Chamber and committees

We recognise that fair work is vital in tackling the cost of living crisis, in-work poverty and child poverty, all of which have a disproportionate effect and impact on women.

We have committed to further embedding equality and human rights in all stages of the budget process. The next steps are included in our response to the recommendations of the equality and human rights budget advisory group. [Interruption.]

In response to the debate this afternoon, I will take the opportunity to reiterate the facts once again. The Equality Act 2010 is largely on reserved matters, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission is the body that is responsible for enforcing that act. The Scottish Government strongly supports the separate-sex and single-sex exceptions in the 2010 act, and we expect all relevant organisations to comply with the requirements of the 2010 act and any other legislation in their role as employers.

The commission has produced specific guidance to support organisations in their compliance, including the statutory codes of practice and guides, including those for service providers that are looking to establish and operate a separate-sex or single-sex service. The Scottish Government requires all public bodies to comply with the law.

That group is often misunderstood and misrepresented, and it receives disproportionate levels of attention.

We will continue to support LGBTQI+ stakeholders in Scotland and to advance equality for the community, as well as more widely for minority groups including older people, disability organisations—

The Scottish Government expects all organisations to comply with the law, including health and safety regulations that apply in workplaces. Furthermore—

—the Scottish Government also expects all organisations to comply with the full range of legislation—

—regarding health and safety—

—and we will continue to—

I thank Audrey Nicoll for this debate on the theme of international women’s day: accelerate action. As I proceed through my closing remarks, I will refer to as many members as possible, as time allows. I will outline some of the actions that we have taken to improve the lives of women and girls in Scotland, while recognising that there is much more work to be done. It is right that we are being asked to go faster and further.

Health was raised by Tess White. It is a key priority for the Government. In 2021, Scotland was the first country in the UK to publish an ambitious women’s health plan, which has brought real change. For example, we now have a specialist menopause service in every mainland health board and a buddy support system in place in the islands’ health boards.

We launched our women’s health platform on NHS Inform to give women and girls access to comprehensive and reliable information about their health. We are now working on phase 2, which includes wanting cervical cancer to be eliminated, which we think is possible in our lifetime.

Ms White also raised childcare. We provide 1,140 hours of funded high-quality early learning and childcare to all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds. If families paid for that, it would cost them, on average, more than £5,500 per child per year. Supporting families through provision of high-quality, affordable and accessible childcare is critical in supporting women into work and keeping families out of poverty.

I will mention the point that Mercedes Villalba raised. She highlighted the valuable work of trade unions in advancing women’s working rights, including enhancing maternity provisions. I would be happy to discuss that with her further.

On fair work and the gender pay gap, it has been said many times that the best social programme is a job. Our “Fair Work Action Plan: Becoming a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025” helps women into properly paid work. Fair work is vital in tackling the cost of living crisis, in-work poverty and child poverty, all of which we know disproportionately affect women. Our fair work first principles include payment of at least the real living wage, action to tackle the gender pay gap and the offer of flexible family-friendly working. In the past 10 years, the number of accredited real living wage employers has increased from 14 to more than 3,700, which is five times higher than the level in the rest of the UK. That means that 68,000 workers in Scotland have had a pay rise.

Those improvements are particularly felt by women and racially minoritised women, who are overrepresented in work on zero-hours contracts and in low-paid and insecure work. Although it is not good enough, the gender pay gap in Scotland remains lower than it is in the rest of the UK. In 2024, the estimated median gender pay gap for full-time employees in Scotland was 2.2 per cent, compared with a 7 per cent gap in the UK.

Carole Mochan, Maggie Chapman, Pam Gosal and Beatrice Wishart all raised the plight of international women in the face of war and the impact that that has. I hope that they are reassured and pleased to hear of our long-term support for the women in conflict 1325 fellowships, which provide networking and training for women peace advocates from conflict-affected regions. Since 2017, 364 fellows from more than 40 countries and regions have taken part in the fellowship programme.

In her opening speech, Audrey Nicoll said that she wants an update on the National Advisory Council for Women and Girls. That is part of how we are trying to make real progress towards gender equality. There are two key strands of work that will accelerate that action, in keeping with this year’s international women’s day theme. The first is our work with the First Minister’s NACWG. The group has made a range of ambitious and challenging recommendations that it believes will make systemic change for women and girls. We are putting in place a robust cross-governmental approach to refocus and redouble our efforts to deliver those recommendations, following the pandemic. We hope that that new strategic approach will facilitate delivery of the recommendations to enable better monitoring and measuring of progress.

I cannot close without referring to my good and long-standing friend, Christine Grahame, who reminded us of the stereotypes that have been used over the years with regard to education and job options for girls in particular. Speaking personally for a moment, I note that I often suffered from those stereotypes as a young Asian girl. Expectations of me achieving in education and, indeed, having a long-standing career were off the table. It was assumed that I would have an arranged marriage and that I would not be working.

Although we are all breaking barriers across the generations, I absolutely recognise that there is a need to accelerate action.

A key part of our work is the “Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement 2025-26”, which was published alongside the Scottish budget. As the cabinet secretary highlighted in her opening remarks, we need to remain mindful of the negative impact that polarised and sometimes inaccurate public discussion can have on minority groups.

The Scottish Government is committed—