‘tied’ houses are likely to lose their homes if they end an abusive marriage. In rural areas more generally, council housing stock is very limited. McWilliams and McKiernan’s work on rural women in Northern Ireland noted that the scarcity of support networks meant that the family circle was overwhelmingly important. This could be positive, in terms of supporting women; but could also be negative in pressurising women to maintain an abusive relationship (1993). Social role expectations can be particularly constraining for women in Scottish rural areas and can act as barriers to action (Cosgrove and Forman, p.4).
Women, Religion and Violence
Abused women from religious backgrounds, both ethnic minority community religions and Christian traditions, can face additional problems when they experience domestic violence and abuse. Religion can become an additional burden, especially when religious conditioning is combined with structures and practices which are oppressive to women. When abused women try and break the silence, they can find that their spiritual advisers and others minimise or deny the abuse. Women of different faiths are sometimes told to forgive their abuser, or to accept the violence as divine will. Challenging violence can lead to isolation and exclusion for abused women whilst their church, mosque or temple continues to offer refuge to the perpetrators of violence. Additionally, domestic violence by religious leaders towards their own partners and families, and the sexual abuse of other women in their spiritual or pastoral care are two further issues of concern. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 57 In September 1996, a multi faith project in Glasgow launched a telephone help line to support abused women who are
“Struggling with the difficulties arising from religious conditioning”
The Glasgow Working Group on Women Religion and Violence was set up in 1991 and is supported by Barnado’s Faith and Community Project. It works to raise awareness and to provide an information and support network. The telephone help line operates every Tuesday evening (see ‘contacts’ at end of section).
A pioneering action research project has been confronting violence against women in the Christian churches in Scotland. The ‘Out of the Shadows’ project, based at the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at New College in Edinburgh, aims to raise awareness of domestic violence, abuse and harassment within churches and communities of faith; to give a voice to the victims and survivors of abuse; and to campaign for change.
A conference was held on April 26, 1997 attended by around 130 people, including key representatives and officials from the main Christian denominations in Scotland. This was a significant event because it was the first time that church ‘notables’ met together with those from the voluntary, statutory and academic sectors, along with many survivors, specifically to acknowledge and address the reality of male violence and abuse against women in church and wider society.
In her presentation, project co-ordinator Lesley Orr Macdonald challenged the churches, acting individually and collectively, to listen, learn from, and respond to the voices of survivors. The project has called upon the Christian church in Scotland to
“respond with resolute action” in the following ways:
• Acknowledge and confess its historical role in legitimising inequality and the subordination of women.
• Denounce all manifestations of violence against women as sin against humanity and against God.
• Offer public and practical support to all agencies which provide advice, refuge, counselling and other services to women and children; and to support, resource and publicise ecumenical initiatives such as multi-faith help lines.
• Develop educational and training programmes to raise awareness of gender violence; including mandatory training for clergy and lay workers.
• Devise and implement disciplinary procedures and codes of ethical conduct for clergy and other church workers.
Although the project comes to an end in October 1997, an ongoing network will continue to lobby, Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 58 campaign and monitor the churches’ response to these recommendations
(Macdonald, 1997).
The following two sections update information on the work of key groups like Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis who provide support services to Scottish women who have experienced violence and abuse.
Domestic Violence
• Domestic violence is defined as
“any form of physical, sexual or emotional abuse which takes place within the context of a close relationship”
(House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Report on Domestic Violence, 1993).
• Women are victims of domestic violence, and men perpetrators in 99% of cases
(Dobash and Dobash, 1979).
• Domestic violence accounts for a quarter of all reported violent crime in Scotland
(Gender Audit, 1994).
• One study suggests only 2% of attacks are reported to the police
(Dobash and Dobash, 1979)
• It is estimated that 174,000 women in Scotland may have experienced domestic violence and 260,000 may have experienced mental cruelty from their male partners in the last 12 months
(Scottish Forum for Public Health ,1997)
Although domestic violence is commonly perpetrated by men on their female partners, it must be recognised that other forms of family or intimate violence are significant for certain groups of women. Family violence (involving members of extended families, sometimes female) is an issue for Asian and Chinese women. In a recent report, ethnic minority workers in Scotland stated that
“its significance and effects were not recognised or understood” (McCrae and Brown, 1995).
Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) and its 39 local groups provide information, support and refuge for abused women and their children. It also works to raise public awareness of domestic violence as an abuse of power, and provides training for other agencies. It runs its own campaigns and is also
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 59 actively involved in the Zero Tolerance Campaign and the international 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence which runs from November 25 to December 10 each year.
The most recent figures available from Scottish Women’s Aid reveal that:
• The number of women seeking help or advice from Scottish Women’s Aid has increased by 16% in a year from 35,081 in 1994/95 to 41,629 in 1995/6. (A rise of 6,548).
• In 1995/96 7,847 women asked for refuge for themselves and their children, slightly down from 1994/95.
• 3,137 women and 4,853 children and young people were given refuge during 1995/96.
• Around two thirds of women (4,710) and over 6,057 children and young people could not be found a refuge space where and when they wanted.
• There are only 308 family refuge spaces in Scotland, compared with a 1991 CoSLA recommendation of 735 (CoSLA, 1991). The massive increase in the demand for Women’s Aid services comes at a time of continuing budgetary crisis within local government, which is a major funder of the organisation.
“A number of Women’s Aid groups have had their funding cut or the level frozen. Many more face great financial uncertainty.”
An interim briefing by SWA reports that
“The pressure continues to rise for local Women’s Aid groups faced with more and more women, children and young people asking for help, but having less and less funding available to ensure that help is there when it is needed.” (SWA, 1997).
• 1 in 5 calls to Women’s Aid groups are made outwith office hours and are handled almost entirely by unpaid workers. In addition to the work of local groups, the national office received 2,977 phone calls: 1,062 were from local Women’s Aid groups; 792 were from agencies and 207 were from the media.
Shakti Women’s Aid in Edinburgh has provided refuge and support for abused black and ethnic minority women for the last decade. It is the only project which caters for women from all ethnic minority groups, although Gryffe Women’s Aid in Glasgow has been established for Asian women. It also does outreach and training work.
In April 1995 after a serious breach of confidentiality Shakti were forced to close their refuge, which provided space for three women and their children, and look for alternative accommodation. Their new refuge opened in February 1997 and has been full ever since. In the intervening period black women were sometimes housed in local authority emergency accommodation or were referred to other Women’s Aid Refuges in Scotland and England. In 1995-96:
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 60 • A total of 237 women were in contact with Shakti Women’s Aid, 104 new contacts and 133 ongoing contact. Of the 104 new users
• 36 sought refuge and were supported in temporary local authority accommodation.
• 68 were supported in their own or other accommodation. Of the 133 ongoing users;
• 19 were supported in local authority temporary accommodation.
• 114 were supported in their own or other accommodation
(Shakti, 1996)
Rape and Sexual Assault
• Research in Strathclyde suggests that two in every five women have been raped or sexually assaulted.
(Women’s Support Project Survey, 1989)
• It is only eight years since men in Scotland lost the legal right to rape their wives. In England this right was not abolished until four years ago
(Zero Tolerance Justice Campaign, 1997)
• 90% of disabled women are raped, abused or sexually assaulted some time in their lives
(Cosgrove and Macleod, 1995)
In Scots Law ‘sexual assault’ includes the crimes of: rape, assault with intent to ravish and indecent assault. Previous Gender Audits have reported Scottish Office figures supplied in the categories of rape, attempted rape and indecent assault. The Scottish Office has advised this year that the figures reported in previous Gender Audits in the category, ‘attempted rape’ should be placed in the category, ‘assault with intent to ravish/rape’; although in previous years the figures may have include attempted rapes which should have been incorporated within the rape category. This reflects the confusion in recording practices. It is not altogether clear what criteria are used by various police forces etc to differentiate between attempted rape and assault with intent to ravish/rape, and the Scottish Office is preparing further clarification.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 61 TABLE 1 Recorded rapes (incl. attempted rapes), assault with intent to ravish/rape, and indecent assaults in Scotland 1991-1995
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Rape (incl. 320 350 339 395 403 447 attempted rape) Assault with Intent 200 189 204 174 195 152 to Ravish/Rape
*Indecent Assault 909 1,065 1,083 1,034 1,040 1,130
* Indecent assault will include male victims, although a gender breakdown is not available.
Source: Scottish Office, Recorded Crime in Scotland Bulletin 1995 (HMSO: Edinburgh) plus additional information from telephone briefing with Scottish Office Home Department
There are seven rape crisis groups who are linked via the Scottish Rape Crisis Network: Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Dundee, Aberdeen, Central, Ayr and Dumfries & Galloway. In addition there are a further two groups based in Ayrshire and Fife which are not affiliated. SRCN ran a Scottish-wide television advert publicising their service in 1996. The advertisement was shown on both Scottish and Grampian Television twice a night after midnight, twice a week from November 18 to the end of December 1996. Rape Crisis workers staffed helplines after each screening. In total 150 calls were made to the various centres. Initial analysis indicates that the advertisement had a marked impact. For example, Edinburgh Rape Crisis ordinarily receive 25-30 new calls each month; in December 1996 they received more than double the average number at 63. The pattern of increased calls is also duplicated throughout other Rape Crisis Centres.
Since the autumn of 1996, rape crisis groups, in common with many other women’s organisations in Scotland, have faced major concerns over funding as a result, amongst other things, of continued cutbacks in funding by local government and changes in urban aid funding. In Edinburgh, sustained lobbying of local city councillors resulted in stand-still budgets. However, the Edinburgh group warns it has been unable to offer extended support to women since November 1996 and comments that its present role has been reduced to that of ‘fire fighting’. Strathclyde Rape Crisis has been adversely affected by the break up of Strathclyde Region and now has to negotiate with 12 different local authorities, requiring 12 different funding applications and 12 sets of accounts.
At present there are no centrally collated statistics which would present a comprehensive picture of rape crisis work in Scotland. This situation may change if the network obtain National Lottery funding to establish a National Rape Crisis Office in Scotland with paid workers. Selected statistics from a number of local groups follows (more detailed figures are available in the Violence chapter in the statistical section of this Gender Audit).
Edinburgh Rape Crisis:
• ERC were contacted by 278 new women and gave continuing support to 365 other women in
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 62 1995-1996 - increases of 9% and 23% compared with 1994-1995.
• Total calls to ERC rose from 1,601 in 1994-1995 to 2,015 in 1995-1996, an increase of more than 25%.
• Women knew their attacker in all but 5% of the cases (about which information is known).
• Only one in five women contacting Edinburgh Rape Crisis in 1995-1996 had reported the attack to the police. The last two sections in this chapter summarise some recent Scottish research in the field of violence against women. The first relates to work on the economic costs of domestic violence; and the second reports on an evaluation study of two Scottish re-education programmes for violent men.
The economic costs of domestic violence
Domestic violence is a serious public health issue with considerable economic implications for the NHS, for individual women and their families, and for society. A ground breaking study by health economist Denise Young estimates that the cost of domestic violence in Greater Glasgow could range between £12 million and £21 million. The model was devised using available research about the prevalence and incidence of domestic violence and what is known about rates of health care utilisation by victims of domestic violence.
She estimates that the lives of 30,000 women in Glasgow (10% of females aged 15 to 64) are affected by domestic violence and that 15,000 of them experience what is described as ‘severe violence’. Domestic violence results in a wide variety of immediate and longer term health problems which may bring women into contact with a variety of health services. These include accident and emergency, GPs and health visitors, family planning/well woman clinics, gynaecology, psychiatry and obstetrics/maternity.
The model estimates that the annual cost to the NHS in Greater Glasgow for treating health problems related to domestic violence is approximately £12.4 million, ranging from a possible low of £7 million to a high of £16 million (depending upon assumptions about the rate of health care utilisation by women victims). A further £4.8 million is estimated in terms of lost productivity which results in a total cost of approximately £17.2 million, with a possible range of between £12 million and £21 million.
Using the medium range figures, a detailed breakdown is represented in the following tables.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 63 TABLE 2 The economic cost of domestic violence in Greater Glasgow: Direct Medical Care Costs
Health care service Estimated Cost Accident and Emergency £1,170,885 (outpatient and inpatient episodes) Visits to GP £158,940 Health Visitors service £119,613 Attendance at well women/family £43,129 planning sessions Gynaecology care £3,269,204 (outpatient, day cases and inpatients) Psychiatry £7,638,708 (outpatient and inpatient) Total Direct Medical Care Costs £12,400,479
Source: Data extrapolated from Young (1995) Appendix One: ‘Estimated Costs Assuming Medium Rates of Utilisation. Direct Medical Care Costs’
TABLE 3 The economic cost of domestic violence in Greater Glasgow: Total Societal Cost
Cost
Medical Costs £12,400,479
Lost Productivity £3,677,363 (employed work) Lost productivity £1,128,442 (housework)
Total societal cost £17,206,284
Source: Data extrapolated from Young (1995) Appendix One: ‘Estimated Costs Assuming Medium Rates of Utilisation’
If the model was applied to Scotland as a whole, then the estimated cost of domestic violence in Scotland would be approximately £120.4 million, (with a range of £84 million to £147 million) each year in terms of medical care costs and loss of productivity. Using mid range figures in just three key services, the model would estimate that domestic violence against women in Scotland would account for around £8 million in Accident and Emergency treatment, £23 million in gynaecological services and £53 million in providing psychiatric care.
Limitations and lack of official statistics on domestic violence, both in terms of health service data and more generally in terms of reliable prevalence and incidence studies, means assumptions have had to be made on the basis of ‘best guesses’. However, although there are difficulties with insufficient and unsatisfactory data, these figures are likely to under estimate rather than over estimate the scale of the problem.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 64 Young points out that the model does not include the costs of treating many associated health problems such as dental and jaw injuries, ulcers, skin allergies, digestive disorders, vision problems and arthritis which research suggests may have substantial cost implications for the NHS. For example, it is known that injuries sustained during physical assault can commonly cause damage to a woman’s teeth and mouth. A Canadian study suggests that dental treatment for women victims of domestic violence costs more than $1 million a year (Day, 1995). However virtually no research exists in Britain or Scotland which could quantify the use of dental and other services by victims of domestic violence (Young, 1995: pp. 42-43). Young was unable to include costs associated with obstetrics for example through the effects of violence on pregnant women and their unborn children because of the lack of clinical data.
The model does not include many of the direct costs to women themselves such as prescription charges, travel and child care costs incurred whilst attending hospitals, clinics and GP surgeries. Denise Young writes,
“It must be emphasised that this figure incorporates only some of the more ‘visible’ costs of domestic violence in our society. Furthermore, some of the more important costs are just not directly measurable.” (Young, 1995:p.39).
She suggests that costs such as these represent only
“the tip of the iceberg’ and that ‘ a more accurate costing of the problem will not be possible unless routine statistics are collected on the extent of domestic violence and further research looks at the societal and personal costs of violence in more detail” (Young, 1995:p.47).
Working with violent men
One of the big questions for feminists and other people working in the field is: can violent men change? A number of re-education programmes for men who commit acts of violence against their female partners and ex partners are coming on stream throughout the UK. The first two projects of this kind were both based in Scotland. Although feminist groups have been involved in the programmes, there has been ambivalence about resources being put into unproven schemes whilst services for abused women and their children continue to face chronic under-funding. However findings from a three year evaluation study of the two innovative Scottish men’s probation programmes indicate that they can have a positive impact in supporting men to change their behaviour.
Russell Dobash and Rebecca Emerson Dobash from the Manchester University, Kate Cavanagh from Strathclyde University and Ruth Lewis from Newcastle University were funded by the Home Office and the Scottish Office to evaluate CHANGE (established in the former Central Region in 1989) and the Lothian Domestic Violence Probation Project (LDVPP, begun in Edinburgh in 1990). They studied the impact of the programmes on men in terms of subsequent violence to partners as compared with men who had been sentenced to other forms of criminal justice sanctions (for instance fines, probation or prison).
CHANGE and LDVPP are criminal justice based programmes designed to re educate men who have been convicted of offences involving violence against their partners. Men taking part in programmes do so as a condition of their probation order. The programmes are based on cognitive-behavioural principles and consist of weekly group sessions over a period of six to seven months which challenge men to take responsibility for their violent actions and to work towards change. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 65 Analysis of court records revealed that only seven per cent of the programme men and 10 per cent of other criminal justice group (OCJ) men had been prosecuted for further acts of violence against their partners in the 12 month follow-up period. This might suggest that arrest and prosecution had the most significant impact upon subsequent reoffending; and that re-education programmes were not significantly more successful than other forms of sanction. However, when the researchers consulted the partners of violent men, they found that the women’s accounts revealed much higher levels of violence by men in both groups than did the court records.
The team interviewed 122 men and 133 women in the two groups, immediately after the court cases, and followed these up with postal questionnaires at 3 months and at 12 months. Key findings from the study were:
• On the basis of women’s accounts, all criminal justice interventions appeared to have some positive effects on the behaviour of their male partners during a 12 month period of follow up - but the two Scottish re-education programmes were the most successful at reducing violence and associated coercive behaviour.
• According to their partners, 33% of men participating in the programmes had committed another violent act against their partner during a 12 month follow up period subsequent to a court sanction. In comparison, 75% of men subject to other types of sanction committed a violent act in the same time period.
• The programmes were also more successful than other forms of court disposal in reducing the frequency of violence - only 7% of men participating in the Programmes, compared with 37% of men sanctioned in other ways, initiated five or more violent incidents during the follow-up period.
• In contrast to partners of men experiencing other sanctions, partners of those who participated in one of the programmes reported significant reductions in the coercive and controlling behaviour associated with violence against women (Dobash, Dobash, Cavanagh and Lewis, 1996). The authors note that,
“[M] en in the Programme group were more successful in reducing their violent and intimidating behaviour than men in the OCJ group [...]There is also a significant difference between the groups in the frequency of violence committed in the follow up period” (1996:p.2).
Comparisons between the two groups at different time periods are set out in the following table.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 66 TABLE 4 Comparisions between the reported behaviour of the Programme men and the OCJ men at different time periods
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 0 months 3 months 12 months Programme OCJ Programme OCJ Programme OCJ men men men men men men partner reports at least one violent 100% 100% 30% 62% 33% 75% act partner reports frequent violence 26% 31% 0% 16% 7% 37% (at least 5 violent incidents) repeat conviction for violence n/a n/a n/a n/a 7% 10% against partner
Source: extrapolated from Dobash et al (1996) pp. 1-3.
The research suggests that criminal justice based re-education programmes may make a positive contribution towards a reduction in violence against women in the home. However the authors stress that the programmes are just one aspect of a multi-strategy approach needed to tackle violence against women and children, and that the needs and safety of abused women and childremust be at the core of any strategy. Fiona Mackay
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 67 References
Janet Anderson MP (1997) ‘New Labour’s Agenda for Women : A Response To The Questionnaire on “In Pursuit of Equality - A National Agenda for Action”’, Labour Party, February. City of Aberdeen Council (1997), Zero Tolerance Campaign Update + Schools pack Central Scotland Rape Crisis (1996), 1st Annual Report plus fax communication. Commission of the European Union (1997), Women of Europe, April. Katie Cosgrove and Janette Forman (1995), Male Violence Against Women in Rural Areas, (Strathclyde Regional Council, February). Katie Cosgrove and Jan Mcleod (1995), We are No Exception: Male Violence against Women with Disability (Strathclyde Regional Council, January). T. Day (1995), ‘The health related costs of violence against women in Canada’, discussion paper presented at the 4th Annual Conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics, Tours, France, July. R. Emerson Dobash and Russell Dobash (1979), Violence Against Wives, New York (Free Press). Russell Dobash, Rebecca Emerson Dobash, Kate Cavanagh and Ruth Lewis (1996), ‘Re-education Programmes for Violent Men- An Evaluation’, Research Findings No. 46 (Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate, November). Dumfries and Galloway Rape Crisis (1996) 1st Annual Report City of Edinburgh Council (1997), Zero Tolerance Campaign materials plus additional information in telephone briefings. City of Edinburgh Council, Equalities Unit (1997), Report to the Women’s Committee, May 22. Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (1991), Women and Violence: Report of Working Party, Edinburgh. Edinburgh Rape Crisis (1997), figures provided in telephone briefing. Engender (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996) Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Fife Council (1996, 1997), Zero Tolerance Campaign materials plus additional information in personal briefing. House of Commons (1993), Report of the Home Affairs Select Committee on Domestic Violence, HMSO. Liz Kelly (1988), Surviving Sexual Violence, , Cambridge (Polity Press) Rosina McCrae and Usha Brown (1995), No Voice-No Choice, A report on Domestic Violence within Black and Ethnic Minority Communities (Strathclyde Regional Council). Rosina McCrae (1997), Update on Statement of Intent Campaign, May. Lesley Orr Macdonald (1997), Out of the Shadows: Christianity and Violence Against Women in Scotland (project leaflet and briefing)
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 68 M. McWilliams and J. McKiernan (1993), Bringing it Out in The Open: Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland, HMSO (Belfast ). Scottish Forum for Public Health Medicine (1997), Scottish Needs Assessment Programme: Domestic Violence (forthcoming). Scottish Office (1997), ‘Recorded Crime in Scotland, 1996’, Statistical Bulletin, Criminal Justice Series, HMSO. Additional information provided in telephone briefing with Scottish Office Home Department. Scottish Women’s Aid (1997), Interim briefing for 1995/1996 plus additional information and figures provided. Shakti Women’s Aid(1997) Annual Statistical Report for April 1996-March 1977. Shakti Women’s Aid (1996) Annual Report 1995-1996. Women’s Local Authority Network (1995), Women and Immigration, Manchester. Denise Young (1995), ‘The Economic Implications of Domestic Violence in Greater Glasgow’, (unpublished MSc dissertation, University of York). Zero Tolerance Trust (1996, 1997), assorted materials plus additional information in personal briefings.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 69 Contacts
For details of the SWA and its 38 local groups contact Scottish Women’s Aid, 12 Torphichen Street, Edinburgh EH3 8JQ
Aberdeen Rape Crisis PO Box 123, Aberdeen Ayr Rape Crisis PO Box 45, Ayr KA8 8B7 Ayrshire Rape Crisis PO Box 23, Kilmarnock KA1 1DP Central Rape Crisis PO Box 48 Stirling Dundee Rape Crisis PO Box 83, Dundee Edinburgh Rape Crisis PO Box 20, Edinburgh EH7 5XX Fife Rape Crisis PO Box 4, Kirkcaldy Strathclyde Rape CrisisPO Box 53, Glasgow G2 17R
For more details of the Zero Tolerance campaign and contacts at participating councils contact Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust, 25 Rutland St, Edinburgh EH1 2AE
For more information on the Out of the Shadows Project and the work of NEWS (Network of Ecumenical Women in Scotland) contact Lesley Orr MacDonald at CTPI, New College , Edinburgh EH1 2LX or Mary Shanahan at Scottish Churches House, Dunblane FK15 0AJ
The Women, Religion and Violence help line operates every Tuesday evening from 7pm -9pm on: 0141 221 8350 (English: every Tuesday. Punjabi: 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month). For more information on the multi-faith project Glasgow Working Group on Women, Religion and Violence contact Lesley Craise on 0141 221 2259
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 70 PART TWO
UPDATES & STATISTICAL TABLES Arts
The Scottish Arts Council first piloted an equal opportunities audit of its ‘revenue funded organisations’ in 1992/93 (see the Gender Audit 1994). Although ‘revenue funded organisations’ do not include all arts organisations in Scotland this category does include the major festivals and arts centres, companies, orchestras, theatres and galleries. What follows is a summary of the survey data for 1995/96.
Policy
Equal opportunities is central to policy and practice at the Scottish Arts Council (SAC). The fundamental aim is to encourage
“the widest possible participation in the arts by all sections of the community, as audience, participants and practitioners.”
This is formalised in the Equal Opportunities Policy which sets out SAC’s commitment to the elimination of discrimination in the widest sense, with women, the disabled and those from ethnic minorities identified as priority groups.
All the organisations that SAC funds on an ongoing revenue basis must adopt their own equal opportunities policy, the implementation and progress of which is monitored by SAC as part of their annual funding review. These revenue funded organisations must also follow a detailed Code of Practice covering employment and training, marketing and publicity, boards and committees, programming and access.
In addition annual targets are set in SAC’s Corporate Plan to measure expenditure on projects specifically by, with or for members of the three priority groups and to measure their involvement on the boards of revenue funded organisations.
Findings
The main findings of the latest survey data (1995/96) indicate some complex shifts in gender balance in the arts since 1992/93. The picture of gender imbalance that emerges in SAC’s research remains a complex one, where women are highly visible in most organisations and throughout education, and yet absent from the positions of real influence in decision-making and presentation and creation of work.
Employment and Positions of Influence
It was found that women dominate the lower rungs of arts employment, where 60 percent of jobs are temporary, although the proportion working part time in arts organisations is only 17 percent, compared with 33 percent in the workforce as a whole. Moreover, although not yet on a par with their male counterparts, the proportion of women in arts management (48 percent) compared favourably with other sectors in Scotland, where only 33 percent are women. Nevertheless, board membership remains two thirds male and, in line with previous research of this type, a positive relationship can be detected between the degree of gender imbalance and the size of an organisation’s turnover. Those arts organisations with the largest turnover are predominantly music and drama companies (including the four National Companies) where all artistic directors are male as are 80 Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 72 percent of chairs of the board. The equal opportunities situation within the small visual arts and community arts organisations is relatively better, where around a third of these positions are filled by women.
Artistic Representation
Inevitably this imbalance is mirrored in the artistic programmes of these organisations. In 1995/96:
• Of the works presented by music organisations, 99 percent were composed and 99 percent were conducted by men.
• 85 percent of writers and directors of drama productions were male.
• Just over 40 percent of artists featured in solo exhibitions of contemporary art were women.
• All choreographers were male. In order to look at the wider picture, the gender balance of applicants for SAC awards was compared with the gender composition of young artists, represented in the student populations of Scotland’s main drama, music and visual arts colleges. While 69 per cent of applications for music awards come from men, the majority (61 percent) of students studying for music degrees at the RSAMD are currently female. Moreover, although the total number of music applications from women is gradually increasing year by year, the situation in drama remains unchanged. Despite RSAMD’s drama students being 58 per cent female, only 28 per cent of applications to SAC’s drama department came from women. Similarly in visual arts, women formed only 34 percent of applicants for awards, when over two thirds of students at both Edinburgh College of Art and Glasgow School of Art were female.
Although 65 percent of all SAC grants are awarded to men, this reflects almost exactly the proportion of applications which came from men. This high proportion is not surprising when it is considered, as one SAC survey found, that only 45 percent of women artists work full time in artistic activity, compared to 67 percent of their male counterparts. And although few artists are wealthy, only 23 per cent of women artists earn over £10,000 p.a from their art, compared to 39 per cent of men.
There are obviously many wider factors at work here, although the numbers of women artists applying for support - and thus the gender balance in the galleries and concert halls of the future - will improve only marginally unless positive action is taken. SAC has a pivotal role to play here and offers some hope with its commitment to equal opportunities which underpins all conditions of funding and advocacy work.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 73 TABLE 1 Scottish Arts Council ‘revenue-funded organisations’ with some dedicated programming for/about women 1992-1996.
% of 'revenue-funded organisations' with some dedicated programming Artform for/about women 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 Drama 25% 62% 54% 69% Dance 0% 0% 0% 50% Music 20% 0% 17% 0% Visual Arts 47% 57% 60% 44% Literature 50% 67% 60% 50% Arts Centres 71% 75% 67% 75% Festivals 75% 25% 50% 33% Community Arts 33% 17% n/a 60%
Source: Gender Audit, 1996;
TABLE:2 Gender breakdown of positions of influence on Scottish Arts Council ‘revenue-funded organisations’ 1993/94- 1995/96.
1993/94 BOARD CHAIRS ARTISTIC CHIEF EXEC/ Artform MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORS ADMIN MANAGER
Total Female Total Female Total Female Total Female Drama 189 57 13 3 13 0 13 6.5 Dance 1331111 11 Music 116 36 8 3 6 0 8 2 Visual Arts 402 195 18 4 11 5 17 8 Literature 53196022 54 Arts Centres 109 35 8 1 8 2.5 7 3 Festivals 5716303122 Community Arts 3314322232 Total 972 375 60 14 46 13.5 56 28.5 % 100% 39% 100% 23% 100% 29% 100% 51%
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 74 1994/95* BOARD CHAIRS ARTISTIC CHIEF EXEC/ Artform MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORS ADMIN MANAGER
Total %Female Total %Female Total %Female Total %Female Drama 200 32% 13 23% 13 0% 13 38 Dance 11 27% 1 100% 1 100% 1 0 Music 100 31% 8 13% 4 0% 8 50 Visual Arts 179 35% 18 33% 13 38% 16 38 Literature 82 39% 6 0% 1 100% 6 67 Arts Centres 103 32% 8 25% 6 33% 8 50 Festivals 57 28% 4 25% 3 33% 3 100 Community Arts 75 41% 5 40% 1 100 5 60 Total 807 272 63 16 42 11 60 29 *% 100% 34% 100% 25% 100% 26% 100% 48%
1995/96 BOARD CHAIRS ARTISTIC CHIEF EXEC/ Artform MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORS ADMIN MANAGER
Total Female Total Female Total Female Total Female Drama 191 62 13 3 12 0 13 6 Dance 2642 12 13 2 Music 96 29 8 2 3 0 8 3 Visual Arts 171 58 18 6 13 5 16 8 Literature 98 42 7 0 1 1 7 6 Arts Centres 96 28 8 3 8 3 7 3 Festivals 63 18 4 1 3 1 3 3 Community Arts 48 15 5 3 1 1 5 3 Total 789 256 65 19 43 12 62 34 % 100% 32% 100% 29% 100% 28% 100% 55%
Note:- 1994/5 figures give % female in each category only. Source: Gender Audit, 1996; SAC, 1997.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 75 TABLE 3 Applications received and awards made by the Scottish Arts Council through Schemes of Support for individual artists* 1994/95
NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS RECEIVED NUMBER OF AWARDS MADE
ethnic ethnic total Male Female Disabled Total Male Female Disabled ARTFORM Minority Minority
DRAMA bursaries & training 40 29 11 0 0 9 45 0 0 grants percent 100% 73% 28% 0% 0% 100% 44% 56% 0% 0%
DANCE & MIME
Mime bursaries 4 31 0 04 31 0 0
Travel and training 15 5100 110 28 0 1 Grants
Dance dev' awards 18 99 0 010 19 0 0 total 37 17 20 0 1 24 6 18 0 1 percent 100% 46% 54% 0% 3% 100% 25% 75% 0% 4%
MUSIC training & travel 19 9100 010 55 0 0 bursaries commissioning fee 70 58 12 0 0 49 40 9 0 0 subsidy composers’/Jazz 15 13 2 0 0 8 71 0 0 bursaries performing material 24 16 8 0 0 13 11 2 0 0 subsidy(composers) traditional music proj 6 42 0 03 30 0 0 early music projects all to groups total 134 100 34 0% 0 83 66 17 0 0 percent 100% 75% 25% 0% 0% 100% 80% 20% 0% 0%
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 76 NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS RECEIVED NUMBER OF AWARDS MADE
ethnic ethnic total Male Female Disabled Total Male Female Disabled ARTFORM Minority Minority
VISUAL ARTS artists’ awards 83 59 24 0 2 8 62 0 0 small assistance grants 193 124 69 1 3 30 23 7 0 0
Travel Grants 19 12 7 1 0 17 11 6 1 0
R Hough photography 15 14 1 0 0 1 10 0 0 bursary Amsterdam studio 28 22 6 0 0 1 10 0 0 residency total 338 231 107 2 5 57 42 15 1 0 percent 100% 68% 32% 1% 1% 100% 74% 26% 0% 0%
CRAFTS
Individual development 34 14 20 1 0 10 37 0 0 awards crafts start-up awards 30 11 19 0 0 6 15 0 0 total 64 25 39 1 0 16 4 12 0 0 percent 100% 39% 61% 25 0% 100% 25% 75% 0% 0%
LITERATURE writers’ bursaries 22 17 5 0 0 16 13 3 0 0 inc.translators travel & research grants 25 18 7 1 1 18 11 7 1 0 total 47 35 12 1 1 34 24 10 1 0 percent 100% 74% 26% 2% 2% 100% 71% 29% 3% 0%
TOTAL ALL 660 437 223 4 7 223 146 77 2 1 SCHEMES
% all schemes 100% 66% 34% 1% 11% 100% 65% 35% 1% 0%
OTHER SAC SUPPORT Grants to Publishers- Books for which 103 86 17 0 08266 16 0 0 support sought
Book awards: 69 49 20 0 72 13 10 3 0 0 total 172 135 37 0 0 95 76 19 0 0 percent 100% 78% 22% 0% 0% 100% 80% 20% 0% 0%
*A few of these schemes are open to both individuals and organisations. These figures relate to applications from and awards made to individuals only. Note:- updated figures for 1995/96 were not available Source: SAC Equal Opportunities Audit 1993/94; Gender Audit, 1996. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 77 TABLE 4 Employment by mode and gender in Scottish Arts Council ‘revenue-funded organisations’ for 1993/94 - 95/96 le no. fema- total % female total no. ale fem- total ale no. fem- total e % femal- Part time Temporary total le no. fema- total no. ale fem- total % female Full time total le no. fema- 93/94 94/95 95/96 93/94 94/95 95/96 93/94 95/95 95/96 9 6 19 58% 22 14 4 4 22 77% 15 12 26 12 177 52% 127 75 61 32 59 56% 55 32 54 17 50 50% 68 29 74 48 53 72% 82 52 13 1094 13 44 77% 119 16 48% 13 102 48 9 119 7 94 9 136 78% 76% 109 5 86 5 226 43 130 26 181 37 48% 65% 119 60 38 28 22 14 26 65% 29 20 3 2 3 67% 5 5 202 85 313 54% 415 210 284 160110 273340 63 53% 158 91 275 130 56% 143 47% 125 220 326 73 139 159 178 7 25 65% 144 5 21 102 7 6 1040 100% 57% 488 44 8 1082 26 8 50% 14 867 63 438 7 30 49 31 58% 57% 105 32 38 16 933 487100 730 52% 386 100 962 53% 502 100 441 52% 289 100 411 66% 279 100 388 68% 273 100 70% 1688 826 100 1923 49 994 100 1785 52% 917 100% 51% total BERS NUM- OYED EMPL- Artform Drama Dance Music Visual arts Litera- ture Arts centres Festiv- als Dev Orgs Total No. Total %
Note: 1994/5 figures give % female in each category only.
Source: Gender Audit, 1996; SAC, 1997.
Sarah Coleman
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 78 References and Sources
Engender (1994, 1995, 1996), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Scottish Arts Council (1993/4: 1994/5); Equal Opportunities Audit, Edinburgh. Scottish Arts Council (1997), figures supplied from internal report.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 79 Business
• Latest figures show that women make up around a third of managers and administrators in Scotland and three quarters of secretaries and clerical workers.
EOC Factsheet 1996/Labour Force Survey 1995
• Although we know that women make up around a third of managers and administrators, it is unclear what level of seniority they are at, and what relative proportions are employed in the public and private sector.
• With the exception of women who have started their own companies, no major Scottish business has ever been headed by a woman.
Tim Dawson (1997) ‘Women’s champion woos employers’, Sunday Times Scotland, 25.5.97.
• Around 7% of the Scottish membership of the Institute of Directors are women. The message from previous Gender Audits has been that the position of women in business in Scotland has been very slow to change. This remains the case. Women still occupy very few senior management positions in Scottish firms. There remains scant information and little research on women in business and in the boardroom. For instance, it appears that there has been no definitive survey of the proportion of women in senior positions, although a recent report in Scotland on Sunday stated that there are just three women on the boards of the top 20 Scottish companies, and that the top six accountancy firms had just five female partners in Scotland between them
(MacLeod, 1997).
Around 7% of the Scottish membership of the Institute of Directors are women, although no formal gender monitoring has ever taken place. There has been a steady increase of women joining the IoD over the past five or so years, but it has been a ‘trickle’ rather than a ‘flood’. Most female members are from small or medium-sized businesses, and it is the perception of the IoD that very few female members come from major industrial concerns.
Telephone communication with the IOD Scotland, 28.5.97
A recent newspaper report (Sunday Times Scotland, 25.5.97) contrasted the success of Opportunity 2000 - the national campaign to improve the position of women at all levels of the workforce - in England and Wales with its virtual non take-up north of the border.
• By 1996 more than 300 organisations - many of them large employers - had signed up to the campaign in England and Wales.
• In contrast, only 4 out of Scotland’s top 25 companies had joined - all banks. The Opportunity 2000 project manager in Scotland was reported as saying,
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 80 “Companies in Scotland did not seem willing to put their money where their mouths were when it came to equal opportunities.”
Opportunity 2000 is about to relaunch the campaign in Scotland.
Meanwhile, a feasibility study, commissioned on behalf of Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Ltd (LEEL), and carried out by Margaret Williamson, underlined the need for women to ‘network’ with the movers and influencers in Scottish business in order to gain access to the boardroom. This emphasis on networking reinforces research undertaken by the Scottish alliance for women’s training, TRAINING 2000, which stressed the importance of networks in aiding women’s progress into senior positions in business
(Briley and McDougall, 1994).
LEEL launched a mentoring and networking programme in November 1995 to support, encourage and educate women in their pursuit of non-executive directorships. Senior women executives were matched up with industrial/commercial leaders for a year-long mentor exercise.
Other innovative initiatives have come from former regional and district authorities. For example, prior to local government reorganisation, Strathclyde Regional Council and Glasgow District Council along with Glasgow Development Agency recognised the under representation of women in business. The partnership addressed this by implementing targeted support programmes. In 1995 Glasgow Women’s Enterprise Network (GWEN) began funding a range of initiatives through the Women’s Enterprise Development Programme Challenge Fund. The funding was used to increase awareness of women’s ability to participate in self-employment and encouraged the better targeting of business services to meet women’s needs. Women’s Business Start Up courses, run by the Women’s Technology Centre in Dalmarnock have been started to provide a training programme in business development skills, communications/marketing and confidence-building to unemployed women and women returning to the labour market.
Although a number of positive initiatives have been undertaken since the Gender Audit last reported on the topic in 1995, the barriers to women’s progression in the workplace such as lack of child care, low pay and stereotypical attitudes persist in 1997. Sheena Briley, from TRAINING 2000 comments that there is resistance to implementing the law in some sectors where sex discrimination still exists. For example, women returners who are working part-time are still regarded as doing lesser work, but are reluctant to seek help from the EOC. She suggests that there has been some progress for women into junior managerial positions. But there are very few women beyond this level, and if they have reached a more senior level, they tend not to have children. There is only a tiny amount of provision for men in terms of family friendly policies.
In Scotland there has been a general growth of self-employment from around 8% of the total number of people in employment in 1985 to 10% in 1996, and self-employment for women is a growing area. Training 2000 has recently carried out research into women’s self-employment in the Highlands and Islands, which is to be published at the end of June 1997.
Available from Training 2000, 16 Forth Street, Edinburgh EH1 3LH. Tel: (0131) 550 3763
For more information about women’s employment, see the employment chapter of this Gender Audit. Lorna Guthrie Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 81 References
Reena Bhavnani (1994) Black Women in the Labour Market: A Research Review, EOC: Manchester. S. Briley and McDougall (1994), Developing Women Managers: Current Issues and Good Practice, HMSO. Engender (1993, 1994, 1995), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Fiona MacLeod (1997), ‘Career Women: Mind Your Heads’, Scotland on Sunday, June 15, 1997. TRAINING 2000 for Scottish Enterprise and Highland & Islands Enterprise (1992), Women’s Access to Jobs and Skills in Scotland. Blake Stevenson (1996) Glasgow Women’s Enterprise Network - Evaluation of Women’s Enterprise Development Programme, October.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 82 Child care, work and family
Working Mothers
• Over half of all women with children under five work (60% in 1994), 36% work part time. Nearly three quarters (74% in 1994) of women with children aged five and over have jobs.
• The largest increase in mothers returning to work over the last five years has been amongst those with school age children.
• Mothers least likely to work are those who have a partner who is unemployed, partly reflecting the impact of a benefits system which does not fully recognise wives’ contributions to household earnings.
• In a recent survey, 88% of lone mothers dependent on income support stated their intention to work, either immediately or when their children were older.
• The two main reported constraints on mothers working are the lack of affordable child care, and the lack of improvement in income available.
Pre Fives
• The private sector is the fastest growing area of pre fives child care provision, and reflects the increasing numbers of women working and paying for care that fits their hours
• The number of child care places available in Scotland continues to increase, although for under three year olds this remains at less than 5% of children having access to publicly funded services
• Local authority nursery school places have, for the first time in ten years, shown a decline
• A minor shift may have occurred through the introduction of education vouchers, but figures are unavailable, and the full scheme was not in existence in 1994-5
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 83 TABLE 1 Provision for pre-school children in education authority nurseries, day nurseries, play groups and childminding Scotland 1994-1995 and 1995-1996
1994-5 1995-6
Places in No of % of % No of % of % % places places change places places change change 1993-4 1994-5 1991-5 L.A Day nurseries/ family 5,709 4 -3 6,452 4 13 14 centres/children's centre Registered 31,797 22 11 34,701 24 9 78 childminders
Pre school playgroup 43,335 31 0 44,000 30 2 -11
Education authority 49,760 35 2 49,760 33 -1 11 nursery school Registered day nursery, children's centres and family 10,367 8 n/a centres*- private sector Registered day nursery, children's centres and family 2,012 1 n/a centres*- voluntary sector Registered day nursery, children's 11,000 8 17 12,379 9 74 168 centres and family centres*
Total 14,1601 4 100 14,7292 100 8 24
* Coverage of registered day nurseries has been found to be incomplete prior to 1994. SOED advise that figures for those years should be regarded as underestimates
Source: Adapted from Scottish Office Statistical Bulletins Education A2/1990; A2/1994;A2/1995: Provision for Pre school Children: Social Work SC/1994/1; S/1995/1,
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 84 School Age Care
• Further evaluations of the impact of out of school care show all parents using the clubs benefit from increased access to employment, to increased hours of work and to improvements at work. The parents most likely to benefit are single parents, those on low income (<£600 per month), and those in manual/ sales occupations
• Extra funding under the Out of School Child care Initiative came to an end in 1996, but further funding for new clubs has been available from the LECs and some Lottery funding.
• Following reorganisation, when a large number of local authority funded out of school clubs faced loss of funding, £80,000 was made available through the Scottish Office Transitional Fund for voluntary sector clubs who had experienced cuts.
• The percentage of children with access to school age child care, however, remains low - less than one in 12 children have access
TABLE 2 Women’s employment and access to Out of School care
Region % of % of No of No of % of women mothers CCI* pre children working of 5 - out of CCI aged 5 - 9yr olds school places 9 with working care access to 35+ hrs places OoSC Borders 68 20 225 0 3.2 Central 62 20 246 170 2.5 Dumfries & 63 15 98 140 3 Galloway Fife 62 24 152 136 1 Grampian 65 21 420 571 2.8 Lothian 67 28 771 900 3.9 Strathclyde 58 20 1993 2551 3.1 Tayside 64 24 890 216 2.9 Highlands & 62 20 231 56 2.5 Islands
*CCI is Child Care Initiative funded out of school care
Source: Figures based on 1991 census for Scotland, Mid 1994 Estimates of Population Scotland, Scottish Out of School Care Network, The Next Step in Scotland, February 1996(unpublished)
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 85 Work and Family policies
• In August 1996 the Government produced a consultation document Work and Family: Ideas and options for child care (DEE, 1997). Responses to the document showed overwhelming support for a national strategy on child care from such diverse sources as business, parents, local authorities, the voluntary sector and the Equal Opportunities Commission. Support was largely for a Government led flexible, partnership approach to the delivery of comprehensive and appropriate child care services at the local level. The change of government is expected to produce some more commitment to child care for working mothers, although this may initially be focused most on improving lone parents labour market involvement.
• In 1995 Employers for Child care launched its Business Blueprint for Child care, highlighting employers’ growing recognition that good child care can enhance business interests. A recent survey of Equality Exchange employers in Scotland highlighted that 68% offered enhanced maternity leave, 46% offered carer’s leave to staff and 38% offered career breaks, but only 27% offered any form of child care support. Employers initiatives include workplace creches, sponsorship of places, three year career breaks and child care vouchers for children under twelve (Cooke and Meikle, 1997). They are, however, not at all widespread in Scotland.
• A study carried out in Bradford (SIAU, 1989) indicated that the cost of replacing posts where women left because of child care difficulties would be over £120,000 per year, compared with a subsidy of £65,000 which would provide the employees with the child care they needed, and enable them to remain.
• Work and family policies that may result from a change of government include statutory paternity leave (unpaid), universal nursery school places for 3 and 4 year olds, and a tax credit system for low paid lone parents. Given the benefits that low cost Out of School Care has proved to have for low paid workers, it is possible that schemes for homework clubs might usefully be married with employment related child care policies, particularly as the extra income tax paid may offset the costs.
Gill Scott
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 86 References
Department for Education and Employment (1997) Work and Family: Ideas and Options for Child care: a report on the Consultation. Employers for Children (1995) Business Blueprint for Child care. Cooke, R and Meikle,A (1997) Good Child care Means Good Business Fair Play for Scotland/ Equal Opportunities Commission. G. Scott, G. and S. Macdonald (1996), Making Child care Work : an Evaluation of Out of School Child care and the Child care Initiative grant in Scotland, Glasgow Caledonian University/ Scottish Out of School Care Network. Scottish Office (1990, 1994, 1995), Statistical Bulletins Education . Scottish Office (1994, 1995, 1996), Statistical Bulletins Social Work . Survey and Information Analysis Unit (1989) Child care: the management issue of the 1990s Sheffield Hallam University.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 87 Education
• Girls in Scottish secondary schools consistently achieve better results than boys.
• A smaller proportion of girls with the necessary qualifications go on to university compared with boys. However, a higher proportion of girls enter other forms of higher education, such as teacher training, and non-advanced further education.
• In 94/95, boys generally left school earlier than girls: 33% of male leavers were aged under 16 years, compared with 26% of female leavers. 40% of girls stayed on at school until or beyond the age of 17, compared with 34% of boys.
• Half of all full-time entrants to higher education are female, both in higher education institutions and at further education colleges.
• In both higher and further education there has been an increase in the proportion of part-time women students, from 35% to 45%.
• Over time the segregation of girls and boys in terms of subject choice in secondary school has become less pronounced, but there are still significant differences with girls forming the majority of those taking languages, business studies, and home economics, and boys the majority of those taking physics, computing subjects, and technological subjects.
• Women are the majority of those taking social studies, business administration and languages, and men the majority of those taking physical sciences, mathematics and computing, and engineering and technology.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 88 TABLE 1 School leavers by gender and SCE qualifications: Standard Grade, 1989/90 -1994/95*
Qualifications 1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 % % % % % %
1 or more Standard girls 75.6 74.5 77.1 78.7 80.7 82.7 Grades
boys 65.9 65.2 68.3 70.5 73.2 74.9
3 or more Standard girls 59.4 58.8 62.2 64.7 67.2 69.0 Grades
boys 50.4 49.4 52.1 54.5 56.9 58.3
5 or more Standard girls 50.2 50.2 53.8 56.1 58.4 59.9 Grades
boys 42.2 41.4 44.0 45.7 47.8 48.2
* Includes ‘O’ Grades
Source: Scottish Office, 1995; Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/E2/1996/9, 1996. Table 7.
TABLE 2 School leavers by gender and SCE qualifications: Highers (1989/90-1994/95).
Qualifications 1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 % % % % % % 1 or more girls 43.3 44.1 47.2 48.0 49.2 49.3 Highers boys 34.3 35.1 37.0 38.0 39.1 37.7 3 or more girls 28.1 29.2 31.2 31.7 33.2 33.7 Highers boys 23.3 23.9 25.1 25.5 26.7 25.2 5 or more girls 14.6 15.1 16.6 17.3 20.0 19.4 Highers boys 12.7 13.2 14.1 14.3 16.2 14.7
Source: Scottish Office, 1995; Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/E2/1996/9, 1996. Table 7.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 89 TABLE 3 School leavers who had taken Certificate of Sixth Year Studies as % of all leavers (1989/90-1994/ 95)
Total Boys Girls 1988/89 9.8 9.0 10.5 1989/90 10.3 9.4 11.2 1990/91 10.8 10.1 11.7 1991/92 12.2 11.1 13.3 1992/3 12.8 11.7 14.0 1993/4 12.6 11.5 13.6 1994/5 n/a 11.1 13.8
Source: Scottish Office, 1995b; Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/E2/1996/9, 1996. Table 12.
TABLE 4 School leavers by gender and age: 1994/95
Age at 31 December 1994
Gender Total Under 16 17 18+ 16 All Girls 30,159 7,771 10,256 11,773 361 leavers
Boys 31,677 10,568 10,454 10,159 496
Total 61,836 18,339 20,710 21,930 857
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/E2/1996/9, 1996, Table 1.
TABLE 5 Pupils leaving school with no qualifications by gender
1991/92 1992/3 1993/4 1994/5 % % % %
girls 8.7 9.0 7.7 6.6
boys 11.2 12.0 9.9 9.1
Source: Gender Audit, 1996; Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/E2/1996/9, 1996.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 90 TABLE 6 Percentage of secondary school leavers into full-time education, 1984, 1994 by gender.
Destination Girls (%1984) Boys (%1984) Total (%1984) % % %
Full-time education* 45 (29) 41 (22) 43 (25.5) (not YT)
* The 1989/90 figures exclude Youth Training Schemes.
Source:Scottish Office, Novermber 1992, p.15. EOC Briefings, 1997.
TABLE 7 Young Scots undergraduate entrants (under 21) as % of the population aged 17
Total Male Female 1988/89 20.6 20.7 20.5 1989/90 23.8 23.5 24.2 1990/91 25.9 25.4 26.5 1991/92 29.9 29.2 30.7 1992/93 34.8 34.3 35.7 1993/94 38.3 37.6 39.1 1994/95 42.7 40.8 44.8
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/J2/1996/12.Table11.
TABLE 8 Women’s participation in higher education in Scotland in 1989/90 & 1990/91
1989-1990 1990-1991 Level of study Institutions % of % of women women Undergraduates: Universities 46 45 Central Institutions 50 50 Colleges of Education 79 78 Agricultural Colleges 28 34 Overall 49 49 Postgraduates: Universities 36 37 Central Institutions 47 46 Colleges of Education 69 68
Source: Scottish Office, August 1992, p.9; Gender Audit, 1996. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 91 TABLE 9 Percentage of female undergraduate entrants to higher education in Scotland, 1989/90-1994/95
Full time Part time HEI FE HEI FE 1989-90 49.2 49.5 42.4 30.5 1990-91 48.7 51.0 42.9 32.6 1991-92 48.8 49.6 44.3 33.5 1992-93 49.2 46.7 48.2 37.9 1993-94 49.0 46.9 53.9 40.0 1994-95 49.3 49.5 54.7 42.4
Source: Scottish Office, 1995a; Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/J2/1996/12.Table 7.
TABLE 10 Percentage female postgraduate entrants in higher education in Scotland, 1988/89 - 1994/95.
Full time Part time 1988-89 40.1 35.7 1989-90 43.3 38.5 1990-91 44.7 40.8 1991-92 42.6 39.6 1992-93 41.1 36.0 1993-94 40.9 42.7 1994-95 42.7 50.1
Source: Scottish Office, 1995a; Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/J2/1996/12.Table 8.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 92 TABLE 11 Girls studying named subjects as a % of pupils studying at S5/S6 level in Secondary Schools in Scotland, in 1983, 1987 and 1991
1983 1987 1989 1991 1993 Subject % of % of % of % of % of girls girls girls girls girls English 53 53 52 53 53 French 73 75 74 75 77 German 78 75 74 72 73 Mathematics 44 45 46 49 49 Biology 67 65 65 67 69 Chemistry 44 45 45 48 48 Physics 26 27 27 30 28 Science 42 40 39 46 47 Geography 42 42 43 46 46 History 55 56 55 58 59 Modern Studies 50 52 54 58 60 Business Subjects 88 89 86 80 75 Computing Subjects 42 49 44 42 37 Home Economics Subjects 76 76 76 75 74 Craft and Design 25 11 13 15 19 Metalwork, Woodwork etc. 22 25 23 24 18 Technological Studies - - 13 8 22 Art and Design 53 54 56 59 57 Music 53 53 52 53 56 Speech and Drama - - 60 63 Physical Education 50 47 44 44 41 Religious Education 53 54 55 55 55 Guidance 52 53 53 53 52 Total % girls in Stages 5 and 6 52 52 53 53 52
Source: Scottish Office, March 1995; Gender Audit, 1996.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 93 TABLE 12 Students in Higher Education 1994/95
Females Male Subject group Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Medicine, dentistry and allied studies 7179 2738 3861 722 Biological sciences 4915 322 3472 198 Physical sciences 2352 182 4455 299 Mathematics and computing 2127 860 6517 1637 Engineering and Technology 2094 687 13035 8320 Social Studies 8050 2256 5726 1202 Business Administration 13881 9794 10672 9979 Languages 3765 484 1780 391 All subjects 69242 22669 71488 28625
Source: Scottish Office Education Department/EOC Factsheet 1996
Teaching Staff: Nursery
• There are more than a thousand female nursery school teachers in state funded nursery schools in Scotland (1023) but only 8 males (SOEID, 1996).
Teaching Staff: Primary
• Latest figures available from the SOEID indicate that there are almost 27,700 teachers employed in state primary schools, which equates to just under 22,500 full time equivalent (FTE) posts.
• Women are 90% of primary teachers (FTE) and 73% of primary head teachers.
• Men are 10% of primary teachers (FTE) and 27% of primary head teachers.
• Around a quarter of all primary teachers work part time (26.8%), although part-time working is rare for Headteachers, Depute Headteachers and Assistant Headteachers.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 94 TABLE 13 Teachers (FTE) in publicly funded primary schools by sex and grade, September 1996
Sex Grade total male female female % Total 22,481 2,078 20,405 90.8 Headteacher 2,291 627 1,664 72.6 Depute Headteacher 946 108 838 88.6 Asst. Headteacher 631 66 565 89.5 Senior Teachers (1) 3,355 276 3,079 91.8 Teachers (unpromoted) 15,260 1,001 14,259 93.4
Notes:-
(1) including other promoted posts
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/B1/1997/3. Table 8
TABLE 14 Teachers (number) in publicly funded primary schools by mode of working, September 1996
Mode of Working total full-time part-time part-time Grade (1) % Total 27,670 20,243 7,427 26.8
Headteacher 2,313 2,257 56 2.4
Depute Headteacher 955 927 28 2.9 Asst. Headteacher 636 625 11 1.7
Senior Teachers (2) 3,647 3,206 441 12.1
Teachers (unpromoted) 20,119 13,228 6,891 34.3
Notes:-
(1) Mode of working is recorded on a school-by-school basis, therefore staff who work full-time, but in more than one school, will be recoded as working part-time in each of these schools. Sitaff who work in more than one sector (eg. nursery/primary) will be recorded similarly .
(2) including other promoted posts.
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/B1/1997/3. Table 9.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 95 Teaching Staff: Special Schools
• 85% of special school teachers are female as are three quarters of headteachers.
Table 15 Teachers (FTE) in publicly funded special schools by sex and grade, September 1996.
Sex Grade total male female female % Total 1,686 247 1,430 84.8 Headteacher 152 37 115 75.7 Depute Headteacher 22 9 13 59.1 Asst. Headteacher 133 21 112 84.2 Principal Teacher (1) 58 15 43 74.1 Senior Teacher (2) 229 22 207 90.4 Teachers (unpromoted) 1,093 153 940 86.0
Notes:-
(1) including Asst Principal Teacher
(2) including other promoted posts
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/B1/1997/3. Table 22
Teaching Staff: Secondary Schools
According to the latest figures from the SOEID:
• There are just under 26,000 secondary school teachers employed in state schools, this equates to a full time equivalent (FTE) of just under 24,300 posts.
• Women are around 51% of all teachers but only 7% of headteachers.
• Women are around a third of Principal Teachers but almost two thirds of unpromoted teachers.
• Overall, just over 13% of secondary school teachers work part-time. Part-time working occurs most frequently amongst unpromoted teachers, more than a quarter of whom work part-time.
• Part-time working is uncommon at all other grades.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 96 TABLE 16 Teachers (FTE) in publicly funded secondary schools by sex and grade, September 1996(1)
Sex Grade total male female female % Total 24,265 11,954 12,313 50.7 Headteacher 398 370 28 7.0 Depute Headteacher 399 347 52 13.0 Asst. Headteacher 1,028 729 299 29.1 Principal Teacher 7,168 4,573 2,595 36.2 Asst. Principal Teacher 3,037 1,400 1,637 53.9 Senior Teachers (2) 1,898 754 1,144 60.3 Teachers (unpromoted) 10,339 3,781 6,558 63.4
Notes:-
(1) including estimates for 2 schools
(2) including other promoted posts
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/B1/1997/3. Table 16.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 97 TABLE 17 Teachers (number) in publicly funded secondary schools by mode of working, September 1996(1)
Mode of Working total full-time part-time part-time Grade (2) % Total 25,933 22,494 3,439 13.3 Headteacher 403 387 16 4.0 Depute Headteacher 399 395 4 1.0 Asst. Headteacher 1,030 1,021 9 0.9 Principal Teacher 7,196 7,113 83 1.2 Asst. Principal Teacher 3,071 2,990 81 2.6 Senior Teachers (3) 1,977 1,838 139 7.0 Teachers (unpromoted) 11,857 8,750 3,107 26.2
Notes:-
(1) Mode of working is recorded on a school-by-school basis, therefore staff who work full-time, but in more than one school, will be recoded as working part-time in each of these schools. Sitaff who work in more than one sector (eg. nursery/primary) will be recorded similarly .
(2) including other promoted posts.
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/B1/1997/3. Table 17.
Staffing: Further Education
• Women are 41.4% of the permanent teaching staff (full-time and part-time) at Further Education Colleges in Scotland and constitute around a third of promoted posts.
• The Scottish Office Statistics below only record permanent members of staff. A large number of FE staff work on temporary contracts; and a large proportion of those are women.
• Six per cent of FE College Principals are female.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 98 TABLE 18 Percentage of permanent full-time and part-time academic staff (1) in Scottish FE colleges (2); 1995-96
total male female % % % Teaching Staff 100.0 58.6 41.4 Promoted Posts 100.0 65.1 34.9
Principals 100.0 93.6 6.4
Notes:-
(1) includes permanent academic staff only.
(2) includes local authority funded colleges.
Source:Scottish Office EID Statistics, 1997.
Academic Staffing: Universities
• Women constitute around 29% of university lecturers; 14% of senior lecturers and 7% of university professors.
• The proportion of women professors has doubled since 1991. However there are only 90 female professors in Scottish universities, compared with 1,169 male professors.
• Almost two-thirds of women staff are on temporary contracts.
• Only one Scottish Higher Education institution has a female Principal.
TABLE 19 Full-time academic staff at Scottish Universities by grade and gender 1995-96
Grade male female total female % Lecturer 2,823 1,144 3,967 28.8% Senior Lecturer 2,041 336 2,377 14.1% Professor 1,169 90 1,259 7.1% Researcher 2,477 1,435 3,912 36.7% Others 425 315 740 42.6% Total 8,935 3,320 12,255 27.1%
Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency, 1997.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 99 TABLE 20 Percentage of female full-time academic Staff at Scottish Universities, 1991 1995/96 (excluding research staff)
1991 1995/96 female female Grade % % Lecturer 24% 28.8% Senior Lecturer 9% 14.1% Professor 4% 7.1% Others 47% 42.6% Total 27.1% 22.6%
Source: Gender Audit, 1993; Higher Education Statistics Agency, 1997.
TABLE 21 Percentage of academic staff on fixed term contracts and permanent contracts by gender, 1995/6
1995/96 type of Number % all female staff contract female permanent 1,263 38.0 fixed term 2,057 62.0 % all male staff male permanent 5,509 61.7 fixed term 3,426 38.3 % total workforce total permanent 6,772 55.3 fixed term 5,483 44.7
Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency, 1997.
Elspeth Hosie and Chrisma Bould.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 100 References and Sources
Engender (1993,1996), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. EOC (1996), Factsheet, Manchester. EOC (1997), ‘Education and Vocational Training in Scotland’, Briefings on Women and Men in Britain, Manchester. Higher Education Statistics Agency (1997), figures supplied by fax. Scottish Office EID Statistics (1997), figures supplied by fax. Scottish Office (1996), Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/Edn/J2/1996/ 12, Edinburgh. Scottish Office (1996), Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/E2/1996/9, 1996. Scottish Office (1997), Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin, Education Series, Edn/B1/1997/3, Edinburgh.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 101 Employment
• Women make up half the workforce in Scotland.
• Women workers are concentrated in a relatively small number of areas of the economy - shops, hotels, restaurants, financial and business services, education, health and social work.
• 53% of working women in Scotland work full-time, and 47% work part-time.
• Full-time women workers earn on average 72.1% of their male counterparts’ wages, a slight decline compared to the two previous years.
• There are considerable variations in female average earnings in Scottish regions. Of regions for which data is currently available, women in Lothian had the highest average wages and women in Fife the lowest.
• Almost half of all full-time women workers in Scotland are low paid.
• Part-time workers, both men and women, are particularly vulnerable to low pay.
• Women’s unemployment has been declining, and is consistently much lower than men’s, although official figures underestimate the real level of women’s unemployment (See discussion of this in the Poverty chapter of this Gender Audit).
• A higher proportion of ethnic minority than white women are self-employed, and a smaller proportion work full time. Educational participation rates for ethnic minority women are twice as high as for white women.
• There is currently no national legal protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in areas such as employment.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 102 Industrial distribution
TABLE 1 Employees in employment by Standard Industrial Classification and sex Scotland, 1995
Females Males Standard Industrial Thousands % of Thousands % of Classification group group Agriculture, forestry and fishing 7.7 19.6 31.6 80.4 Energy and water supply 5.7 14.9 32.6 85.1 Manufacturing 98.4 30.9 220.3 69.1 Construction 14.2 11.6 108.0 88.4 Wholesale/ retail trade 186.4 59.7 125.9 40.3 Hotels and restuarants 83.0 64.3 46.1 35.7 Transport, storage and 26.8 24.5 82.5 75.5 communication Financial intermediation 47.7 58.6 33.7 41.4 Real estate, renting, business 123.2 58.2 88.5 41.8 activities Public administration, defence 66.7 49.1 69.1 50.9 and social security Education 100.9 66.4 51.1 33.6 Health and Social Work 204.9 79.5 52.8 20.5 Other services 46.0 50.5 45.0 49.5 All industries and services 1011.5 50.6 987.1 49.4
Source: Scottish Abstract of Statistics 1996
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 103 TABLE 2 Employment by Occupation 1995
Females Males Occupational Group Thousands % of Thousands % of group group Managers and administrators 112 36 202 64 Professional 93 39 145 61 Associate professional and technical 107 53 94 47 Clerical and secretarial 249 75 85 25 Craft and related 30 11 246 89 Personal and protective services 146 63 85 37 Sales 126 67 63 33 Plant and machine operatives 39 18 177 82 Other occupations 127 53 114 47 All occupations 1030 46 1212 54
Source: EOC Factsheet 1996/Labour Force Survey 1995
TABLE 3 Women of working age by economic status 1995
Scotland GB Thousands % Thousands % Economically active 1077 70.9 11643 70.9 In employment 1003 66.1 10826 65.9 Full-time 571 37.6 6111 37.2 Part-time 421 27.8 4628 28.2 Unemployed 73 4.8 817 5.0 Economically inactive 441 29.1 4785 29.1
Source: Labour Market Trends March 1996
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 104 Earnings and low pay
TABLE 4 Average gross weekly wages, full-time on adult rates 1982 – 1996
Year Women Men women’s (£s per (£s earnings as week) per a week) percentage of men’s. 1982 95.0 154.5 61.5 1983 104.0 167.5 62.1 1984 111.1 178.7 62.2 1985 119.1 189.7 62.8 1986 129.8 201.3 64.5 1987 139.9 214.6 65.2 1988 152.2 233.3 65.2 1989 169.6 251.2 67.5 1990 187.2 276.4 67.7 1991 206.5 299.5 68.9 1992 221.9 324.6 68.4 1993 237.4 333.0 71.3 1994 244.1 335.6 72.7 1995 254.2 350.7 72.5 1996 262.0 363.6 72.1
Source: New Earnings Survey, 1983 – 1996
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 105 TABLE 5 Average full-time pay by sex and region 1996
gross weekly earnings (£s) Women’s Women Men pay as % of men’s Aberdeen, City of 279.8 459.7 60.9 Aberdeenshire na 345.7 Dumfries and Galloway na 313.3 Dundee, City of 260.4 333.9 78.0 East Ayrshire na 311.3 Edinburgh, City of 288.8 385.0 75.0 Falkirk na 371.0 Fife 235.2 345.0 68.2 Glasgow, City of 266.6 357.5 74.6 Highland na 318.7 North Lanarkshire 290.4 360.0 80.7 Renfrewshire na 375.5 South Ayrshire na 371.3 South Lanarkshire 253.7 371.9 68.2 West Lothian na 349.1 Former Regions Central 246.5 374.0 65.9 Dumfries and Galloway na 313.3 Fife 237.0 345.4 68.6 Grampian 263.7 415.6 63.5 Highlands and Islands na 330.5 Highland na 318.7 Lothian 280.3 368.9 76.0 Strathclyde 264.8 359.0 73.8 Tayside 255.0 347.7 73.3
na*: information not available
Source: New Earnings Survey, 1996
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 106 TABLE 6 Proportions of women employed full-time on low pay Scotland, 1988 – 1993
Year Manual Non-manual All employed women 1988 76.8 50.4 57.1 1989 78.4 49.9 56.7 1990 78.3 47.9 54.8 1991 78.3 45.4 52.1 1992 77.1 46.1 52.2 1993 74.0 41.8 48.2 1994 75.7 41.4 47.9 1995 72.6 40.7 47.5
Source: Scottish Low Pay Unit
TABLE 7 Proportions and numbers of adult employees on low wages Scotland, 1993 and 1994
1993 1994 % of number % of number employees of employees of employees employees Full time Women 48.2 270,000 47.9 270,000 Men 20.5 190,000 20.9 190,000 All full-time 31.0 460,000 31.5 450,000 Part time Women 74.2 320,000 75.4 340,000 Men 70.2 60,000 70.7 70,000 All part-time 73.5 380,000 74.6 400,000 All employees 43.2 840,000 43.9 850,000
Source: Scottish Low Pay Unit , 1995
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 107 TABLE 8 Proportions of full-time employees on low pay (gross wages including overtime) Scottish regions, 1994
Manual workers on Non-manual workers low pay on low pay % % total % % total women men % women men % Borders 76.0 37.7 48.8 61.7 13.2 38.9 Central 85.1 26.1 38.1 45.2 9.5 27.9 Dumfries and Galloway 87.0 34.7 44.6 56.6 13.0 32.0 Fife 77.0 24.3 37.8 48.9 10.3 27.6 Grampian 79.0 28.3 35.6 40.3 9.7 23.0 Highland 86.4 36.8 44.6 58.6 22.0 41.7 Lothian 74.6 32.7 40.4 35.6 13.8 24.8 Strathclyde 72.6 26.5 36.5 39.2 13.9 26.5 Tayside 78.7 33.3 43.0 48.1 15.6 30.9 Islands 62.5 25.7 32.6 51.5 3.4 29.0 Scotland 75.7 28.9 38.5 41.4 13.2 27.0 Great Britain 73.4 26.0 34.7 34.7 11.5 22.2
Source: Scottish Low Pay Unit, 1995
TABLE 9 Unemployment rates in Scotland by sex, 1989 – 1996 (January)
Unemployment rate for… women men Year (%) (%) 1989 6.1 11.7 1990 5.0 10.0 1991 5.1 11.5 1992 5.2 12.8 1993 5.1 13.7 1994 4.7 12.9 1995 4.2 11.3 1996 4.1 11.3
Source: Employment Gazette, Labour Market Trends
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 108 TABLE 10 Scotland: Female population and labour force 1991
Ethnic group Population Economically Active (000s) per cent (000s) per cent White 2576.7 98.9 1035.8 99.2 Minority ethnic groups 29.9 1.1 7.9 0.8 Black groups 2.9 0.1 1.0 0.1 Black-Caribbean 0.4 0.0 0.2 0.0 Black-African 1.2 0.0 0.4 0.0 Black-other 1.2 0.0 0.4 0.0 South Asian 15.6 0.6 3.4 0.3 Indian 4.8 0.2 1.5 0.1 Pakistani 10.4 0.4 1.7 0.2 Bangladeshi 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.0 Chinese and others 11.4 0.4 3.5 0.3 Chinese 5.0 0.2 1.7 0.2 Other Asian 2.4 0.1 0.7 0.1 Other-other 4.0 0.2 1.1 0.1
Source: Ethnic Minority Women and the Labour Market, EOC, 1994
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 109 TABLE 11 Scotland: unemployment among all working age women 1991
Ethnic group Unemployed Unemployment (000s) rate (%) White 78.5 7.6 Minority ethnic groups 1.1 14.2 Black groups 0.1 14.1 Black-Caribbean 0.0 12.3 Black-African 0.1 16.4 Black-other 0.1 12.5 South Asian 0.6 17.9 Indian 0.2 13.0 Pakistani 0.4 22.4 Bangladeshi 0.0 15.1 Chinese and others 0.4 10.6 Chinese 0.1 7.3 Other Asian 0.1 10.4 Other-other 0.2 15.8
Source: Ethnic Minority Women and the Labour Market, EOC, 1994
Esther Breitenbach
References and Sources
Reena Bhavani (1994), Black Women in the Labour Market: A Research Review, EOC Research Series, Manchester. David Owen (1994), Ethnic Minority Women and the Labour Market: Analysis of the 1991 Census, EOC Research Series, Manchester. Department of Education and Employment, Labour Market Trends Department of Education and Employment (1996), New Earnings Survey Department of Education and Employment(1995) Labour Force Survey Engender (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. EOC (1996), Men and Women in Scotland: Factsheet, Glasgow. Scottish Low Pay Unit, figures supplied. Scottish Office (1997), Scottish Abstract of Statistics, 1996, HMSO.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 110 Family and family law trends
Families in contemporary Scotland come in diverse shapes and sizes. Although the ‘traditional’ nuclear family still remains the norm, it co-exists with increasingly diverse family arrangements: cohabiting couples with and without children; lone parents; ‘reconstituted’ families created by remarriage and other kinds of changes of partners; extended families; and lesbian and gay families. Some family forms reflect changing social and economic trends; others have always existed, but have become more visible.
Demographic trends
• In 1995 the estimated population of Scotland was 5,136.6 million. Of the total: 2,647.4 were female and 2,489.2 were male. Women are 51.5% of the population.
Registrar’s report.
• There were 60,051 live births in Scotland in 1995, the lowest number recorded since civil registration was introduced in 1855. One third of all live births in Scotland were to unmarried mothers. op cit.
• There are almost 63,000 people from black and minority ethnic groups living in Scotland in 1991, 1.3% of the population ( compared with 5.9% of the population of England and Wales). The largest single black and minority ethnic group in Scotland is Pakistani, followed by Chinese and Indian. Ethnic minority households are significantly larger averaging at 4.6 members than white households averaging at 2.4 members.
Smith, 1991.
• 29% of all Scottish households include children aged 15 and under.
1991 Census
• Of all households with children, one in five is headed by a lone parent. The vast majority, 93%, of lone parents are women.
1991 Census Tables, 89 & 71.
• Over the last forty years the divorce rate (the ratio of divorces to marriage) has risen from 3.7% to around 40%.
Gender Audit, 1995.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 111 • In Scotland, almost one third of all households in 1991 had at least one person of pensionable age. Over one third of people of pensionable age live alone. Out of all households in 1991, 23% had a dependent person over the age of 16 (either a person with a ‘limiting long-term illness’ and /or of pensionable age).
1991Census
• There is no legal recognition for same sex relationships. Lesbian and gay parents frequently face prejudiced attitudes in the Courts when arrangements are being made for children after marital breakdown, or when seeking to adopt children.
SFPC, 1996.
• Families with an adult or child with disabilities often have: reduced access to employment; increased living costs; and greater vulnerability to poverty. They face personal and institutional discrimination.
SFPC, 1996.
Divorce
The growth in divorce reflects the removal of some legal obstacles to divorce - for example after the Divorce (Scotland) Act in 1976 the divorce rate rose from 10.6% to 21.7% - and also a tendency away from marriage as a fundamental and life-long institution. Cohabitation has become much more popular and the number of one-parent families has doubled in the last 20 years; both are indications that the traditional family is on the decline. One in four families with children under 16 were ‘untraditional’ (headed by a lone-parent or cohabiting couple) at the time of the 1991 Census (Gender Audits 1995 and 1996).
• In the majority of divorce actions women act as the ‘pursuer’.
• Women are far more likely to pursue on the grounds of ‘fault’ (spouse’s behaviour or adultery).
• Grounds of non-cohabitation are on the increase and now account for 66% - two thirds - of all ordinary actions
(Source: Registrar General’s Annual Report 1995).
Last year England and Wales saw the Royal Assent of the Family Law Act which will be implemented in 1998. There is widespread concern about the Act which, while it streamlines procedures for domestic violence injuctions, shifts the divorce process away from ‘fault’ grounds and elevates the role of mediation. In doing so it almost completely removes Legal Aid for independent representation of spouses and expects couples to reach an agreement on children, property and finance with the help of a ‘mediator’. This is just one of the implications of the Act which has been described as
“a law nobody wants” (Radford, 1996/97: p.13).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 112 So far there are no concrete plans for Scotland to follow suit with a similar Bill and, traditionally, Scottish divorce law has been different and separate to proceedings in England and Wales. However, Scottish Offfice reports on family law reform and divorce law reform are currently
“under consideration” (telephone communication with The Scottish Office, March 1997) so this is an area to monitor in the future.
There have been no studies or legislative moves on Scottish divorce proceedings in the last year however the implications of recent changes in related fields are emerging. This update will look at recent developments in other areas of family law, such as the Children (Scotland) Act, and changes to the availability of Legal Aid. It will also consider the growing problems for Refugee and Immigrant families in the face of tough legislation which denies basic human rights.
Legal Aid
The 1995 Gender Audit drew attention to the fact that in the case of divorce women more commonly meet the requirements for Legal Aid. This is because of their generally lower income and greater use of the ordinary divorce procedure for which aid can be given. More than two-thirds of women seeking Legal Aid for an ordinary divorce action are granted it compared to 38% of divorces where the husband raises the action. It follows that women are being affected most by recent government action to reduce civil Legal Aid expenditure. Women’s access to divorce is clearly affected by such a policy, as is their recourse to other civil remedies such as those actions which provide protection from domestic violence.
Since 1993, government amendments to the system of civil Legal Aid have reduced eligibility for aid to a level at which, essentially, it is only those on Income Support who will receive full support. The Scottish Women’s Aid Report, The Poor Law 1996, gives the example that someone with a net income of between £42 and £75 per week plus child support now does not qualify for full Legal Aid when before April 1993 they would have. In 1994, a new structure of fees was introduced in the Sheriff’s court as a result of The Sheriff Court Fees Amendment (No. 2) Order. This combined with a reduction in eligibility for Legal Aid means that access to justice is restricted to the very poor (those at Income Support level) or the rich (those who can afford even higher court fees). Marriage breakdown and domestic violence are not linked to benefit dependency, they affect all sections of society, and it is those who are employed who are hit worst by these changes (SWA, 1996).
Women’s Aid groups and The Law Society of Scotland are very concerned about the number of women in situations of domestic violence who are not taking legal proceedings because of costs (SWA, 1996; telephone communication with The Law Society of Scotland, February 1997). In a Scottish Woman’s Aid survey, 78% of solicitors remarked that after the amendments to civil Legal Aid in 1993 there was a fall in the number of abused women who wished to proceed with an action after they had discussed costs and contributions. 57% of solicitors saw the figure drop again after the introduction of fee changes. Scottish Women’s Aid estimate,
“that since the introduction of the new fee structure, a court order for protection against domestic violence has increased by over 300 per cent.” (SWA, 1996).
Financial concerns are clearly creating a barrier for abused women who want to divorce or protect themselves from a violent partner. Although there has been a drop in the number of abused women
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 113 seeking and taking up legal advice there is unlikely to be a decrease in the need for such help. Changes to civil Legal Aid payments hit part-time workers and those on Disability Allowance particularly hard as they are the groups most likely to have an income very slightly above Income Support level. Expected contribution to court fees can amount to several hundred pounds. Since close to half of all women who work are employed part-time (43%); and women make up a large proportion of low-paid workers in general, the issue of civil Legal Aid cuts is a gender issue which infringes upon equal recourse to justice and personal safety for women. Scottish Women’s Aid contend that government claims about a dramatic increase of civil Legal Aid expenditure and a need to cut back on costs escalating out of control, are highly inaccurate. It estimates that the cost actually decreased in real terms by around 20 per cent between 1993 and 1994. At any estimate the increase in expenditure for civil Legal Aid is nowhere near that of criminal Legal Aid which takes up 70% of the total Legal Aid budget and is not threatened with cuts. Scottish Women’s Aid argue that,
“The reason for this injustice might be because of whom it affects. Matrimonial claims form the bulk of civil Legal Aid work, most of which is raised by women. In addition, abused women have for many years been turning to the civil law for protection from domestic violence. Consequently, civil Legal Aid has increasingly been viewed as a “soft target”.”
Children, ‘residence’ and ‘contact’
The recent Children (Scotland) Act 1995 is the most extensive shake-up of child care policy and law for over twenty-five years. It covers the responsibilities and rights of parents, children’s welfare and services, adoption and protection of children. In general, the Act is viewed positively by equal opportunities groups as it gives new weight to children’s rights in areas such as Care, legal proceedings, religious and racial equality and provision for children with disabilities. There are also a number of implications for family law in terms of divorce, custody and access. The terms ‘custody’ and ‘access’ have been changed to ‘residence’ and ‘contact’ and as these new terms suggest more emphasis has been placed on the child and the parents’ responsibilities to the child.
Children under sixteen are involved in just under half of all divorces; in 1991 the number of children affected by their parents’ divorce was about 10,000. Scottish Office research reports that in 92% of custody cases, custody is awarded to the mother
(Morris et.al, 1993).
It is hoped that the Gender Audit 1998 will include a detailed analysis of the implications of The Children (Scotland) Act for women.
The affects of Immigration and Asylum Laws on Women and Families
The policies of the previous government saw a tightening of immigration regulations and an increasingly ‘tough’ attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers. In 1995 the United Nations issued a report raising
“subjects of concern” in reference to the UK record on treatment of asylum seekers. It criticised
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 114 “the method adopted in forcibly returning persons under deportation orders”; breach of guidelines requiring that “No State Party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of becoming subject to torture”; and “discrimination in the treatment of black citizens in the United Kingdom by police and immigration authorities”(SFPC, 1996).
These policies are generally repressive and discriminatory against black people but they also have particularly harsh implications for families and women.
Immigration and the ‘one-year rule’
Immigration laws can have a devastating impact upon women and families. In particular, the Primary Purpose Rule keeps families and partners apart; and the One Year Rule, places some women in the impossible position of choosing between remaining in an abusive marriage or leaving to face penury and eventual deportation.
Immigration law says that a person wishing to enter the UK as a spouse or fiancé must show that their marriage is genuine and that its “primary purpose” is not to obtain admission to the UK. If a person clears this hurdle, they still face a further qualification - the One Year Rule. The rule means that,
“if a woman comes to this country for marriage, she is given initial leave to enter or remain in the UK on the following basis. She must remain in the marriage for 12 months before she can get indefinite leave to remain in this country. She cannot make any claim on the state during this time - commonly phrased as “no recourse to public funds”, that is she cannot claim income support, family credit, housing benefit, or housing provided under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act” (WLAN,1995).
These measures give unjustified power to the already-settled-spouse and little independence for the spouse who enters the country. As a consequence of the ‘one-year rule’, the spouse has little opportunity to leave a broken or violent marriage without facing deportation. Home Office figures show that the majority of immigrant spouses or fiancées are women. In 1993, new applications from the Indian sub-continent included 6,300 from wives, 500 from female fiancées and 350 from male fiancés. The ‘one-year rule’ is having a devastating affect on those immigrant women and their children who face domestic violence or the break down of marriage during its first year.
Independent research by Abolish The One Year Rule Campaign (AOYRC) suggests that during the period January 1994 to July 1995, 755 women were threatened with deportation because of marriage breakdown. Of those, more than 512 were fleeing domestic violence. As well as the threat of deportation, women leaving a marriage face poverty and homelessness because they have no recourse to public funds. Often they can not turn to women’s refuges for shelter as many of these institutions rely on housing benefit as a source of income.
The ‘one-year rule’ is preventing hundreds of women from the right to safety and independence and it also penalises women on the grounds of race. Many of the UK’s immigrant spouses are from the Asian subcontinent, largely because the close contact of Asian communities with their countries of origin in choosing marriage partners. The majority of women fleeing domestic violence are Asian (68.4% of the women surveyed above) and due to the nature of their countries of origin, many have more reason than most to fear deportation. Traditional values often mean that a divorced or separated woman will be regarded as a traitor and may even be disowned by her family and left destitute Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 115 (AOYRC). UK immigration laws do not, at time of writing, take into consideration domestic violence or marriage breakdown or the particular circumstances of ethnic minority women.
It is not known how many women in Scotland are affected by this rule. A recent report on domestic violence within black and ethnic minority communities in Scotland reported that many support organisations were
“left with no option but to ask the women to remain in the abusive relationship until the year is up [...] It is unlikely that local authorities can, under current legislation, do much more but it should be noted that at the moment women are being sent back to situations that are abusive, dangerous and potentially deadly.” (McCrae and Brown, 1995).
Shakti Women’s Aid report that they cannot offer refuge to women who are affected by this rule because of these women are not allowed to have recourse to public funds, and Shakti receives public funding. They are presently supporting two women, housed within other agencies, who are affected by this rule.
The new Labour government has pledged a full review of existing immigration law and has already reversed the ‘burden of proof’ in Primary Purpose cases. Immigration officers are now required to prove that a marriage is bogus, rather than the onus being upon a couple to prove that their marriage is genuine.
Asylum Law
Refugee and Asylum laws are also creating another minority group who are alienated and excluded from public funds and support. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work for their first six months in the UK and they receive only 90% of welfare benefit. However the most urgent problem in this field is the growing number of refugees who, because they did not declare refugee status on their first day in the UK, are not entitled to work or receive any benefits (SFPC, 1996). To regain their rights they must appeal for Refugee Status which can take years; one refugee in Scotland has been awaiting a decision for seven years. The Scottish Refugee Council know of six families in Scotland who, because of their lack of Refugee Status, have no means on which to live. They are currently being supported by charitable organisations but their future is uncertain (telephone communication with The Scottish Refugee Council, March 1997). The social services obligation to help people
“who are aged, infirm or through other circumstances require care and attention” (National Assistance Act 1948) is ambiguous in the area of Asylum seekers; some argue that refugees don’t require “care and attention” but money. However, in a High Court ruling in October 1996, Mr. Justice Collins said authorities had interpreted the law too narrowly and that
“Each applicant faces the dilemma that he must either starve without a roof over his head or return to the country from which he has fled” (Community Care, 1996).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 116 Refugee families face poverty, trauma from experiences in their country of origin, language difficulties, long periods of separation from family members due to restrictive visa regulations and increasingly there are those for whom means of survival is also denied. Megan Ciotti
References
Abolish the One Year Rule Campaign (undated), A Stark Choice, Domestic Violence or Deportation. Community Care, 10-16 October 1996 Engender (1995, 1996), Gender Audit, Edinbugh. General Register Office for Scotland (1995), Annual Report of the Registrar of Scotland, 1995, HMSO. General Register Office for Scotland (1993), Census Report, 1991, HMSO. Law Society of Scotland (March 1997), telephone communication. Rosina McCrae and Usha Brown (1995), No Voice-No Choice, A report on Domestic Violence within Black and Ethnic Minority Communities (Strathclyde Regional Council) Jill Radford (1996/7), ‘Breaking up is Hard to Do’,Trouble and Strife 34, Winter 1996/97. Scottish Family Policy Charter (1996),Scotland’s Families . Scottish Family Policy Charter (1996), The Law, fact sheet 7. Scottish Family Policy Charter (1996), Immigration and Asylum, fact sheet 11. Scottish Local Government Information Unit and Children in Scotland, Children (Scotland) Act 1995, A Guide, 1995 Scottish Office (March 1997), telephone communication. Scottish Refugee Council (March 1997), telephone communication. Scottish Women’s Aid (1996), The Poor Law 1996. Scottish Women’s Aid (March 1997), telephone communication. Shakti Women’s Aid (March 1997), telephone communication. Kay Tisdall (1995), Scotland’s Families Today, HMSO, Edinburgh. Women’s Local Authority Network (1995), Women and Immigration, Manchester.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 117 Health
Health has been defined by the World Health Organisation as a
“state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”.
Despite the limitations of this definition it is nevertheless important because it recognises that health is the consequence of many different influences including social, environmental, economic and biological factors. Health status and health outcomes are, therefore linked to gender, age, ethnicity, domesticity, disability, sexual orientation, social and economic status, location and environment
(Glasgow Women’s Health Working Group, 1996).
Previous Gender Audits have reported that the health of Scottish women is particularly poor; and have linked ill health and premature death with levels of deprivation (Gender Audit, 1994, 1995, 1996). The limitations of official statistics which rely heavily on measures of death and sickness as proxy measures of health have also been commented upon (Gender Audit 1994).
• Women are expected to outlive men by an average of five and a half years. In 1995 the expectation of life (at time of birth) was 72.1 for men and 77.6 for women.
Annual Report of the Registrar of Scotland 1995
• Women live longer than men, but experience a greater amount of ill-health during their lives. Women have particular health needs because they have complex reproductive systems which require care at particular stages of their lives. Women’s health is also adversely affected by current social and economic roles.
GHCP, Women’s Health Working Group, 1996
• There is some evidence to show that women’s health problems are given less importance than those of men. For example, women may be less likely than men to be referred for treatment for some symptoms of heart disease, or to receive heart transplants.
Roberts 1993 cited by GHCP, Women’s Health Working Group op. cit..
A focus on women’s health is not to suggest that women’s health is any more or less important than men’s health. Ill health is a problem for all who experience it - men, women and children. However, the purpose of a gender analysis of health is to establish whether the answers to questions about the causes, patterns and consequences of ill health and the policies designed to promote good health, are the same for men and women, and indeed whether there are different answers for distinct groups of men and distinct groups of women. In addition, women carry the burden of care for other family members who are suffering from ill-health.
Women’s health campaigners have noted gender bias in the way that routine data is collected and disseminated, and the type of research which is undertaken, which can result in the exclusion of
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 118 information about women and the marginalisation of women’s health as an issue. However, the following key information, drawn from varied sources, has been collated by the Glasgow Healthy City Project, Women’s Health Working Group in response to the need to have data on health which is accessible and gender sensitive (1996:p.7-8) .
Mental health problems
• In a Glasgow survey, 70% of women cited ‘improving emotional and mental health’ as their first priority for improving women’s health. This is mirrored by other current data on mental health.
• A study in Edinburgh found that 33% of women experienced depression and anxiety at any one point in time.
• Until recently, twice as many women as men were admitted to psychiatric hospitals suffering from depression and anxiety.
Physical Health Problems
• The leading cause of premature death (before the age of 65) in women is ischaemic heart disease, the same as for men.
• Women from some black and ethnic minority communities are up to 30% more likely to die from ischaemic heart disease than women from the indigenous white community.
• In Scotland the premature death rate from lung cancer is increasing in women whereas, for men, it is falling.
• In a UK survey, women of all ages reported more acute and long standing illness than men.
Implications of women’s social role
• A national survey found that 17% of women, as opposed to 13% of men, provide care for other adults.
• The same survey showed that female carers spend more time caring, provide more personal care and are more likely to carry the main responsibility for care than male carers.
• A recent study in Glasgow has shown that women form the majority of carers, of which a majority had given up paid work, and were likely to be living in poverty.
• Estimates are that as many as 20,000 Glasgow women may be currently suffering from severe domestic violence. A further 40,000 to 60,000 women may experience violence by their male Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 119 partner during their relationship.
Implications of women’s social conditions
• Studies in Glasgow show that the physical and mental health of women is more affected by living in deprived areas than is the health of men.
• Women from black and ethnic minority communities experience the double discrimination of race and gender. Despite Scotland’s poor ranking in various European and international health league tables, there is still no national strategy to improve women’s health - although there is a growing awareness amongst health professionals and policy makers that addressing women’s health needs not only improves the health of women but improves that of the population as a whole. A National Women’s Health Policy in Scotland would help legitimise current local activity but would require considerable campaigning and lobbying. In the absence of a national policy, the Glasgow Model of Women’s Health has set a precedent for a strategic approach in other areas in Scotland (Gender Audit 1996).
The Glasgow work uses a social rather than a medical model of health. The medical model is predominantly concerned with symptoms of illness and the treatment of illness, and gives little attention to the various factors which affect health. The social model highlights the need to take a view of women’s health which recognises its social, economic and environmental determinants. It particularly seeks to emphasise the significance of women’s poverty in affecting health. This view of health allows for the biological factors (which include women’s reproductive function) which affect women, but places them in a broader framework.
A social model of health also facilitates an understanding of the heterogeneity of the female population and the inequalities which exist between different groups of women. The Glasgow model therefore emphasises the need to examine the specific needs, where they exist, of black and ethnic minority women, disabled women and lesbians; and to develop appropriate responses (Gender Audit 1996).
The Glasgow model for women’s health has now been adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the model for cities participating in its Multi-City Action Plan for Women’s health, and the city has been invited to submit a proposal to become a WHO Collaborating Centre for Women’s Health (Glasgow Women’s Health Working Group, 1997).
The Women’s Health Working Group of the Glasgow Healthy City Project, the moving force behind the Glasgow Model for Women’s Health, has recently produced a resource pack for workers and organisations to promote healthy change in Scottish workplaces, and to press for strategic organisations to develop policies which are sensitive to health and gender implications. Figure 1 summarises some of the links between inequalities experienced in the work place and consequences for health and well being.
The limitations of official statistics
There is a great deal of difficulty in measuring the positive concept of health as more than an absence of illness. Official statistics still rely heavily on measures of death and sickness as proxy measures of health. Sickness rates are particularly imperfect measures of health because they are
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 120 largely based on the presentation of health problems rather than their true prevalence in the population. Furthermore sickness rates are aggregated in such a way that they give little indication of their relationship with the factors that influence health: for example gender, social and economic status and environment (Gender Audit, 1994). A project to provide more accessible gender health statistics is underway and data will be reported in the next Gender Audit. Meanwhile, a selection of statistics which give some information on women’s health are outlined in the following tables.
FIGURE 1: Unequal opportunities at work and implications for women’s health
Unequal Opportunities and Women's Health
Inequality of opportunity Effect on women's health Men are frequently in positions of power and Lack of power and control over life can lower influence, whereas women rarely are self-esteem, affecting mental health Although sexual discrimination is illegal in Experiencing discrimination affects women's Britain, it happens in many workplaces opportunities in the workplace, and emotional and mental health Women are generally in low-paid work Lack of income and poverty are linked with poor health Women are often in low-status work Often in poor, or dangerous, working conditions linked to physical illness Women are often in sex-segregated work Lack of opportunities, and the above negative factors listed, can also lead to low self-esteem Women's work is often in servicing roles in This re-inforces women's own feelings of relation to men: 'jobs which involve traditionally inferiority and lack of power, which can affect female responsibilities - cleaning, cooking, self-esteem, reduce desire to develop potential and clothing, caring', 17 and support and clerical work reduce overall work satisfaction 18 Labour is sexually-segregated within organisation, The 'double shift' of work and domestic taking no account of women's domestic and caring responsibilities is often cited by women as a roles source of stress and tiredness Women often predominate in areas of part-time This is often lower-paid and low-status, and leads work to poverty. It is linked with ill-health low self- esteem and mental health problems Women often work within environments This affects women's daily life at work, can sexualised by pin-ups of women, and have to undermine confidence, and affect mental well- listen to and deal with sexual banter and sexist being and work performance attitudes Women experience sexual harassment at work - This is linked with mental health problems, and whether physical or emotional can limit choices for women of where to work General male resistance to change within the This lowers women's self-esteem, affecting well- workplace which would allow women to being participate more equally
Source: GHCP, Women’s Health Working Group (1996), Action for Women’s Health, p.13
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 121 Mortality
• Ischaemic heart disease is the biggest killer of both women and men.
• Cancer and ischaemic heart disease were each responsible for about a quarter of all deaths (men and women) in Scotland in 1995.
• Rates of Lung cancer are decreasing for men, but increasing for women.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 122 TABLE 1 Deaths, by cause and sex, 1985, 1994 and 1995
Cause of death females males
All causes 32,820 30,912 31,709 31,147 28,416 28,791
Intestinal infectious disease 11 11 11 7 8 6
Tuberculosis 20 15 13 37 34 26
Other infectious and parasitic diseases 107 126 147 96 112 123
Malignant neoplasms 7,035 7,512 7,456 7,420 7,652 7,768
Benign neoplasms 20 18 22 14 17 10
Other and unspecifies neoplasms 67 94 114 62 101 92
Endocrine and metabolic diseases, immunity 393 378 332 309 376 400 disorders
Nutritional deficiencies 14 12 6 7 2 0
Diseases of the blood and blood forming organs 104 73 76 77 48 53
Mental disorders 609 802 964 356 504 619
Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs 433 433 413 377 410 419
Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease 190 127 128 62 49 51
Hypertensive disease 243 177 173 148 135 151
Ischaemic heart disease 8,568 7,101 7,056 10,190 8,133 7,921
Other heart disease 1,594 1,351 1,474 1,026 849 877
Cerebrovascular disease 5,245 4,909 4,965 3,260 2,775 2,783
Other diseases of the circulatory system 1056 813 776 737 719 724
Diseases of the respiratory system 3,551 3,733 4,191 3,605 3,248 3,477
Diseases of the digestive system 1,151 1,193 1,235 887 999 1,017
Diseases of the genitourinary system 542 489 537 355 327 391
Abortion 1 - - n/a n/a n/a
Complications of pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium 9 9 6 n/a n/a n/a
Diseases of the skin, musculo-skeletal system and connective tissue 275 289 284 83 91 99
Congenital abnormalities 132 86 81 133 84 95
Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period 117 85 87 129 106 91
Signs, symptoms and ill-defined conditions 136 197 241 149 134 124
Accidents and adverse effects 933 624 690 1,061 799 766
Suicide and self-inflicted injury 182 161 147 387 463 476
Homicide and other violence 83 84 84 173 241 232
Source: General Register Office (Scotland). Scottish Abstract of Statistics, 1996. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 123 Table 2 (first used in the Gender Audit, 1994) provides information about the premature mortality rate (deaths between 35 and 64 years) in women in Scotland by health board of residence and cause of death. Information was collated for five years from 1988-1992 to give sufficient numbers for a meaningful comparison. The most common cause of premature deaths in Scottish women was ischaemic heart disease. 17 Ninety nine per 100,000 Scottish women died from ischaemic heart disease in that time period. Greater Glasgow had the highest premature death rate from ischaemic heart disease in Scotland; a rate of 128 per 100,000. Breast cancer was the second most common cause of premature death, although this varied across health board areas. For example, lung cancer had overtaken breast cancer as the most common cause of cancer death in women who live in Greater Glasgow and Dumfries and Galloway. For Scottish women as a whole, lung cancer was the third most common cause of premature Death, followed by ‘stroke’ (Gender Audit, 1994. p.58).
• Deprivation is strongly associated with mortality (Carstairs, 1991). Women living in deprived areas in Scotland and twice as likely to die prematurely as women living in the most affluent areas (Table 3).
• In Scotland nearly one and a half times as many women living in the most deprived areas of the country died from ischaemic heart disease in 1992 compared with those women living in the most affluent areas. The effect of deprivation on mortality is most pronounced for lung cancer. Nearly four times as many women from the most deprived areas died from this disease in 1992 compared with women from the most affluent areas. Breast cancer mortality does not follow this pattern. More women from the most affluent areas in Scotland died from this disease in 1992 compared with women from the most deprived areas (Table 4).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 124 TABLE 2 Premature death rates per 100,000 population in women aged 35 to 64 years by health board area of residence and cause of death 1988-1992
Ischaemic 'stroke' lung breast cervical All heart cancer cancer cancer causes disease of death Argyll & Clyde 105.9 38.0 46.0 59.9 11.7 522.9 Aryshire & Arran 112.8 37.6 45.0 61.0 11.7 516.9 Borders 82.8 32.1 22.8 42.4 6.2 428.4 Dumfries & Galloway 104.2 36.4 45.7 44.3 2.9 481.9 Fife 101.7 40.8 35.3 59.1 9.9 498.8 Forth Valley 106.3 41.9 39.9 62.9 9.1 492.1 Grampian 71.3 32.4 31.3 48.2 6.4 413.6 Greater Glasgow 128.1 50.3 71.1 56.8 10.5 627.9 Highland 72.1 32.0 26.2 69.4 8.5 430.7 Lanarkshire 122.7 41.1 47.5 56.4 7.9 540.6 Lothian 75.6 35.7 44.1 50.2 10.3 450.7 Tayside 73.8 31.8 39.8 50.0 8.8 452.2 Orkney 28.0 28.0 28.0 16.8 - 347.0 Shetland 62.7 26.1 15.7 62.7 5.2 370.8 Western Isles 51.3 31.6 19.7 63.1 7.9 378.8 Scotland 99.0 39.0 45.6 55.2 9.3 503.9
Source: Public Health Common Data Set; Gender Audit, 1994.
TABLE 3 Female age specific death ratios for deprivation categories for Scotland, 1980-1985
Affluent Deprived No.of Ratio deaths Age 123 4 5 6 7 7:1
0-64 years 67 81 92 99 110 123 134 37,159 2.0
65 and over 91 93 97 100 106 105 115 155,158 1.3
All ages 87 91 96 100 107 109 123 192,317 1.4
Source: Carstairs and Morris 1991
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 125 TABLE 4 Female mortality rates for specified causes of death in Scotland by deprivation category, 1992
Deprivation category Heart lung breast 'stroke' disease cancer cancer 1 least deprived 230 30 50 168 2 280 49 45 201 3 289 44 48 199 4 295 56 52 189 5 304 70 44 181 6 321 78 48 179 7 most deprived 302 110 41 170 Total 292 159 48 120
Source: Information Statistics Division, National Health Service in Scotland by kind permission of the Registrar General in Scotland; Gender Audit, 1994.
Morbidity
The other set of indicators which act as a surrogate measure of health are morbidity indicators. Morbidity refers simply to sickness. As a result, like death rates, measures of morbidity tend to refer to states of ill health rather than a positive state of health. Regular sources of morbidity data include self-reported illness, consultation with medical practitioners and admission to medical facilities. Data on self reported illness is not routinely collected in Scotland.
TABLE 5 Health and Lifestyle Survey: proportions of women and men reporting symptoms during the month before interview, 1984/85
18-44 years 45-64 years 65-84 years symptoms women men women men women men (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) painful joints 11 12 33 27 45 30 palpitations 8 6 20 15 29 24 bad back 17 14 23 18 29 20 indigestion 14 15 19 19 23 20 headache 39 25 32 16 24 13
Source: Health and Lifestyle Survey, 1987; Gender Audit, 1994.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 126 Reproductive health and sexual behaviour
• The total number of abortions, around 11,000, changed very little between 1990 and 1995.
• Women aged between 20 and 29 account for around half of all abortions performed, although the number of under 16 year olds undergoing terminations increased by 17% between 1990 and 1995.
TABLE 6 Termination of pregnancy by age of woman, 1990, 1993-95
No. of women Rate per 1,000 women Age of woman 1990 1993 1994* 1995* 1990 1993 1994 1995 (in each age group specified) Under 16 250 295 293 312 - - - - 16-19 2,693 2,355 2,312 2,169 18.2 19.1 19.1 18.0 20-24 3,483 3,504 3,486 3,399 16.9 18.2 18.8 19.0 25-29 2,272 2,561 2,431 2,438 11.0 12.3 11.8 12.1 30-34 1,267 1,566 1,648 1,609 6.8 7.8 8 7.7 35-39 749 937 877 887 4.4 5.2 4.7 4.7 40-44 266 270 315 296 1.5 1.6 1.9 1.8 45 and over 23 29 30 33 - - - -
*1994 figures are revised; 1995 figures are provisional
Source: Adapted from Scottish Abstract of Statistics 1996, Table 3D11
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 127 TABLE 7 Births and infant deaths in Scotland, 1995
number of births rate per 1,000 population
all births 60,448 11.8
live births 60,051 11.7
rate per 1,000 total births
still births 397 6.6 Number of infant deaths rate per 1,000 live births
infant deaths 375 6.2
Source: Scottish Abstract of Statistics 1996.
• There were 60,051 live births in 1995, the lowest number recorded since civil registration was introduced in 1855. There were 375 infant deaths, the lowest yearly total ever recorded.
Emotional and Mental health
• Previous Audits have noted that there are no routinely collected statistics on the prevalence of mental health problems in the Scottish population, however available research suggests that poor mental health is closely associated with the difficulties associated with women’s social roles.
• More women than men were admitted to psychiatric and mental illness hospitals in 1994.
• Although the highest proportion of inpatients of both sexes were admitted as a result of senility; other admissions show distinct gender patterns. Women were most likely to be suffering from non psychotic depressions or affective psychoses, whereas men were most likely to be suffering from alcoholic psychoses or schizophrenic psychoses.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 128 TABLE 8 Number and rate of admissions to mental illness and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland by sex, 1994 *.
Diagnosis No. Rate No. Men Rate women per per 100,000 100,000 Senile and presenile organic 3,759 142 2,426 576 psychotic conditions Alcohol psychosis; alcohol dependence 1,006 38 2,382 96 syndrome Drug Abuse 459 17 1,031 41 Schizophrenic psychosis 1,285 49 2,185 88 Affective psychoses 2,367 89 1,419 57 Other psychoses 1,211 46 1,124 45 Disorders of childhood 15 1 22 1 Neurotic disorders 568 21 350 14 Depressions - non psychotic 3,196 121 1,913 77 Personality disorders 347 13 353 14 Mental handicap 62 2 90 4 Other conditions 1,318 50 1,027 41 All diagnoses 15,593 589 14,322 576
* provisional figures.
Source: Common Services Agency. Scottish Abstract if Statistics, 1996.
• It is known from prescription data that there are large numbers of prescriptions issued for drugs associated with the relief of mental health problems, However, as the Gender Audit reported in 1994, this data is only collected as numbers of drugs prescribed and does not give information about the numbers of individuals concerned, not their age or sex.
TABLE 9 Prescribing rates in Scotland, 1985, 1994 and 1995.
1985 1994 1995
Number of prescriptions 37.8 51.8 51.8 (millions)
Source: Information and Statistics Division, Health Service in Scotland. Scottish Abstract of Statistics, 1996. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 129 References and Sources
V. Carstairs and R. Morris (1991), Deprivation and Health in Scotland, Aberdeen University Press. Central Statistics Unit, Scottish Office (1997), Scottish Statistics, 1996, factcard. Engender (1994, 1995, 1996), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Glasgow Women’s Health Working Group (1996) Action for Women’s Health: Making Changes through Organisations, Glasgow Healthy City Project. Scottish Office (1997), Scottish Abstract of Statistics, 1996, HMSO.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 130 Housing
• Women heads of households, in particular lone parents, are far likelier to be in local authority housing than in other forms of tenure, and than male heads of households, the majority of whom are owner occupiers.
• 70% of lone parents live in public authority housing.
Graham, 1984.
• A survey of Scottish local authorities and housing associations showed no evidence that young lone parents are being rehoused at the expense of two parent families.
Ischaemic heart disease is a general term which means reduction of blood flow to the heart muscle, usually causing pain (or agina). It may result in hardening of the arteries or a heart attack.
• Women who own their own homes tend to live in cheaper properties and spend a higher proportion of their income on mortgage repayments than men.
Save the Children and Glasgow Caledonian University (1995)
• Women may be trapped not only in poor quality housing, but also in abusive or unsatisfactory relations, because of their inability to gain independent access to suitable accommodation. Poor housing is related to low income, and women are more likely to be low paid, or lack an independent income.
One Plus & Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (1994), cited in Scottish Family Policy Charter (1996) Fact sheet 8.
• Access to social housing for minority ethnic groups may be reduced as a result of language barriers and culturally specific assumptions in the provision and allocation of social housing.
Sexty, 1990.
• In general ethnic minority households are more likely to own their own homes than whites; ethnic minority households are significantly larger averaging at 4.6 members than white households averaging at 2.4 members.
Gender Audit, 1994.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 131 • Lesbians and gay men face discrimination in access to social housing because housing providers do not always accept applications from ‘single’ people wanting to share, nor do they always recognise the housing needs of lesbian and gay couples. Lesbians and gay couples also frequently face discrimination from building societies when they apply for mortgages.
Wainwright, Murie and McEwan, 1994.
• A recent survey of the housing experiences and housing needs of young lesbians and gay men in Scotland’s central belt indicated that, of those young people who responded:
1 Around half felt they had to conceal their sexual orientation in order to keep a roof over their heads.
2 A third had had to leave their family home as a result of their sexual orientation, in addition 43% had been forced to leave private rented accommodation once their sexual orientation had become known.
3 One in three had experienced harrassment by, for instance, neighbours because of their sexuality.
Smith, 1991.
• Ten years ago, Levison and Atkins (1987) estimated that women were about half of all local authority housing staff in Scotland, but were grossly under-represented at senior management levels (5%). In 1994 there were only two women Directors of Housing in Scotland out of 56 housing authorities, and there had only ever been one other (Gender Audit, 1984). Post local government reorganisation, there are now 32 unitary authorities which all have responsibility for housing. In 1996 there were two female Directors of Housing, one female Director of Housing & Social Work, one female Director of Community Services (including Housing); and one female Chief Housing Officer.
Sexty, 1990.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 132 TABLE 1 Household structure in Scotland, 1991
Type of household Type of household as a % of all households Single adult 28.6 Lone parent 4.9 1 female, 1 male (no children) 26.5 1 female, 1 male (with children) 19.3 2 adults, same sex (no children) 3.0 2 adults, same sex (with children) 0.6 3 or more adults (no children) 11.7 3 or more adults (with children) 5.4 100 All households (2,020,050 households)
Source: 1991 Census Report for Scotland, Part 1, Table 42
TABLE 2 Heads of households in Scotland, 1991
Head of Single Married Widowed/- Total household (%) (%) Divorced (%) (%) Women 8.6 6.5 18.2 33.3 Men 8.0 52.2 6.5 66.7 Total 16.6 58.7 24.7 100.0
Source: 1991 Census Report for Scotland, Part 1, Table 39
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 133 TABLE 3 Housing tenure in Scotland by heads of household, 1991
1991 Heads of Household Total Female Lone Male 1981 (%) (%) parent* (%) Total (%) (%) Owner occupiers 52.1 37.1 17.0 59.6 35
Private rent (inc. with job) 6.9 6.8 6.0 7.0 9.8 Housing association 3.1 4.9 5.1 2.1
Local authority 34.1 46.4 64.6 27.9 54.6
New Town/Scottish Homes 3.8 4.8 7.3 3.3
Figures for lone parents may not be entirely accurate as they are not specifically identified in the relevant census data.
Source: 1991 Census Report for Scotland Part 1, Tables G, 42 & 45
References and Sources
General Register Office for Scotland (1993) Census Report for Scotland 1991, HMSO. D. Levison and J. Atkins (1987), The Key to Equality: The 1986 Women and Housing Survey, Institute of Housing. Carol Sexty (1990), Women Losing Out: Access to Housing in Britain Today, Shelter. Engender (1994), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. One Plus & Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (1994), One Parent Families - Are They Jumping The Housing Queue? Patten Smith (1991), ‘Ethnic Minorities in Scotland’, Central Research Unit Papers, The Scottish Office. Save the Children & Glasgow Caledonian University (1995) Child and Family Poverty: The Facts. Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (1997, forthcoming), Obtaining a Fair Deal: Pride in Housing, report on the housing needs of young lesbians and gay men in Scotland. Scottish Local Government Information Unit /Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (1996) Directory of Scottish Local Government 1996 (2nd Edn, July). S. Wainwright, A. Murie and M. McEwan (1994), The Experience of Households from Minority Ethnic Groups in the Scottish Housing System, Scottish Homes.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 134 Law
Women in the Legal Profession
• There is only one female judge in Scotland.
• In the past year women have slightly increased their representation amongst Advocates and Queen’s Counsel.
• Women form about a third of all solicitors on the Solicitors Roll in Scotland.
• Equal numbers of men and women were admitted to the Solicitors Roll in 1996. Previous Gender Audits (1994, 1995, 1996) reported on the under-representation of women at all levels of the legal profession, and discussed trends in the numbers and proportions of women entering different branches of the profession over the last decade or so. Although the proportion of female lawyers is increasing overall, the rate of change in some sections of the legal profession remains slow. The profile of the profession in 1997 is very similar to the 1996 picture as illustrated in the following tables.
TABLE 1 The Scottish legal profession by sex, 1997.
Women Men Total Women % Judges 1 25 26 3.8 (permanent) Judges 08 8 0 (temporary) Sheriffs (full-time) 8 99 107 7.5 Sheriffs (part-time) 891998 Advocates 75 296 371 20.2 Queen’s Counsel 8 68 76 10.5
Source: Faculty of Advocates and Scottish Courts Administration, 1997
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 135 TABLE 2 Women in the legal profession by percentage and number, 1984, 1994 - 1997
1984 1994 1995 1996 1997 % women No. % N- % No. % No. % No. wom- o. women women women en Judges (permanent) 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 3.8% 1 3.8% 1 Judges (temporary) - - 14.3% 1 12.5% 1 0% 0 0% 0 Sheriffs (full-time) 5.2 % of 6.9% 7 7.9% 8 7.8% 8 7.5% 8 Sheriffs full Sheriffs (part-time) and 4.6% 5 8.9% 11 8.9% 10 8% 8 part-time Advocates 7.9% n/k 16.4% 54 18.2% 64 19.5% 74 20.2% 75 Queen’s Council n/k n/k 7.9% 6 7.5% 6 9.6% 8 10.5% 8
Source: Compiled from Faculty of Advocates and Scottish Courts Administration statistics 1997 and Gender Audits 1995 and 1996
Women continue to appear to be making the greatest progress in the legal profession as solicitors. Tables 3 and 4 show the gender break-down of practising Solicitors and those being admitted to the Solicitors Roll. They indicate that around a third of practising solicitors are female as compared with around a quarter in 1988. These figures should continue to rise since, as Table 4 demonstrates, a trend has established for women and men to be admitted to the Solicitors Roll in roughly equal numbers annually.
TABLE 3 Women and men on the Solicitors Roll 1988 - 1996
Year Women Men Total Women % 1988 2047 5976 8023 25.5 1989 2235 6018 8253 27.1 1990 2402 6108 8510 28.2 1991 2574 6166 8740 29.5 1992 2780 6232 9012 30.8 1993 2981 6322 9303 32.0 1994 3136 6358 9494 33.0 1995 2667 5321 7988 33.4 1996 3464 6500 9969 34.6
Source: Law Society of Scotland, 1997
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 136 TABLE 4 Admission of Solicitors by sex, 1988 - 1996
Year Women Men Total Women % 1988 175 207 382 45.9 1989 214 213 427 50.1 1990 194 205 399 48.6 1991 243 241 484 50.2 1992 205 143 348 58.9 1993 223 201 424 52.6 1994 193 163 356 54.2 1995 197 219 416 47.3 1996 197 197 394 50.0
Source: Law Society of Scotland, 1997
Women in the police
• Women comprise 13 per cent of all police officers, and have slightly increased their representation at most levels.
TABLE 5 Regular police strength in Scotland by sex at 31 March, 1996
Force no. (no. no. (no. total % (% women 1994) men 1994) women 1994) Central 87 (76) 571 (563) 658 13.2% 11.9% Dumfries & 52 (49) 327 (320) 379 13.7% 13.2% Galloway Fife 96 (93) 693 (681) 789 12.2% 12.0% Grampian 168 (159) 985 (991) 1,153 14.6% 13.8% Lothian & 324 (308) 2,189 (2,173) 2,513 12.9% 12.4% Borders Northern 65 (67) 580 (570) 645 10.1% 10.5% Strathclyde 933 (765) 6,250 (6,114) 7,183 13.0% 11.1% Tayside 155 (139) 955 (924) 1,110 14.0% 13.1% Total 1,880 (1,656) 12,550 (12,336) 14,430 13.0% 11.8%
Source: Compiled from data in the Report of HMCI of Constabulary for Scotland, 1993, 1995 , 1996 .
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 137 TABLE 6 Female and male police officers by rank as at 31 March, 1996.
Rank Women Men Total % (% Women 1994) Superintendent 3 208 211 1.4% (1.4%) Chief Inspector 7 230 237 3.0 % (3.6%) Inspector 18 694 712 2.5% (2.3%) Sergeant 115 1941 2056 5.6% (4.7%) Constable 1740 9534 11,274 15.4% (14.1%) Total 1,883 12,607 14,490 13.0% (11.8%)
Note: includes some central services personnel not counted in individual force totals.
Source: Compiled from data in the Report of HMCI of Constabulary for Scotland, 1993, 1995, 1996 and Gender Audit 1994
Women as Offenders
• The average daily female population has increased from 137 in 1990 to 175 in 1995.
• Women constitute around three per cent of the prison population.
TABLE 7: Average Daily Prison Population by sex, 1990, 1994 and 1995
% change % change 1990 1994 1995 (1990 figures) (1990 figures) Total 4724 5585 +18.2% 5626 +19%
male 4587 5408 +17.8% 5451 +18.8% female 137 177 +29.1% 175 +27.7%
Source: Scottish Office Statistical Bulletin: Criminal Justice Series. CrJ/1996/5 (October 1996). Adapted from Table 1
Megan Ciotti
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 138 References
Engender (1996), Gender Audit. Engender (1995), Gender Audit. Engender (1994), Gender Audit. Law Society of Scotland (February 1997), telephone communication. Faculty of Advocates (March 1997), telephone communication. Scottish Courts Administration (March 1997), telephone communication. Scottish Office (1996) Statistical Bulletin: Criminal Justice Series. CrJ/1996/5, October.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 139 Local Government
Local government has an important impact on women’s lives in Scotland - as employees, elected representatives, service users and citizens. It also has an impact upon the thousands of women who work in the voluntary sector, paid and unpaid, and upon those women who receive voluntary sector services and their families.
Local government has a crucial relationship, through its statutory and non statutory roles, with many of the subject areas with which the Gender Audit has been concerned: for example, childcare, education, employment, housing, women’s health, party politics, poverty, trades unions, voluntary organisations and violence. Local government in Scotland has also played a major part in progressing equalities for women and other disadvantaged groups through equal opportunities and related policies; the work of women’s and equal opportunities committees; and the funding of both initiatives and groups tackling inequality. Prior to reorganisation Scottish local government had some of the strongest and most innovative women’s and equal opportunities committees in Britain. The ground breaking Zero Tolerance campaign - against violence against women and children - is a striking example of the work of such local government committees.
In April 1996 29 new unitary authorities came fully on stream after a year of ‘shadowing’ their predecessor two-tier system of 9 regional councils and 53 district councils. The three Islands unitary authorities remained unchanged. The restructuring of local government, and the uncertainty and confusion it has engendered, has impacted upon a number of the other areas within the scope of the Gender Audit. As the Gender Audit in 1996 reported there remains considerable uncertainty about the shape of Scottish local government and the status of women and equalities issues within it. Reorganisation is taking place in parallel with severe budgetary constraints, it is therefore difficult to assess what impact is due to reorganisation alone and what is due to the financial difficulties which new authorities face. The crisis in local government funding could prove to be the biggest threat in terms of its future impact on jobs and services, which may disproportionately affect women. There are also continuing concerns about the impact of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in local government on women’s employment.
• Women make up 22.4 per cent of councillors in the unitary authorities. Five of the 32 (15.6%) authorities have women leaders. Only one council, City of Aberdeen, has both a woman Leader and a woman Provost or Chair.
• The number of people employed in Scottish local government has fallen from 300,000 just prior to local government reorganisation to around 284,000. Women constitute 50 to 70 per cent of the workforce, predominantly concentrated in low paid, part-time jobs
• There are no female Chief Executives and, following the recent departure of Sarah Wood from Glasgow, only one female Depute Chief Executive (Fiona Lees, East Ayrshire) and one Assistant Chief Executive (Mary Pitcaithly, Falkirk); although one of the three Corporate Managers in Fife Council’s top tier is now a woman (Oonagh Aitken, ex-Glasgow City).
• Last year’s Gender Audit reported that there appeared to have been little change in the overall proportions of women at Chief Officer level ; although women may have made some gains in ‘middle management’ levels . The impact of restructuring on the position of women at lower levels is not clear. Further information on the status and position of women employees should
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 140 be provided in the SLGIU/CoSLA Directory due to be updated later in 1997 and from the findings of a survey questionnaire being conducted by Edinburgh University and CoSLA.
TABLE 1 Estimated number of of staff employed by Scottish Authorities on 14 September 1996
Total Number of Staff
SERVICE GROUP Male Female Total Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Corporate Services 4,384 1,561 57 2,201 565 Central support services 14,004 6,604 96 6,361 943
Planning & economic support 3,913 2,443 16 1,260 194
Education *Teachers 50,817 12,791 738 30,938 6,350
Education **Other Staff 26,978 3,870 880 7,641 14,587
Social work 54,178 6,387 1,235 17,803 28,753
Housing 8,467 3,796 142 3,699 830
Roads & transport 7,001 3,805 667 790 1,739
Arts, sport & leisure 8,864 4,142 925 1,779 2,019
Libraries, museums & galleries 5,652 1,210 201 2,181 2,060
Trading standards 849 463 2 341 43
Environmental services 3,952 2,706 90 931 225
DLO/DSO 69,724 31,028 1,578 8,956 28,163
Police & related services 19,350 14,244 15 4,413 678
Fire services 5,653 4,777 239 452 185
Staff of District Court 221 38 3 156 24
Other staff 524 180 49 87 208
***Total all staff 284,530 100,044 6933 89,987 87,566
Notes:-
* The figures for total number of teachers exclude teacher numbers in Glasgow, as Glasgow Council was unable to provide separate details on numbers
**The figures for total number of other education staff exclude numbers in Glasgow as Glasgow Council was unable to provide separate details on numbers
***See notes above. The total excludes teacher numbers and numbers of staff in other educational services in Glasgow
Source: adapted from The Joint Staffing Watch, Return of September 1996 ( CoSLA and the Scottish Office, January 1997)
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 141 TABLE 2 Local Government : Proportion of women in senior posts, 1996
Position Total no.women no.men %women
Chief Executives 32 0 32 0%
Chief Officers 611 70 541 11.45%
Source: SLGIU/CoSLA
TABLE 3 Local Government : Women in senior posts by department/specialism, 1996
No.of senior no. women % women posts known Finance 36 2 5.5% Law and Administration 51 11 21.5% Personnel 37 7 18.9% Corporate Policy 22 4 18.1% Public Relations 22 8 36.3% Contract/Commercial 25 2 8.0% Services Economic Development 47 2 4.2% Education 34 6 17.6% Environmental Health/Consumer 54 0 0% Protection/ Trading Standards Housing 40 5 12.5% Information Technology 39 8 20.5% Leisure and Recreation 45 4 8.8% Planning 45 1 2.2% Property Services 33 2 6% Social Work 36 11 30.5% Transportation/Roads 45 1 2.2%
Source: Extrapolated from data supplied by SLGIU/CoSLA : Directory of Scottish Local Government 1996 (1st Edn, February).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 142 Gender and Pay in Local Government
Data which would allow for detailed comparisons of men’s and women’s employment status and pay are not readily available, although improvements are planned in the information collected and collated by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) and the relevant department of the Scottish Office. The following commentary and tables are based upon extracts from New Earnings Survey, 1996. The New Earnings Survey is annual and is based on a 1% sample of employees who are members of PAYE, and on reporting of collective agreements such as those operating in Local Authorities. In relation to the following table :
• The APT&C grades cover an enormous range of staff. The overall comparison of male and female full-time weekly average earnings indicates that women are concentrated at the lower end of the range, particularly in secretarial and clerical grades. Weekly pay for women in these grades ranged from approx. £190 to £287 with a median of £219, whereas weekly pay for men in the ‘associate professional and technical occupations’ ranged from £247 to £469 with a median of £337. There is no reliable direct comparison of men and women at the top end of these pay grades in Scottish Local Authorities.
• Men’s pay in the crafts and engineering related occupations is higher on average than women’s pay in the white-collar grades. Men’s pay is notably boosted by payment by results schemes and to a lesser extent by overtime.
• Men’s pay in the manual grades continues to be higher than women’s. The differential is widened by the significant element of payment by results included in men’s pay (£37 per week as opposed to £2.50) and by overtime. The figures imply that the new councils need to examine carefully the impact of payment systems on the sex differential for manual workers, if they are serious about the equality commitments in their corporate policies.
• In terms of the percentage increase or decrease in average weekly pay between 1995 and 1996, it is notable that women’s pay differentials have widened, with an increase of 4% in women’s pay in the APT&C grades while men’s rates declined by 1.4%. The most significant change however is in the manual grades: women’s pay declined by 11.6%, while men’s pay declined by 1.1%. The statistic indicates that women manual staff have been particularly adversely affected by the operation of CCT and the use of ‘market rates’ to lower women’s pay relative to men’s.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 143 TABLE 4 Full time average gross weekly earnings of men and women in local authority occupations, covered by National Collective Agreements, 1996
Men Women % increase in average total weekly pay April 1995 - April 1996 Total overtime PBR shift Total overtime PBR shift Men Women £ pay etc etc £ pay etc etc pay pay pay pay
APT&C 372 13.5 1.3 6.0 270 6.7 0.3 4.8 - 1% + 4%
Bld/Civ. 275 18.0 63.5 ------7% eng Eng. 314 40.2 42.7 11.3 ------craft
Manual 251 32.6 37.1 6.3 172 14.2 2.5 6.2 - 1% - 12%
Source: New Earnings Survey (1996) ‘Streamlined Analyses ‘Part A, Tables 2&3
Abbreviations APT&C - Administrative, professional, technical and clerical NJC Bld./Civ.Eng - Building and civil engineering workers, Eng. Craft - Engineering craftsmen Manual - Manual workers, NJC
Jan Webb
References and Sources
SLGIU /CoSLA (1996) Directory of Scottish Local Government, 1st Edition Feb.; 2nd Edition July. CoSLA, telephone communication, May 1997. Fife Council, fax communication, May 1997. Department of Education and Employment (1996), New Earnings Survey CoSLA and the Scottish Office (1997), The Joint Staffing Watch, Return of September 1996 (January 1997).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 144 Media
The media plays a powerful role in public life in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK. In the first Gender Audit in 1993, three questions were highlighted.
• What is the status and position of women workers in the media in Scotland?
• To what extent do women in Scotland have equal access to the means of expression; are women’s voices equally heard?
• How successfully do the various media meet the needs of women audiences and readers, or is a male dominated view of the world still taken as the norm? There has been little research in the intervening period into these areas. However, research to monitor the ways in which women and women’s interests are represented in the Scottish media is currently underway and the Gender Audit hopes to be able to report on this next year. In addition, a more detailed survey of the gender breakdown in media employment is planned for the 1998 Gender Audit.
Equality of access to the mass media by women and men; and the balanced reporting of women and women’s interests are two of the priorities of the Beijing Platform of Action which was agreed by the UK government at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. The Women’s National Commission (WNC) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) have called upon the UK government to implement the Platform by taking additional measures to improve women’s participation in key decision-making roles in the media; and to take action to end
“the exploitation of women’s sexuality by the media, the stereotyping of their portrayal and the trivialisation of their interests’”
What the Labour Party has pledged about the media
The following key pledges are taken from “New Labour’s Agenda for Women” the response of the then Shadow Minister for Women, Janet Anderson MP in February, 1997 to the questionnaire on ‘In Pursuit of Equality - A National Agenda for Action’ sent out by the EOC and the WNC to all political parties.
• To encourage the promotion of women into senior decision-making roles in the media.
• To encourage all publicly funded media organisations to implement and monitor equal opportunities policies and publish the results in their annual reports.
• The regulatory policies of the Independent Television Commission and other media regulators should aim to address the under representation of women in the media and the diverse interests of women as audiences.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 145 Newspapers
There are seven national daily newspapers in Scotland: The Scotsman, The Herald, The Daily Record, The Scottish Daily Mail, The Scottish Daily Mirror, The Scottish Express, and The Scottish Sun. There are four national Sunday papers: The Sunday Mail, The Sunday Post, Scotland on Sunday and The Sunday Times Scotland.
In 1993 The Gender Audit reported that :
• There were no women editors or depute editors of Scottish national daily or Sunday newspapers; and there was one assistant editor. In 1997:
• There are no female editors or depute editors of Scottish national daily or Sunday newspapers.
• There is one female news editor (Herald, Edinburgh Office); and one editorial executive (Daily Record).
• There is only one female Scottish political correspondent on a national paper (Sunday Times Scotland). The only other female political correspondent is employed by Scottish Television.
• Women may have made greater progress in Scotland’s regional and local newspapers, but that information is not readily available.
Broadcasting
There are two major broadcasting companies in Scotland: BBC Scotland (TV and Radio) and STV, both based in Glasgow. In addition, Grampian TV operates from the North East of Scotland. There are also a number of independent radio stations.
Gender Audits in 1993 and 1994 reported that:
• 1 out of 22 Board Members at STV was a woman
• 34% of Scottish Television employees and contract staff were women; and 30% of managers were female
• There were no women in top management positions in BBC Scotland.
• BBC Scotland had introduced an equal opportunities policy and had made progress towards achieving targets for employing women in high status posts. In 1997:
• A third of top management positions at BBC Scotland are held by women.
• Half of editors and senior producers are now women.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 146 • 98% of secretaries and radio production assistants are women.
• BBC Scotland exceeded two of its three gender employment targets.
TABLE 1 BBC Scotland Employment : Grade by gender as of 30 April, 1997
Grade Post Total no. % Grade Target Actual no. female female % %
SM1 Controller 1 0 0.0%
Senior manager/ Head of SM2 Genre (eg. Head of 14 5 35.7% SM1/SM2 30% 33.3% Production) Editors and Senior 10 18 9 50.0% Grade 10 40% 42.9% Producers(TV) TV Producers, Business Unit Managers, 9 59 20 33.9% Grade 9/ 40% 38.1% Assistant Editors, Correspondents Senior Producers (radio), 8 Senior Announcers, 80 33 41.3% Grade 8 Senior Broadcast Journalists Radio Producers, 7 128 69 53.9% Assistant Producers (TV) Production Managers, 6 26 20 76.9% Contract Executives Researchers, 5 107 73 68.2% Broadcast Assistants
4 TV Production Assistants 51 47 92.2%
Secretaries, 3 127 124 97.6% Radio Production Assistants
2 Clerical Assistants 18 16 88.9%
Source: BBC Scotland Equality Unit,1997.
Gender breakdowns of staffing at Scottish Television and Grampian Television were not available at time of writing (June, 1997). There appears to be no information on the gender breakdown of the workforce in national, regional and local newspapers nor the independent local radio sector in Scotland. Engender will be inviting the Scottish media to participate in a survey to collect data on the gender breakdown of employment in the sector for the 1998 Gender Audit.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 147 References
Janet Anderson MP (1997), New Labour’s Agenda for Women, February, The Labour Party. BBC Scotland (1997), employment statistics supplied by Equality Unit in fax communication. Engender (1993, 1994), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. WNC/ EOC (1996), In Pursuit of Equality: A National Agenda for Action, Central Office of Information. National Union of Journalists (1997), telephone communication, June.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 148 Poverty
• In general women in Scotland are more vulnerable to poverty than men.
• Groups particularly vulnerable to poverty are lone parents, and women pensioners.
• More than one in three Scottish children are living in poverty - 35%, and 42% of under 5s are living in poverty.
• Nearly three times as many children of lone parents, than children of unemployed couples, are dependent on Income Support.
• Ethnic minority families are at greater risk of experiencing poverty than white families, and both men and women in ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of unemployment than the white population. Looking at typical household and family structures it can be seen that women make up a majority of those in poverty. In 1992/93, of those living in poverty (below 50% of average income):
• 10% were married pensioners;
• 11% were single pensioners;
• 37% were married couples with children;
• 11% were married couples without children;
• 17% were single parents;
• 14% were single people without children.
(Oppenheim and Harker, 1996:35).
Because the major sources of data on poverty are not broken down by sex the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) made a rough estimate of how many women were living in poverty in the UK by making assumptions about the number of women who are single parents, pensioners, and so forth. In 1992 5.4 million women and 4.2 million men were living in poverty - thus women make up around 56% of adults living in poverty (Oppenheim and Harker, 1996:93). It is not likely that this distribution would be significantly different in Scotland, though Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have higher proportions of people in poverty than England. Northern Ireland has a significantly larger proportion of its population living in poverty than any other part of the UK.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 149 TABLE 1 Disability Benefits GB 1995 (000s)
Women as Benefit Men Women % of total
Severe Disablement Allowance 135 213 61.2
Attendance Allowance 143 316 68.8
Disability Living Allowance 868 820 48.6
Disability Working Allowance 5029 3311 39.7
Invalid Care Allowance 74 242 76.6
(Note: some of these benefits overlap, and claimants may be entitled to more than one)
Source: Social Security Statistics, 1996
TABLE 2 Recipients of Income Support in Scotland, May 1992-94
Number Receiving Recipients Income Support 1995
Pensioner 161,818
Disabled 85,687
Lone parent 94,774
Unemployed 168,075
Other 54,587
All recipients of Income Support 564,941
Source: Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 150 TABLE 3 Income Support Claimants by Client Grouping, Scotland 1995 (%)
Unemployed Disabled Lone Parent Pensioner Other
28.0 15.0 17.0 29.0 10.0
Source: Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University
TABLE 4 Children under 16 Dependent on Income Support by Claimant Grouping, Scotland, 1995
Type of Number of Number of children Percentage of under Claimant claimants under 16* 16 population** Unemployed 168075 55465 5.3 Disabled 85687 27420 2.6 Lone Parent 94774 161116 15.5 Pensioner 161818 1942 0.2 Other 54587 13647 1.3 Total 564941 265522 25.6
* Estimates based on a dependency ratio from the Benefits Agency
** Under 16 population taken from Registrar General’s mid-year population estimates
Source: Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University
Of serious concern is the number of children currently growing up in poverty in Scotland. According to the Scottish Poverty Information Unit more than one in three of all children in Scotland are living in poverty - 38% of Scottish children, and 42% of under 5s (Long, Macdonald and Scott, 1996:9). Of these it is particularly the children of lone parents who are vulnerable to poverty. Nearly three times as many children of lone parents, than children of unemployed couples, were dependent on Income Support in 1995.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 151 TABLE 5 Recipients of Family Credit in Scotland, May 1995
Number receiving % within recipient Recipients Family Credit* category* Couples… 29,260 100 with main earner female 9,640 32.9 with main earner male 19,620 67.1 Lone parents… 38,280 100 female lone parents 37,280 97.4 male lone parents 1000 2.6 **All families receiving 67,540 100 Family Credit
Source: DSS, Analytical Services Division, Newcastle (quoted in Child and Family Poverty in Scotland: the Facts)
TABLE 6 Recipients of Unemployment Benefit and Income Support in Scotland, November 1995
Women Men * Recipients (1000s) (1000s) All recipients of Unemployment Benefit 12 31 Unemployment Benefit only 10 20 Unemployment Benefit + Income Support 2 11 Recipients of Income Support only 25 104 People registered unemployed but not in receipt of Unemployment Benefit or Income 714 Support Total 44 149
Source: Social Security Statistics , 1996
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 152 TABLE 7 Unemployment Rates, Scotland 1993-95
Claimant count Standard LFS Broad LFS
All Men Women All Men Women All Men Women
Autumn n/a n/a n/a 9.5 10.5 8.3 12.8 12.5 13.1 1993 Autumn 8.9 12.4 4.5 8.7 10.2 6.9 12.4 12.9 11.9 1994 Autumn 7.7 10.7 3.9 9.1 10.3 7.7 12.5 12.9 12.0 1995
LFS - Labour Force Survey
Source: Working Brief, No 54, No 63, No 73. (Quoted by Scottish Poverty Information Unit)
TABLE 8 Recipients of Widows Benefits in Scotland, 1995
Number of Recipients recipients (1000s)* Widowed Mother’s Allowance 5.6 —with dependent children Widowed Mother’s Allowance 0.6 —without dependent children Standard rate widow’s pension 10.1
Age related widow’s pension 18.4
All recipients of widows’ benefits 34.7
Source: Social Security Statistics, 1996
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 153 TABLE 9 Recipients of State retirement pension in Scotland, 1995
Number of Recipients recipients (1000s) Women 550.7 Women on own insurance 253.5 Wives on husband’s insurance 150.0 Widows on husband’s insurance 147.2 Men 273.2 Women as % of total 67.5
* numbers do not add up because totals are rounded
Source: Social Security Statistics, 1996
References and Sources
Source: Benefits Agency, Argyle House, Edinburgh/Family Policy Resources Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University Social Security Statistics, 1996 Working Brief, No 54, No 63, No 73. (Quoted by Scottish Poverty Information Unit) DSS, Analytical Services Division, Newcastle (quoted in Child and Family Poverty in Scotland: the Facts) Millar, J and Glendinning, C, (eds), (1992) Women and Poverty in Britain, Hemel Hempstead, Harvester Wheatsheaf. Long, G, Macdonald, S, and Scott, G (1996) Child and Family Poverty in Scotland: the Facts, Glasgow, Save the Children and Glasgow Caledonian University. Oppenheim, C, (1990) Poverty: the Facts, London, Child Poverty Action Group. Oppenheim, C, and Harker, L (1996) Poverty: the Facts, 3rd edition, London, Child Poverty Action Group. Callender, C (1992) ‘Women and Unemployment’ in Millar, J and Glendinning, C, (eds), (1992) Women and Poverty in Britain, Hemel Hempstead, Harvester Wheatsheaf. Wasoff, F, Dobash, R.E, and Harcus, D (1990) The Impact of the Family Law(Scotland) Act 1985 on Solicitors’ Divorce Practice, Edinburgh, Scottish Office. Esam, P and Berthoud, R (1991) Independent Benefits for Men and Women, London, Policy Studies Institute.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 154 Public Bodies
• In 1996, women held 43% of positions on Scottish Office public bodies, an increase of 4% on figures in 1994.
• Women are clustered in certain sectors, and are far less likely than men to hold the position of Chair or Deputy Chair. The document Public Bodies 1996 contains the most up-to-date information on the number of public bodies in Scotland and their membership. This information is detailed below and is divided between the bodies which come under the Scottish Courts Administration and those which fall under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Office (including the National Health Service bodies):
At first sight the representation rate of women in public bodies in Scotland at 43% overall appears to have met the Scottish Office target of 40%. However, women in Scotland are particularly concentrated in the Tribunals and grossly under-represented in Executive Bodies and Advisory Bodies and are scarely represented at all on the Nationalised Industries. The representation rate of women in Scotland at 36% on NHS Bodies reflects the Scottish Office policy decision to appoint more women to the self-governing Hospital Trusts. Yet, just 8 of the women in the NHS bodies hold the position of Chair, against 58 men.
In citing the representation rate of women on public bodies in Scotland, it is, therefore, crucial that the overall rate is qualified to reflect the distribution of representation across different areas. For example, if we exclude the Tribunals from our calculation, we find that the representation rate of women across the other public bodies drops to some 29%. It is also necessary to differentiate between the number of women who hold the position of Chair or Deputy in public bodies in Scotland. As is illustrated in Table 3, women are to be found mainly in the membership of the bodies cited and are significantly under-represented in the capacity as Chair or Deputy Chair, only 20% and 36% respectively (although these do represent increases on 1994 figures).
It is particularly disappointing to note the levels of representation on the new water authoritites created as a result of local government reorganisation in 1996. Only three women serve on these public bodies, none as Chair.
The new Scottish Office Minister of State with responsibility for women’s issues, Henry McLeish, pledged to review the procedures for making appointments to public bodies when he made his inaugural address to a rally of women’s organisations in Glasgow on 7 June 1997.
• Only two women serve on public bodies which come under the Scottish Courts Administration (5%).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 155 TABLE 1 Scottish Courts Administration public bodies 1996
Chair Deputy Members Name of Body FMF M F M Advisory Bodies: Scottish Law Commission - 1 - - - 4 Sub-Total -1- -- 4 Tribunals: Lands Tribunal for Scotland - 1 - - - 4 Pensions Appeal Tribunal for Scotland - 1 - - 2 28 Sub-Total -2- -2 32 TOTAL - 3 - - 2 36
(Ratio: 2 women : 39 men - 5 : 95 % - unchanged from 1994)
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 156 TABLE 2 Scottish Office public bodies 1996
Chair Deputy Members Name of Body Female Male Female Male Female Male
Nationalised Industries:
Caledonian McBrayne Ltd - 1 - - 1 7
Highlands and Islands Airport Ltd - 1 ---3
Scottish Transport Group - 1 - - - 4
Sub-total - 3 - - 1 14
Executive Bodies:
The Accounts Commission - 1 - 1 4 8
Agricultural Research and Biological Institutes:
Hannah Research Institute - 1 ---8
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute 1 - - 1 1 12
Moredun Research Institute - 1 - - 1 7
Rowett Research Institute - 1 - - 1 10
Scottish Crop Research Institute - 1 - - 1 13
Crofters’ Commission - 1 - 1 2 4
Highlands and Islands Enterprise - 1 - - 2 9
National Board for Nursing, Midwifery 1-1- 43 and Health Visiting for Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland - 1 - - 4 7
National Library of Scotland - 1 - 1 3 25
National Museum of Scotland - 1 - - 6 7
New Town Development Corporations:
Cumbernauld Development Corporation - 1 - 1 1 6
Irvine Development Corporation - 1 1 - - 7
Livingston Development Corporation - 1 - 1 1 6
Parole Board for Scotland - 1 - 1 6 8
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 157 Chair Deputy Members Name of Body Female Male Female Male Female Male
Red Deer Commission - 1 - - 2 10
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh - 1 - - 2 6
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical -1-- 45 Monuments of Scotland
Scottish Agricultural Wages Board 1 - - - 1 15
Scottish Arts Council - 1 1 - 4 7
Scottish Children's Reporter Administration 1 - - 1 4 2
Scottish Community Education Council 1 ---58
Scottish Conveyancing and Executory Services -1--25 Board
Scottish Council for Educational Technology - 1 1 - 2 5
Scottish Enterprise - 1 - 1 3 7
Scottish Environment Protection Agency - 1 - 1 2 7
Scottish Examination Board - 1 - 1 11 23
Scottish Film Council - 1 - - 4 3
Scottish Further Education Unit - 1 - 1 3 3
Scottish Higher Education Funding Council - 1 - - 3 10
Scottish Homes - 1 - - 4 5
Scottish Hospital Endowments Research Trust - 1 - - 3 4
Scottish Legal Aid Board 1 ---57
Scottish Medical Practices Committee - 1 - - 2 3
Scottish Natural Heritage - 1 - 1 2 8
Scottish Seed Potato Development Council - 1 - 1 - 15
Scottish Sports Council - 1 - 1 4 10
Scottish Tourist Board - 1 - - 2 4
Scottish Vocational Education Council - 1 - 1 2 13
Scottish Water and Sewerage Consumer Council - 1 - 1 3 7
Sub-total 6 35 4 17 116 332
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 158 Chair Deputy Members Name of Body Female Male Female Male Female Male
Advisory Bodies:
Advisory Committee on Dental ----35 Establishments Advisory Committee on Sites of Special -1---6 Scientifiic Interest
Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland - 1 - - 5 9
Building Standards Advisory Committee - 1 - - 4 9
Central Advisory Committee on Justices -1-- 414 of the Peace (Scotland)
Children’s Panels Advisory Committees 13 17 - - 69 78
Extra Parliamentary Panel ----713
General Teaching Council for Scotland 1 - - 1 20 29 Health Appointments Advisory -1--23 Committee Hill Farming Advisory Committee for ----214 Scotland
Historic Buildings Council for Scotland - 1 - - 3 8
Justices of the Peace Advisory -35173380 Committees Local Government Boundary Commission -1-121 for Scotland
Local Government Property Commission - 1 - - 1 2
Local Government Staff Commission - 1 - - 1 4
Parliamentary Boundary Commission for 1--1-2 Scotland
Police Advisory Board for Scotland ----421
Post Qualification Education Board for -1-- 45 Health Service Pharmacists in Scotland
Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland - 1 - - 2 9
Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug 1---411 Misuse Scottish Advsiory Committee on the ----211 Medical Workforce
Scottish Agricultural Consultative Panel -----15
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 159 Chair Deputy Members Name of Body Female Male Female Male Female Male
Scottish Consultaltive Council on the -1-199 Curriculum
Scottish Crime Prevention Council ----210
Scottish Economic Council ----526
Scottish Industrial Development Advisory -1--38 Board Scottish Police College Board of -1--214 Governors
Scottish Records Advisory Council 1 ---29
Scottish Standing Committee for the Calculation of Residual Values of -1---3 Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs
Scottish Studentship Selection Committee - 1 - - 2 7
Scottish Valuation and Rating Council - 1 ---9
Secretary of State’s Advisory Group on -1-- 46 Sustainable Development Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Scotland’s Travelling -1-- 45 People Secretary of State’s Advisory Panel of -----7 Economic Consultants Secretary of State’s (Electricity) -1--15 Fisheries Committee
Secretary of State’s Salmon Taskforce - 1 - - 2 8
Sub-total 17 72 1 11 208 475
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 160 Chair Deputy Members Name of Body Female Male Female Male Female Male
Tribunals:
Children’s Panel 17 15 20 17 1,090 855
Horse Race Betting Levy Appeal -1---2 Tribunal for Scotland
Rent Assessment Panel for Scotland - 1 1 - 26 34
Sub-total 17 17 21 17 1,116 891
Public Corporations:
East of Scotland Water Authority - 1 - - 1 9
North of Scotland Water Authority - 1 - - 2 8
West of Scotland Water Authority - 1 - - - 10
Sub -total - 3 - - 3 27
National Health Service Bodies:
Common Services Agency of the Scottish -11-32 Health Service
Health Boards (15) 2 13 2 8 34 45
Health Education Board for Scotland - 1 - 1 5 4
Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland ----611
National Health Service Trusts (47) 6 40 - - 95 137
Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical -1--310 and Dental Education
Scottish Hospital Trust - 1 - - 2 4
State Hospitals Board for Scotland - 1 1 - 2 3
Sub-total 8 58 4 9 150 216
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 161 Excluding the representation of women and men who serve under the Scottish Courts Administration, the total number of women and men on public bodies under the Scottish Office, broken down in terms of Chair, Deputy Chair and Members, is as follows:
TABLE 3 Number of Women and Men Serving on Public Bodies in Scotland 1996 (1994)
Chair Deputy Members Total Sector F/M F/M F/M F/M Nationalised 0:3 (0:1) 0:0 (0:0) 1:14 (0:4) 1:17 (0:5) Industries Executive 6:35 (5:36) 4:17 (3:20) 116:332 (126:509) 126: 384 (134:565) Bodies Advisory 7:72 (2:65) 1:11 (2:18) 208:475 (202:589) 226:558 (216:672) Bodies Tribunals 17:17 (4:10) 21:17 (10:8) 1116:891 (1031:912) 1154:925 (1045:930) Public 0:3 (n/a) 0:0 (n/a) 3:27 (n/a) 3:30 (n/a) Corporations NHS Bodies 8:58 (7:53) 4:9 (1:1) 150:216 (136:206) 162:283 (144:260)
Total 48:188 (28:165) 30:54 (16:47) 1594:1955 (1495:2220) 1672:2197 (1539:2432) Percentage 20:80 (15:85) 36:64 (25:75) 45:55 (40:60) 43:57 (39:61) Ratios
Jill Brown
References
Engender (1995, 1996), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. HMSO (1995), Public Bodies 1994, London. HMSO (1997), Public Bodies 1996 , London.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 162 Trade Unions
New research on women and trade unions is currently underway, but was unavailable for this edition of the Gender Audit
Women and the STUC
• Women trade unionists account for around 38 % of Scotland’s 700,000 trade union members affiliated to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).
• A number of reforms have been implemented or recommended to improve the representation of women in the structures and processes of STUC trade unions. They include: the annual alternation of key positions of President and Vice-President of the STUC between women and men; and a phased timetable to achieve gender proportionality of representation of delegates to the STUC Congress by 1999.
Women and non affiliated trade unions
• In addition, women have a strong presence in a number of non affiliated trades unions, most notably the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
• The RCN nationally has 300,000 members, around 31,500 in Scotland, of whom 92% are women.
• The majority of RCN members, elected representatives, stewards and full-time union officers in both Scotland and the rest of the UK are female.
• The top official in the RCN in Scotland is a woman, as are 13 of the 22 elected seats at the RCN Scottish Board. At national (UK) level, 17 out of 25 members of the RCN Council are women as are 8 out of 9 Chairs of Council policy committees.
References
Engender (1993, 1994, 1995), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Royal College of Nursing (1997), Fact Sheet, plus additional information in telephone briefing.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 163 Violence
The available statistics with regard to violence and sexual violence against women must be viewed with caution. There are limitations to information drawn from both general population surveys and data extrapolated from small-scale studies; in addition the collection and collation of official statistics, for example by the police and health service workers, is patchy, sometimes ad hoc and sometimes non existent.
Official crime statistics report the number of recorded rapes and sexual assaults; however a substantial body of research suggests that the vast majority of incidents are not reported to the police. For example, latest available statistics from Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre show that only one in five of the women who contact them (about whom information is known) have reported the attack to the police. Similarly, although domestic violence is thought to account for a quarter of all reported violent crime in Scotland, it is estimated that perhaps only two per cent of violent attacks on women are ever reported (Gender Audit 1994).
Statistics collated by voluntary organisations such as Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Centres are hampered by lack of resources. Many local groups run almost entirely with volunteers and it is difficult to give data collection priority in the face of competing demands. This may result in incomplete returns and problems with comparability. Despite the limitations of the data, and difficulties in making straightforward comparisons year on year, the figures produced by these front line groups do indicate that violence, sexual violence and abuse of women (and children) is on a large scale and constitutes a pervasive problem.
Domestic Violence
• The number of women seeking help or advice from Scottish Women’s Aid has increased by 16% in a year from 35,081 in 1994/95 to 41,629 in 1995/6. (A rise of 6,548).
• The number of women in contact with Women’s Aid groups has increased four-fold in the last ten years.
• In 1995/96 7,847 women asked for refuge for themselves and their children, slightly down from 1994/95.
• 3,137 women and 4,853 children and young people were given refuge during 1995/96.
• Around two thirds of women (4,710) and over 6,057 children and young people could not be found a refuge space where and when they wanted.
• There are only 308 family refuge spaces in Scotland, compared with a 1991 CoSLA recommendation of 735 (CoSLA, 1991).
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 164 The massive increase in the demand for Women’s Aid services comes at a time of continuing budgetary crisis within local government, which is a major funder of the organisation.
“A number of Women’s Aid groups have had their funding cut or the level frozen. Many more face great financial uncertainty.” An interim briefing by SWA reports that, “The pressure continues to rise for local Women’s Aid groups faced with more and more women, children and young people asking for help, but having less and less funding available to ensure that help is there when it is needed.” (SWA, 1997).
TABLE 1 Number of women in contact with Scottish Women’s Aid 1985/86 - 1995/96
1985/6 1986/7 1987/8 1988/9 1989/90 1990/1 1991/2 1992/3 1993/4 1994/5 1995/6
10,833 12,644 13,593 11,951 15,476 17,257 22,123 22,641 25,932 35,081 41,629
Source: Scottish Women’s Aid Annual Report 1995/96
TABLE 2 Scottish Women’s Aid requests for and admission to refuges statistics 1993/4 - 1995/6
1993/94 1994/95 1995/96
Total Requests for refuge space 6918 8563 7847 Women admitted - own refuge 2168 2084 Children admitted - own refuge 3375 3109 Women admitted - other refuge 1299 1053 children admitted - other refuge 1516 1744 women turned away - own gp/agency 3326 3434 children turned away - own gp/agency 3719 4358 women turned away = other gp/agency 1770 1102 Children turned away - other gp/agency 2470 1699
* ‘own group or agency’ refers to women who have contacted the local Women’s Aid group or who have been referred by a local agency, for example, social worker or GP.
** ‘other group or agency’ refers to women who have been referred by a Women’s Aid group or agency outwith the locality.
Source: SWA Annual Reports 1993/94 , 1994/95, 1995/6 plus additional telephone briefings
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 165 TABLE 3 Statistics of refuge space requests and allocation in selected local Women’s Aid groups 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995-1996
Edinburgh Glasgow Shakti
1993/4 1994/5 1995/6 1993/4 1994/5 1995/6 1993/4 1994/5 1995/6
No. of refuge spaces 17 17 17 56 56 58 3 3 0
Requests for refuge space 422 387 457 1174 2460 1637 28 49 36
Women admitted 66 64 122 302 308 229 10 7 0 - own refuge Children admitted 115 120 191 312 259 232 17 10 0 - own refuge Women admitted 36 29 22 104 541 311 14 13 0 - other refuge Children admitted 72 61 38 190 436 586 n/r n/r 0 - other refuge Women turned away 160 194 278 639 1026 801 2 29 36 - own group/agency* Children turned away 243 200 348 891 903 740 n/r n/r 61 - own group/agency Women turned away 160 100 35 129 585 n/r 2 n/r n/r - other group/agency** Children turned away 244 139 55 211 667 n/r n/r n/r n/r - other group/agency
* ‘own group or agency’ refers to women who have contacted the local Women’s Aid group or who have been referred by a local agency, for example, social worker or GP.
** ‘other group or agency’ refers to women who have been referred by a Women’s Aid group or agency outwith the locality.
Source: SWA Annual Reports 1993/94 , 1994/95, 1995/96 plus additional telephone briefings
Rape and Sexual Assault
At present there are no centrally collated statistics which would present a comprehensive picture of rape crisis work in Scotland. This situation may change if the Scottish Rape Crisis Network obtain National Lottery funding to establish a National Rape Crisis Office in Scotland with paid workers. • Edinburgh Rape Crisis (ERC) were contacted by 278 new women and gave continuing support to 365 other women in 1995-1996 - increases of 9% and 23% compared with 1994-1995.
• Total calls to ERC rose from 1,601 in 1994-1995 to 2,015 in 1995-1996, an increase of more than 25%.
• Women knew their attacker in all but 5% of the cases (about which information is known).
• Only one in five women contacting Edinburgh Rape Crisis in 1995-1996 had reported the attack to the police. Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 166 TABLE 4 Recorded rapes (incl. attempted rapes), assault with intent to ravish/rape, and indecent assaults in Scotland 1991-1995
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Rape (incl. attempted rape) 320 350 339 395 403 447
Assault with Intent to Ravish/Rape 200 189 204 174 195 152
*Indecent Assault 909 1065 1083 1034 1040 1130
Note:- indecent assault includes assaults on men.
Source: Scottish Office, Recorded Crime in Scotland Bulletin 1995 (HMSO: Edinburgh) plus additional information from telephone briefing with Scottish Office Home Department, 1997.
TABLE 5 Calls to Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) 1993 - 1996
*Jan 1994 - July 1994 - July 1995 - 1993 June 1994 June1995 June 1996
no. %total no. %total no. %total no. %total
women- new contacts 345 20% 159 22% 255 16% 278 14%
women- repeat contacts 285 17% 131 18% 296 18% 365 18%
Other agencies 60 3% 83 12% 440 27% 501 25%
Total calls including admin. 1715 n/a 721 n/a 1601 n/a 2015 n/a
* Relates to a six-month period only due to a change in the way ERCC collate figures.
Source: Edinburgh Rape Crisis Annual Reports, 1994, 1995 plus telephone briefings
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 167 TABLE 6 Percentage increase 1994/1995 - 1995/1996
July 1994 - July 1995 - % increase June1995 June 1996 women- new contacts 255 278 9% women- repeat contacts 296 365 23% Other agencies 440 501 14% Total calls including admin. 1,601 2,015 25.8%
Source: Edinburgh Rape Crisis Annual Report 1995; plus telephone briefings, 1997.
TABLE 7 Number and percentage of women contacting ERCC who have reported the attack to the Police 1993-1996
*Jan 1994- July 1994- July 1995- 1993 June 1994 June 1995 June 1996
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Yes 72 20% 30 19% 55 19% 58 21%
No 173 49% 37 23% 86 30% 118 43%
Unknown 112 31% 92 58% 146 51% 102 36%
* Relates to a six-month period only due to a change in the way ERCC collate figures.
Source: Edinburgh Rape Crisis Annual Reports, 1994 , 1995 plus telephone briefings
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 168 TABLE 8 Attackers relationship to woman who contacted ERCC (as a percentage)1993-1996
*Jan 1994 - July 1994 - July 1995 - 1993 June 1994 June 1995 June 1996 Stranger 7% 6% 7% 5% Relative 37% 34% 21% 36% Acquaintance 11% 7% 10% 7% Husband 3% 2% 2% 4% Ex/lover 3% 2% 3% 1% Friend 1% 5% 5% 8% Information not known 38% 44% 51% 38%
* Relates to a six-month period only due to a change in the way ERCC collate figures.
Source: Edinburgh Rape Crisis Annual Reports, 1994 , 1995 plus telephone briefings
TABLE 9 Scene of attacks on women as a percentage of women contacting ERCC 1993 - 1996
*Jan 1994 - July 1994 - July 1995- Scene of Attack 1993 June 1994 June 1995 June 1996 Woman's home 49% 45% 35% 35% Attacker's home 3% 5% 6% 4% Indoors 5% 6% 1% 6% Outdoors 6% 4% 7% 3% Abroad 1% 2% 2% 2% Unknown 36% 38% 49% 49%
* Relates to a six-month period only due to a change in the way ERCC collate figures.
Source: Edinburgh Rape Crisis Annual Reports, 1994 , 1995 plus telephone briefings
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 169 TABLE 10 Age of women contacting ERCC at time of attack ( as a percentage)
*Jan 1994 - July 1994- 1993 June 1994 June 1995 % % % Under 16 51% 45% 35% 16-20 7% 3% 11% 21-30 6% 6% 6% 31-40 1% 6% 2% 41-60 1% 3% 1% Over 60 -1%1%
* Relates to a six-month period only due to a change in the way ERCC collate figures.
Source: Edinburgh Rape Crisis Annual Reports, 1994, 1995 plus telephone briefings
TABLE 11 Time Lapse between Event and Call to ERCC (as a percentage) 1993-1995/96
1993 *Jan 1994- July 1994- July 1995- % June 1994 June 1995 June 1996 % % % Within 24 hours 2% 0% 1% 1% Within 1 week 4% 3% 6% 5% Within 1 month 4% 5% 9% 3% Within 6 months 6% 7% 5% 6% Within 1 year 4% 1% 4% 8% Within 5 years 11% 6% 11% 11% More than 5 years 49% 48% 30% 32% Information not known 20% 30% 33% 34%
* Relates to a six-month period only due to a change in the way ERCC collates figures.
Source: Edinburgh Rape Crisis Annual Reports, 1994, 1995 plus telephone briefings
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 170 Central Scotland Rape Crisis
• Total calls to crisis line 1996/97 819
• Total one to one support hours 1996/7 378 hours
• Central Scotland Rape Crisis offered help and support to 133 women in 1996/7. More than one in every three women calling had been aged under 16 years at the time of the first abuse
• Only 26 women, about whom information is known, had reported the rape or sexual abuse to the police
Dumfries and Galloway Rape Crisis
Dumfries and Galloway Rape Crisis Centre first opened in March 1996 with the help of Dumfries Women’s Aid. Statistics have not yet been collated, but the group estimates that, in its first year of operation, it has helped more than 200 women. In addition, workers have provided 100 hours of one-to one counselling (DGRCC Annual Report, 1997). Fiona Mackay
References and Sources
Central Scotland Rape Crisis (1996), 1st Annual Report plus fax communication. Dumfries and Galloway Rape Crisis Group (1997) Annual Report, 1996. Edinburgh Rape Crisis (1997), figures provided in telephone briefing. Engender (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996) Gender Audit, Edinburgh. Scottish Office (1997), ‘Recorded Crime in Scotland, 1996’, Statistical Bulletin, Criminal Justice Series, HMSO. Additional information provided in telephone briefing with Scottish Office Home Department. Scottish Women’s Aid (1997), Interim briefing for 1995/1996 plus additional information and figures provided. Scottish Women’s Aid (1997), Annual Report 1995/96 Scottish Women’s Aid (1995), Annual Report 1994/5. Shakti Women’s Aid(1997) Annual Statistical Report for April 1996-March 1977. Shakti Women’s Aid (1996) Annual Report 1995-1996.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 171 Voluntary Organisations
Scotland’s voluntary sector has an annual income of around two billion pounds, employs more than 51,000 paid staff and, in addition, mobilises and co-ordinates millions of hours of unpaid volunteer work each year. Its role is expanding and includes the provision of housing, care in the community, work with children and families, training for unemployed people, adult education, the environment, arts and sports and community development (SCVO, 1995, Smith, 1997). Women have a crucial relationship with the voluntary sector, as key workers, volunteers and service users. Women use and facilitate the use of voluntary sector services; they also make up the shortfall of both local authority and voluntary sector service provision through their work as informal unpaid carers (Gender Audit, 1996).
Scottish Voluntary Sector Work force: Gender Issues
In November 1996, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) carried out a survey of the work force in the Scottish voluntary sector. The focus of this research was to measure and profile the workforce (both paid and unpaid) in voluntary organisations and provide information on education and training. This is the first time that this type of information has been systematically collected on the voluntary sector in Scotland.
A very specific definition of voluntary organisation was used for the purposes of this research. All recognised charities that are voluntary organisations were included in the population giving a total of 16, 300 organisations. Recognised charities which are not voluntary organisation were excluded e.g. Universities, Colleges, NHS Trust Hospitals and non-departmental public bodies. Churches, of which there are many in Scotland which are recognised charities, were also excluded. Grant-making trusts are also often charities and voluntary organisations but were excluded since they fund services rather than provide them it was assumed that they employ few staff. It therefore provides a baseline of information on the human resources of the sector not previously available. Here are some of the key findings: • More than 700,000 people are involved in volunteering for voluntary organisations in Scotland, 54% are women and 46% are men. Volunteers contribute a total of 700,000 hours per week, a total of 36.5 million hours per year. More than 90% of volunteer time in the sector as a whole is spent on direct service delivery.
• There are approximately 51,000 people employed in the Scottish voluntary sector. This equates to 34,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts.
• Around a thousand (2%) of the 51,000 paid staff in the voluntary sector in Scotland are from an ethnic minority and of these 85% are women and 15% men.
• Women constitute 66% of the paid work force and men are 34%.
• Women form the majority of paid staff and volunteers in the voluntary sector; and constitute around half of the paid managers. However a higher proportion of women as compared to men are employed part time and at the lower end of the pay scale.
• Although women form more than half of the workforce in all sizes of voluntary organisations; the proportion of women grows the smaller and less well-funded the organisation. Conversely, men are more likely to employed by large, well funded voluntary organisations than by smaller
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 172 organisations.
• 42% of voluntary sector posts are part time; 40% of women and 13% of men work part time. In general, the higher the income of the organisation the greater the proportion of staff are full time, and vice versa. In the largest voluntary organisations two-thirds of staff are full-time. Only 41% of staff in medium organisations are full-time as are 29% of those working for the smallest organisations.
• Levels of employment are linked to the income of the organisation, with the majority of posts in the voluntary sector in organisations with medium and largest income.
• Local Government funding cuts to voluntary organisations are likely to have a disproportionate impact upon women workers.
Pay
For all paid staff the breakdown according to pay is set out in the following table, which is also broken down by gender.
TABLE 1 Breakdown of voluntary sector work force according to pay and gender
* Salary Band % total staff %women %men <£6,700 14% 17% 8% £6,701-£11,100 35% 39% 25% £11,101-£15,400 25% 26% 25% £15,401-£19,800 13% 10% 20% £19,801-£24,500 9% 6% 14% £24,501-£34,800 4% 2% 8%
*Salary range in part-time posts is pro-rata
Source: Smith (1997).
The main points to be drawn from the above table are: • The majority of the work force (60%) is concentrated in the salary ranges of £6,701 to £11,100 and £11,101 to £15,400. About two thirds of all women workers (65%) come within this range, compared with half of all male workers (50%); although roughly equal proportions (around a quarter) of male and female workers earn in the salary range of £11,101 to £15,400.
• The top and bottom ends of the salary bands display some divergence. Only 8% of women in the voluntary sector are paid more than £19,000 compared with 22% of men. At the other end of the scale, 17% of women are paid less than £6,700 compared with 8% of men.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 173 Occupations
All paid posts in the labour force are categorised by central government according to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). These codes have been criticised as not matching the types of occupations with the voluntary sector.
This issue was also looked at in the Work force Survey and results will be available in the near future from SCVO However they can give some broad indications of job roles within the sector. • Men make up 34% of the work force but are 51% of the managers. Conversely, women make up 66% of the work force and are 49% of the managers. Therefore, although there are roughly equal numbers of male and female managers; a far greater proportion of male workers are managers (46%) as compared with women (24%)
• 30% of women but only 11% of men classified their post as Administrative, Clerical and Technical
• 19% of women and 9% of men classified their post as in Personal and Protective Services.
Local Government Reorganisation: implications for the voluntary sector
The information collected in the survey will assist the SCVO in considering issues facing the voluntary sector. As many voluntary organisations continue to experience funding crisis, with cuts in funding from local authorities again this year there are clear implications for employment in this sector.
Local government is a major funder of the voluntary sector, mostly through grants and donations, although there is an increase in service contract agreements for key agencies. Before reorganisation, local government was providing around £120m of financial support to voluntary groups each year, significantly more than the support provided by the Scottish Office and other central government departments (SCVO, 1996). In addition local authorities provide substantial support ‘in kind’, through the provision of resources such as premises, administrative back-up and staff secondment (SCVO, 1995).
The Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is monitoring the impact of local government reorganisation upon funding for voluntary organisations in Scotland. Although firm data are not yet available, early findings suggest that the voluntary sector is in crisis. Voluntary organisations, including many women’s groups, are facing deep financial uncertainty and, in many cases, cutbacks (Gender Audit, 1996). Smith reports that information from voluntary organisations suggest some are trying to manage budget cuts whilst continuing to provide services. In some cases this has led to staff hours being reduced or paid hours cut altogether. Members of staff who were previously paid then continue providing the service on a voluntary basis whilst alternative funding is sought. It is probable that this will have a disproportionate effect on medium and small organisations and part time workers. Large organisations may have reserves they can choose to use in the short term. Therefore it is likely that funding reductions will have a greater impact on women employed in the voluntary sector (Smith, 1997). These issues will be considered in more detail and further data collected by the Research Unit at SCVO as part of the wider programme of research on the Scottish voluntary sector. Connie Smith
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 174 References
Engender (1995, 1996), Gender Audit, Edinburgh. SCVO Local Government Reorganisation Support Unit (1995), Local Government Restructuring: Facts and Issues for Scotland’s voluntary sector , SCVO, Edinburgh. SCVO (1996), unpublished figures. C.Smith (1997), The Scottish Voluntary Sector Report, SCVO, Edinburgh. Copies of the full report are available from SCVO Publications Dept., 18/19 Claremont Crescent, Edinburgh EH7 4QD. Price: £6 (SCVO Members); £7.50 (Non-members). This is the first of a series of reports based on the research to be produced in the coming months on the voluntary sector work force.
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 175 End Note
This Gender Audit updates and adds to the information contained in the Gender Audit 1996. However, we again stress that our research into the position of women in Scottish society is still in its early stages. This year’s Gender Audit has been edited by Fiona Mackay and Chrisma Bould. Contributions have been made by Esther Breitenbach, Chrisma Bould and Elspeth Hosie, Alice Brown, Jill Brown, Sarah Coleman, Megan Ciotti, Lorna Guthrie, Fiona Mackay, Gill Scott, Connie Smith and Jan Webb.
The Gender Audit 1993 covered the following areas: Business, Education, Employment, Ethnic Minorities, Law, Media and the Arts, Party Politics, Poverty, Public Bodies, Trade Unions and Violence. The 1994 Gender Audit provided updates on these sections, and added new sections on: Child Care, Health, Housing and Voluntary Organisations. The Gender Audit 1995 updated previous sections, and added further new sections on: Family and Family Law Trends, and Pensions thus expanding once more in size and providing a fuller account of available information on women in Scotland over a wider range of issues, though of course there remain areas to be covered.
The Gender Audit 1996 took a different format than in previous years. All the statistical tables were drawn together in one section. In addition to the statistical section, there was an introductory overview, which commented on the process of change, and sections on women in local government, arts, health, party politics and trade unions.
The Gender Audit 1997 focuses upon four key issues: Party Politics and the 1997 General Election; the potential opportunities that any Scottish Parliament might present for positive change for women; women and poverty; and violence against women. There is an introductory overview, and updates, including statistical updates, on: arts, business, child care, education, employment, families and family law, health, housing, law, local government, media, party politics, poverty, public bodies, trade unions, violence and voluntary organisations
With adequate funding and support ENGENDER could allocate the resources necessary to conduct a comprehensive survey and overcome the constraints that are currently placed on research.
Until such time as funding is forthcoming, we should be grateful for any help and advice that you or your organisation could give us in the next stage of our work. Please send any correspondence on the Gender Audit to Esther Breitenbach or Fiona Mackay at:
ENGENDER c/o One Parent Families (Scotland) 13 Gayfield Square Edinburgh EH1 3NX e-mail: [email protected]
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 176 What is ENGENDER ?
ENGENDER is an information, research and networking organisation for women in Scotland. We work with other groups local and internationally to improve women’s lives and to increase women’s power and influence. ENGENDER campaigns to ensure women and women’s concerns have greater visibility and equal representation at all levels of Scottish society. ENGENDER works to : • Create change in the position of women in Scotland by influencing policy and by providing a base for information and research
• Collect and disseminate information and to link with other women’s networks
• To lobby and campaign on issues of equality and gender
• To provide social and recreational activities for women
• To provide training and support for women in community action and campaigning ENGENDER measures progress with the yearly publication of the Gender Audit, and also produces the quarterly Newsletter, which acts as a platform and network of change. ENGENDER is about changing the political culture and the social climate to make Scotland a better place for women - and men. If you want more information about ENGENDER, or you want to become a member of ENGENDER, please contact us at:
ENGENDER 13 Gayfield Square EDINBURGH EH1 3NX
Tel: 0131 558 9596 Fax: 0131 557 9650 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://www.engender.org.uk
Gender Audit 1997, © Engender, http://www.engender.org.uk Page 177