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Scottish women launch 50:50 campaign

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Scottish women, legal quotas, women in public life, eqaulity‘We believe the only way to achieve a balance in public life is by legal quotas’.

A cross-party group of MSPs has called for legal quotas to ensure 50:50 representation of women at Holyrood, Westminster and in all of Scotland’s public life.

From the women who joined Mary Barbour’s army to fight against rent rises, to the women who campaigned to secure fair representation in the first Scottish Parliament, women have been at the forefront of the fight for social and economic justice

But at the moment only 35 per cent of Scotland’s 129 MSPs are women – down from a high of nearly 40 per cent in 1999.

And less than a quarter of wards in Scotland’s 32 local authorities are represented by women.

There are currently also just 297 female councillors, compared with 1,232 men.

And while there are still 59 Scottish MPs at Westminster, only 13 – or 22 per cent – are women.

The 2014 independence referendum saw women on both sides of the debate bringing a fresh energy and new talent to Scottish public life.

So we now want to maintain that energy by bringing women together, whether they voted yes or no, to fight for 50 per cent quotas for women representatives in the Scottish Parliament, in local council chambers and on public boards.

Because despite some progress, the governance of our country – in our council chambers, on public boards, and in our parliament – is still dominated by men.

We believe the only way to achieve a balance in public life, so that our elected representatives reflect our society as it really and actually is, is through legal quotas.

Institutionalised inequality and sexist attitudes stop most women from reaching their full potential in public life. If these inequalities didn’t exist we would already be at 50:50.

Legal quotas improve democracy, by giving the electorate the widest possible choice of candidates, and ensuring that our elected institutions reflect society as it is, not a closed shop.

At the moment, eight EU member states have legal quotas; Sweden has had them since the 1970s.

The campaign for 50:50 representation began when the Scottish Parliament was first created, and this regeneration of it comes from women heavily involved in the independence referendum.

We watched the two year long debate with a critical eye, and proudly saw women from all background and all walks of life become politically engaged.

There was noticeably more effort to have women speakers on debate panels and have comment pieces from women in newspapers.

All over Scotland we attended, spoke at and publicised events specifically organised for women and by women and we saw a wealth of talent; women who clearly have the potential and capabilities to be representatives.

This makes us even more adamant that we need to tackle inequality and push for measures to give women access to the positions that are currently – unfairly and structurally – dominated by men.

This 50:50 campaign was launched by Kezia Dugdale, Lothians MSP for Scottish Labour, and Alison Johnstone, Lothians MSP for the Scottish Green Party.

It welcomes the support of individuals whether from political parties and not.

Its key supporters include Jackie Baillie MSP, Labour MSP for Dumbarton, and Marco Biagi, SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central, Jean Urquhart, Independent MSP for Highland and Islands, and Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland – and we have a lovely wall of ‘others’.

This is a call for sisters from across the independence referendum; whether you voted yes or no, to come together as a movement and push for the representation women of Scotland deserve.

To join us.

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