The NACWG was established to advise the First Minister on what’s needed to tackle gender inequality in Scotland. Over the course of 2018, it consulted a range of stakeholders of all genders across the country, including businesses, and third sector organisations in order to gather the evidence needed to develop its 2018 report and recommendations.
The report makes eleven key recommendations covering everything from education, to the legal system and childcare.
These include setting up a new institute that has the remit to examine and change public attitudes to girls and women’s equality and rights. The ‘What Works?’ Institute would develop and test robust, evidence-led inclusive and representative approaches to changing public attitudes in Scotland to girls and women’s equality and rights, including dismantling stereotypes about what girls and women should study, work at, and be.
NACWG Chair, Louise Macdonald OBE, said: “We know from the growth of global movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp that there is a real appetite for radical change for equality for women and girls.
“The First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls’ vision is for Scotland to be recognised as a leading nation in the pursuit of gender equality. Today, in our first report and set of recommendations to the First Minister we set out the first steps for how that can be achieved. And while our work is primarily focussed on Scotland, I believe our story will resonate with women and girls across the UK and beyond.
“We all have a part to play in creating a more inclusive society and in these recommendations we have focussed on tackling changes in the systems that too often perpetuate inequality. We must listen and let the voices of those who experience inequality every day be heard. And we cannot be complacent. Change will only happen if we all step up and call out institutional inequality where we see it – which will benefit everyone in Scottish society.
“I want to thank all those individuals and cross-sector organisations for sharing their experiences and ideas with us over this past year. We look forward to the response from the First Minister.”
The National Advisory Council on Women and Girls will focus on a new 2019 annual topic of Policy Coherence – looking at how policy is made and do policies work against each other?
Lend your voice to the conversation and together we can create a Scotland where gender inequality is a historical curiosity.
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