This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Funding for women's equality
28/11/2003
A funding package worth £1.3 million will drive forward
Government action to tackle gender inequality in Scotland,
it was announced today.
Communities Minister Margaret Curran revealed details of
the funding, to be allocated over a two year period, as she
received a report from an independent working group on the
position of women in Scotland, which she set up in
February.
The Strategic Women's Group (SWG), chaired by Professor
Joan Stringer (Principal of Napier University), was
established by Ms Curran to take a strategic look at the
issues facing women in Scotland today and to make
recommendations for future Executive policy.
It's report, "Improving the position of women in
Scotland: an agenda for action", shows that inequality
between women and men remains a widespread and persistent
feature of contemporary Scottish society.
Speaking at a press conference today, Ms Curran
said:
"This Executive is committed to creating a Scotland we
can all be proud of. We cannot achieve this until the
unacceptable gap between the income, opportunities, power
and influence of men and women is bridged.
"The report contains a wide range of recommendations for
action across the whole of the Executive's portfolio and I
will be discussing it in detail with my Ministerial
colleagues before we make a full response.
"However, I have earlier said that the findings of
the report will be backed up with £500,000 of Executive
funds plus an additional £150,000 to specifically support
women's enterprise, and can today announce that this will
be matched for the coming year, bringing the total funding
for work emerging from this report to £1.3 million.
"Many recommendations in the report ask the Executive to
provide more support for women in the workplace and in
their communities, such as ensuring that work in the social
economy values the contribution of women and addresses some
of the difficulties women face in this sector. As an
immediate response to this, I am pleased to announce today
the allocation of £300,000 to Community Enterprise
Strathclyde (CEiS) and the Local Development Companies
Network to take forward work on this specific
recommendation with women in disadvantaged areas of
Glasgow.
"On a positive note, the report rightly recognises some
of the ground-breaking work which we have done to promote
women's opportunities - such as establishing a Scottish
Women's Convention to raise the profile of women's issues;
the work we have done with our partners on the Close the
Gap campaign to raise awareness amongst employers of the
gender pay gap; the £20 million we have committed to
providing accessible, affordable, quality childcare to help
parents in the most disadvantaged areas to move towards
employment; and of course the work we have done to tackle
domestic abuse.
"I am extremely grateful for the work carried out by
Professor Stringer and the rest of the Group and can assure
them that it will be put to good use."
The report found that although there have been many
great advances for women over the last century, and there
has been a higher profile for equal opportunities since the
establishment of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish
Executive, in general women today still have less access
than men to income, positions of political power and
influence, career and employment opportunities.
Presenting the report to the Minister today, Professor
Joan Stringer said:
"Although women have come a long way in terms of
equality, we still have a long way to go. This has to be
recognised and this report reflects the higher priority
being given to women's issues by the Scottish Executive.
Scottish women still earn almost twenty per cent less than
men, still have less influence - only 22% are councillors -
and still have less respect, with one in five experiencing
domestic abuse.
"The report's recommendations cover most aspects of
women's lives from employment to poverty and exclusion. We
want it to be considered by those in positions of power
and, in fact, individual women themselves. This is a
manifesto for action."
The SWG set out recommendations for the Scottish
Executive, the Scottish Parliament and other public bodies,
to promoting gender equality across Scottish society. Key
recommendations for the Executive include:
• Encouraging more women and men into non-traditional
areas of work
• Increasing provision and setting targets on
childcare
• Maintaining momentum on tackling violence against
women
• Continuing support for consultation with women
The Minister has previously announced that the
recommendations of the Strategic Women's Group will be
supported with £500,000 funding from the Communities budget
for 2003-2004. A further £150,000 from this budget has
been allocated to support women's enterprise. Today's
announcement matches that funding for 2004-2005, bringing
the total value of funding to support the roll-out of the
recommendations, including support for women's enterprise,
to £1.3 million.
The £300,000 funding package (£150,000 a year for two
years 2003-2005) is being granted to enhance the work of
Community Enterprise Strathclyde (CEiS) and the Local
Development Companies Network, which launched a programme
last year to grow the social economy in the Glasgow area.
The funding will be specifically targeted at extending the
project's work to provide support to women and women's
enterprise in disadvantaged areas. It will include
providing information and start up support for those women
interested in developing enterprise in development areas
across Glasgow, mentoring, coaching and organisational
support.
Details of how the rest of the funding will be allocated
will be announced once the Executive has considered in
detail how the recommendations will be responded to.
The Strategic Women's Group (SWG) was established by the
then Minister for Social Justice, Margaret Curran, in
February 2003, to take a strategic look at the issues
facing women in Scotland today and to suggest an agenda for
action for the next Scottish Executive. The Group is
chaired by Professor Joan Stringer, Principal and
Vice-Chancellor of Napier University. Other members of the
group include Rowena Arshad (Equal Opportunities
Commissioner and Director for the Centre for Education for
Racial Equality in Scotland, University of Edinburgh),
Maria Fyfe (Vice Chair, Glasgow Housing Association and
former MP), Barbara Kelly (Partner in a farming enterprise
near Dumfries with longstanding involvement in rural and
consumer affairs), Jane McKay (Secretary of Glasgow Trades
Council), Susan Rice (Chief Executive Officer, Lloyds TSB
Scotland), and Sally Witcher (Independent consultant and
Chair of Disability Employment Advisory Committee).
A full response to the recommendations contained in the
report is likely to be made early in the New Year.