Calling on Edinburgh residents to join the conversation on gender inequality within female caring roles

The First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG) is reaching out to Edinburgh residents to participate in the national conversation surrounding gender inequality.

NACWG would like to encourage the local community to share their views and experiences of the subject within caring roles. 

Formed to drive change, the Advisory Council use these public insights to develop recommendations for the First Minister to combat gender inequality in Scotland. The Council focus on a new spotlight every two months to examine different gender equality issues. During November and December, NACWG will focus on the gender imbalance and undervaluation in caring roles. 

Caring responsibilities still generally fall to women in Scotland, from children to elderly parents. The NACWG invite women and girls within Edinburgh to get involved and have their say on the matter to help shape recommendations that will inform policy change.  

To get involved, people can form together a ‘Wee Circle’ with family, friends or colleagues discussing ideas and views related to inequality in care giving roles and submit their feedback online at https://onescotland.org/equality-themes/advisory-council-women-girls/. 

Alternatively, they can share their thoughts on social media using the hashtag #GenerationEqual.

 The NACWG Chair, Louise Macdonald OBE, said: “Within society, women are too often still expected to be the main care givers and as a result have to juggle work and caring responsibilities or be forced to leave the workplace.                                                 

“We would like to encourage people across Edinburgh to share their views, whether they have personal experience of being a carer or cared for, or know someone who has. All thoughts and contributions help us with our recommendations to achieve significant change towards making Scotland truly gender equal.”  

Over the course of 2018, the Advisory Council consulted a range of stakeholders of all genders and those that don’t identify, across the country, including businesses and third sector organisations in order to gather the evidence needed to develop the first report.

It made eleven key recommendations covering everything from the legal system to childcare. The First Minister accepted all of the recommendations and the Scottish Government pledged to take forward implementation in the 2019-20 Programme for Government.