Manifesto for Women 2016

8/17/2019 Manifesto for Women 2016

1/6SCOTTISH LABOUR WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

FRONT COVER

SCOTTISH LABOUR

WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

BOTH VOTES LABOUR


2/62 SCOTTISH LABOUR WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

Scottish Labour was founded on the principles of equality and social justice. It is these founding

principles that guide us today. We want a Scotland where inequality is a problem of the past,

where rhetoric is met with real change and where everyone, regardless of their background

or abilities has a chance in life. We recognise that equality is not a single issue and that any

individual can experience multiple inequalities. Scotland deserves a Government that takes a

truly intersectional and inclusive approach to policy making. Scottish Labour is committed to

equality. We will put in place practical steps to make sure that tackling inequality is at the core of

all we do, through mainstreaming equality policies and introducing a long term plan to eradicate

inequality. We have a long term vision which acknowledges there are no quick xes but commit

to exercising the political will to implement that plan. We will tackle equal pay, seek to end genderbased violence in Scotland and promote equal representation both in private and public bodies.

SCOTTISH LABOUR WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

We will:

Appoint a Cabinet Secretary for Equalities.

Improve Equalities Impact Assessments ensuring they are completed at policy

inception.

Mainstream Equalities Training in the Public Sector.

Fully implement all 15 recommendations of the Independent Advisor on

Poverty and Inequality.

Incorporate international human rights obligations, including CEDAW.

Develop a strategy to tackle online-harassment relating to any protected

characteristic.

Improve equality training for front line social security support sta, especially

in the Work Programme.



Women and Opportunity

To ensure that women get the same

opportunities as men we will tackle inequalities

from an early age. We need to make all

professions attractive to young people. Whilewe want to encourage more women into STEM,

we also value female dominated professions like

the caring sector. Childcare provision is a huge

barrier for women to enter work and Labour view

it as an economic, not just a social issue. We want

to see employers in the public and private sector

provide exible working conditions in order to

support a diverse workforce.

We will challenge gender stereotypes at an early age and across all aspects of society. We will take on an

intersectional approach acknowledging diversity and the multiple challenges that people face. This has to

happen in a cross-cutting manner, ensuring all aspects of the public sector and government policies are

focused on tackling inequality.

Appoint a Cabinet Secretary for Equalities with a specic responsibility for mainstreaming genderequality with Cabinet accountability.

Introduce a Gender Equality Bill which ensures gender mainstreaming and includes a statutory

requirement for gender budgeting across all policy areas.

Our plan

• We will develop a long-term plan on

childcare to create a universal system based

on:

- Flexibility that ts parent lives.

- Aordability.

- Well-trained, professional and

highly valued work-force.

• We will tackle gender stereotyping in school

and early years through training for front

line sta including teachers, childcare

professionals, and career advisors. This will

be coupled with a duty to tackle inequalities

and a zero-tolerance approach to gender

stereotyping.

• We will ensure that women in further and

higher education have equal maternity

rights.

• We will ensure equal access to pre-

vocational training, including modern

apprenticeships and investigate age and

gender discrimination in apprenticeships.

• We will set up an occupational segregation

commission to drive and oversee these

goals and other eorts to tackle vertical and

horizontal occupational segregation.

Our plan

• We will commit to 50:50 at all political levels

and public positions including taking an

intersectional approach when recruiting

candidates.

• We will set up a Gender Media Institution,

and confront gender misrepresentations inadvertising.

• We will develop a gender action plan

in politics, which set out a clear code

of conduct including zero tolerance to

derogatory and sexist language:

- Encourage women from all backgrounds

into politics, especially those in low paid

professions and ethnic minorities.

- Ensure accessibility for events including

providing childcare.

- Develop political women only training

and events.

• We will create a cross-party women’s

movement such as a women’s caucus or

CPG.

• We will promote female role models in

STEM, business and within the Trade Union

movement.

Women in Public life

Lack of widespread female representation across

all aspects of public life is both a symptom and

a cause of gender inequality. We will support

women in the public sphere and confrontnegative stereotyping that re-enforce inequalities.

HOW WE WILL ACHIEVE WOMEN’S EQUALITY



Women and the economy

Gender inequality is an economic issue,

and tackling low pay in female dominated

employment is an economic priority. We need

to ensure all industries are actively tackling

discrimination and supporting women, including

ensuring equal pay.

Too often women are still primarily responsible

for caring, both for children and adults, and

penalised for it, not just in earnings, but in

pension rights. Additionally, current welfare

changes impact disproportionally on women. This

needs to be reversed.

Our plan

• We will create a duty on all public bodies

to tackle gender inequality in the Scottisheconomy.

• We will use new welfare powers to support

women and help them back to work.

• We will tackle maternity discrimination and

support women re-entering the workplace

through working with employers to create fast

track promotion schemes, re-training and the

right to exible working.

• We will promote shared responsibilities

especially promoting shared parental leave at

all levels.• We will pursue a sectoral approach to tackling

low-pay, and put equal value on female

dominated professions like care.

• We will provide better support to carers

including uplifting and increasing the exibility

of care allowance.

• We will create a family friendly business pledge,

including having all senior jobs advertised as

part-time or jobshares.

• We will use the new powers of the Scottish

Parliament to top up the pensions of womenborn between 1951 and 1953 so they are no

worse o than men of the same age and we

will carry on ghting for other women who

have been aected by Tory pension changes

for better transitional arrangements are

implemented.

• We will consider mandatory gender pay audits

for employers who do not deliver on equal pay.

Our plan

• We will continue to support “Equally Safe” and

make its implementation a national priority.

• We will introduce comprehensive legislation

to tackle all forms of gender based violence,

especially around commercial sexual

exploitation.• We will introduce specic domestic abuse

courts within Scotland’s sheri courts so that

dealing with these serious crimes is a priority.

As part of this reform, we will consult and bring

forward a Bill which sets domestic abuse as a

specic oence.

• We will create a 5 year funding stream for

equalities that focuses on prevention and

support services.

• We will remove means testing for legal aid in

domestic abuse cases.

• We will introduce a right to sex and relationshipeducation for all children, ensuring every child

is taught about consent.

• We will create a national framework for PSHE

education which focuses on preventing gender

based violence and tackling wider inequalities.

• We will incorporate tackling gender based

violence.

• We will aim to tackle commercial sexual

exploitation by challenging demand and by

supporting those involved. This will have a

three-pronged framework: criminalising the

buying of sex, decriminalising people involvedin prostitution, and providing long-term

support and exiting services for those exploited

through prostitution within teacher training and

provide support for external experts to deliver

programs in schools.

• We will create a duty on all education

bodies, including universities and colleges, to

prevent gender based violence and gender

discrimination on campus.

• We will aim to halve the population of

women prisoners and will implement the

recommendations of the Angiolini Commision

on Women Oenders.

Women and Justice

Women face particular challenges, both as

victims and as perpetrators of crime. Sending

more and more women to jail isn’t working. It

has a devastating impact on families that can

last for generations. There are still gaps in our

legislation that do not fully protect women from

gender based violence. We need to do more totackle domestic abuse and the issue of sexual

exploitation.



Women and Health

We need to ensure that health and social care

services understand gender inequalities have

a detrimental eect on women’s physical andmental health. It is vital that eorts to tackle

inequality are embedded within health provision.

Approaches to reproductive health and sexual

wellbeing need to address the existing barriers

that women face.

Our plan• We will ensure a consistent approach across

all departments by acknowledging gendered

issues in access to healthcare.

• We will improve mental health services

ensuring a gendered approach, including

support for trauma caused by abuse and

sexual assaults.

• We will continue to take action on Female

Genital Mutilation ensuring that whilst we

ensure cultural respect, the protection

and empowerment of women is of critical

importance.

• We believe that standing up against women’s

inequality means standing up for women’s

rights. Scottish Labour is committed to

ensuring equal access, irrespective of

geographical location, to contraceptive

advice, family planning services and abortion

services. We have no plans to change the law

on abortion.

• We will review specialist services for womenwho suer miscarriages and fertility issues

ensuring that their wishes are taken into

account.



Printed & Promoted by Brian Roy, Scottish General Secretary, Scottish Labour Party, 290 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4RE

Manifesto for Women 2016

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