Chamber and committees

The member for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley mentioned an increase in funding for the directorate, but that does not reflect the reality on the ground. Last week, the Scottish Government confirmed an in-year cut of £30 million to mental health funding. This is the second year running that in-year cuts have been made to mental health spending. How does the Government expect patients to have confidence in mental health services when the only consistent thing about its approach is budget cuts?

I could not agree more with that. There is significant bias, which is potentially subconscious, but is certainly controlled heavily by sportswear manufacturers. We need to continue to engage with them on dealing with that.

We know that the media have a crucial role to play in promoting women’s elite sport to a wider audience, and we have heard a lot about that today. Our report makes practical recommendations as to how we might make that happen in the future. A key focus should be on expanding routine coverage of women’s sport outside the window of major international tournaments. Such tournaments are critical moments when it comes to people realising their potential—they are inspirational—but coverage cannot just be restricted to the Commonwealth or Olympic games. We need the idea that people can take sport to the next level to be more normalised.

Sandesh Gulhane made an excellent point about the national hockey facility, which, of course, is less than a decade old and was meant to be part of the legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth games. Does he agree that allowing that facility to languish in the state that it is in destroys the legacy of the Commonwealth games to Scotland?

That is an important point that was noted in evidence from broadcasters and sponsors, who talked about the need to ensure that there is balance, particularly with regard to the income insecurity that is faced by women who want to progress to elite sport. There is a significant gap there that still needs to be tackled.

Despite the positive improvement in coverage, particularly in areas such as football, which has been mentioned, elite female athletes and female sports journalists continue to be on the receiving end of absolutely appalling and unacceptable sexist and abusive behaviour. We heard some pretty devastating accounts of that in evidence to the committee. We need to redouble our efforts to bring that to an end.

I will not hold the member’s support for a London team against him, even though he is a member for Glasgow. Nonetheless, he makes an important point about the role of podcasts and the increasing democratisation of fan media. That is an important part of what we should consider. It is not just for traditional media channels to normalise attitudes; it also falls to the fan base. We are seeing encouraging signs, particularly in the football world, that things are moving in a positive direction, which is to be commended. I thank the member for making that important point.

Although we see democratisation of fan-base media, it is too often used maliciously. Social media provide a platform for dissemination of negative body image content and misogynistic content that can further discourage women and girls from taking part in sport and physical activity. However, used positively, social media offer an opportunity for sports organisations, governing bodies and other key stakeholders to promote the positive health benefits of being physically active, to give positive role models a platform to demonstrate leadership and to challenge negative content.

I will conclude by echoing the convener’s earlier words of thanks to all those who engaged so positively and constructively with our inquiry, often with distressing, detailed and nonetheless emotional evidence. I hope that the Scottish Government will give careful consideration to the key recommendations from this important and vital inquiry and that, by working together to implement them, we can close the gender gap in participation in sport and boost the long-term health and wellbeing of girls and women throughout our country.

As the deputy convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, I am pleased to close this important debate on the committee’s behalf. As we have heard, the inquiry pinpointed a range of persistent barriers to female participation in sport and physical activity that need to be broken down. The committee’s report made important recommendations about how to achieve that. I am grateful for all the contributions to the debate and for the entire effort to build such a purposeful inquiry.

At the outset, the committee’s convener—the member for Rutherglen—helpfully set out the background to the inquiry and its purpose. The inquiry confirmed—as has been reinforced by many of the speeches that we have heard—that the root cause of the significant gender gap in participation in sport and physical activity lies in girls’ experiences during adolescence. As evidence that was submitted to the inquiry powerfully demonstrated, for too many teenage girls negative experiences of physical education in schools undermine their confidence and discourage them from participating in sport and physical activity for many years afterwards. The gender gap at that age continues for women and the rate is not surpassed by men until they are in their late 40s. It is really worrying that that extraordinary gap has emerged.

To tackle the issue at its root cause, our first priority must be to give teenage girls a more positive experience of physical education in schools, in order to make them feel welcome, included and positively supported. That extends to membership of sports clubs. We heard from one of the Conservative members for South Scotland—Mr Whittle—that male membership of sports clubs is three times greater than female membership of sports clubs. That is a significant difference. Indeed, that difference extends to participation in sport in youth clubs, as the member for Kirkcaldy mentioned in relation to his role as a scout leader. The issue transcends not just school environments; it applies to adjacent sports clubs and youth societies, as well.

As many members have said this afternoon—including the member for Cunninghame South, whom I welcome as a new member to the committee and commend for her valuable contribution to the debate—that means improving education around menstruation and managing periods and how they can affect teenage girls’ participation in sport and physical activity.

It also means tackling negative and misogynistic attitudes, and fostering a culture of inclusion and respect, as was mentioned by the Labour spokesman, Mr Bibby, who is one of the members for West Scotland, and by the member for North East Fife, who spoke about his experiences in his constituency.

Ms Mochan, who is one of the South Scotland members, spoke very powerfully about her experience of how young constituents are dealing with terrible attitudes in their school environment and how that has affected them. We have heard of no more powerful experiences than those of the young people who are witnessing that today. It was pretty shocking to hear about those persistent attitudes.

If the experience of teenage girls is a root cause of lower rates of female participation, the gender gap—as we have heard today—is sustained into adulthood by many other factors. Those include lack of knowledge and support in respect of a range of women’s health conditions, from pregnancy to menopause and from urinary incontinence to endometriosis; lack of positive role models and of women in leadership roles; the additional barriers that are created by childcare and other caring responsibilities; and a failure to design facilities and infrastructure in ways that make female users feel safe.

This afternoon, we heard powerful examples from the member for North East Fife about school facilities at Madras college being casually closed down in a way that impacted on one gender. We also heard from Dr Gulhane, who is one of the Conservative members for Glasgow, about the scandalous situation at the Glasgow national hockey centre at Glasgow Green. The situation will squander the legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth games, if we are not careful.

As part of any effective strategy to boost rates of female participation in sport and physical activity, funding is a crucial lever. The Scottish Government’s commitment to increasing investment in sport and active living is welcome, but we will miss an important opportunity if we do not seek to carefully target a significant amount of that money at encouraging girls and women to take part in sport at a younger age, and to live active lives throughout their growth.

We have also heard that many girls and women face intersecting barriers to participation in sport and physical activity. That might be due to disability, or they might come from a minority ethnic or deprived socioeconomic background, or might be part of the LGBTQ+ community.

As is set out in our committee’s report, wider use of equality impact assessments, inclusive imagery and messaging, the promotion of positive role models and targeted investment all have roles to play in increasing rates of participation in sport and physical activity among girls and women who face those intersecting barriers to their participation. We simply cannot tolerate panicked end-of-year budgetary decisions that discard those important considerations, as was powerfully mentioned by one of the members for South Scotland, Ms Harper.

As we have also heard this afternoon, although there has been real progress in relation to the status and profile of elite women’s sport in recent years, much more has still to be done. The committee’s report has made some practical suggestions as to how that might be achieved, including in relation to funding of and pay for professional athletes. We heard some examples of positive progress in some sport disciplines, including golf, cricket and football, but many other sports have to make progress.

We have also heard about clothing and equipment. The member for Glasgow Kelvin made an interesting observation about the experience of a century ago and the interesting sporting attire that women were expected to wear in the 19th century. It is important to note that the origin of organised sport began in the late industrial age.

To the present day, we still carry the cultural norms and baggage from the expectations of gender-based roles in Victorian society. It is important to reflect that the significant progress that we have made is clearly not good enough, so we must redouble our efforts.

The member for North East Fife made an interesting point about the changes in the coverage of sport. That is important when we consider health conditions, women who are considering pregnancy or who might be pregnant, and the general zero-tolerance approach to tackling the sexism and abuse that are directed at women in elite sport.

GPs in Glasgow tell me that they are firefighting but are still being expected to do more with less. The mental health and wellbeing strategy is making more demands on GPs, but there is little detail on additional capacity or resource. Does the First Minister acknowledge the pressure that GP practices are under? Does he agree with those practices that the mental health strategy is simply not deliverable without further support?

Will the minister give way?

I thank my friend for giving way at that point in an excellent speech. One of the great strengths of Labour’s housing policy in Scotland during the 1970s and 1980s was the building of the community housing association movement, which is increasingly experiencing forced directed mergers at the behest of the Scottish Housing Regulator. Does he share my increasing alarm and concern at that trend in Scotland, which has been seen most recently with regard to the Reidvale Housing Association in Dennistoun?

The member makes an important point. Does he recognise that it is strategically counterproductive to further entrench disproportionate violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, because it undermines the effort of the more moderate Palestinian Authority to build a peaceful and secure relationship and a two-state solution?