In today’s modern society, constantly evolving and progressing, it is prevalent that certain groups are largely disadvantaged and still face harsh inequality and social injustice as a consistent part of their everyday lives. As defined in the Cambridge English dictionary (2018), being ‘disadvantaged’ means “not having the benefits such as money and a healthy social situation that others have and therefore having less opportunity to be successful”. This essay will discuss and critique the extent to which and the specific ways that women and girls are disadvantaged in Scottish Society and how this disadvantage may be overcome. As stated by the Scottish Government (2008) “no one should be denied opportunities because of their race or ethnicity, their disability, their gender or sexual orientation, their age or religion. This principle underpins all the work of the Scottish Government.” This statement refers to implemented policy introduced to tackle social injustice faced by individuals in Scottish society. Such policies will also be critiqued and analysed in reference to its perceived success in the aid of tackling inequality faced by both women and girls.
Historically women have been severely lacking in Western politics, this critical issue is particularly apparent within the UK and Scotland. Following devolution in 1990, as discussed by Charles and Mackay (2013), Scotland was given the opportunity to reinvent their political structure and provide opportunities for women to have an influence on policy implementation and have further participation in politics. The positive results of the new devolved and more inclusive parliament were coherent (Mackay, 2006) as in the first election in 1999, parliament consisted of 37.2% female MSP’s, then in the second election of 2003 there was a subsequent improvement and 39.5% of MSP’s were female. Despite this initial improvement, in proceeding elections, the number of women compromising Members of Scottish Parliament have decreased and female representation in Scottish Politics is still an extensive issue.
The deficiency of women in politics is directly impacting the women and girls of Scotland as despite females accounting for 52% of the population as of mid 2017 (Gov.scot, 2017), only 35% of MSP’s are women (Parliament.scot, 2017). These figures portray pronounced under-representation of women in Scottish politics. The destructive consequences of under-representation are discussed by O’Hagan (2016) “The collision of public sector reform, economic recession and welfare reform all impact significantly on women in Scotland, but as of yet there is lack of specific and integrated policy response.” This enforces the idea that the absence of female representation in Scottish politics may allow their wants and needs to be potentially overlooked or misinterpreted as policy is being implemented by a male dominated governance. In attempt to tackle this under-representation of females politically, Engender (2018) has set quotas to create ‘gender balance’ in Scottish politics; to improve democracy and female political engagement. Engender proposes the introduction of legislation to ensure that all parties enforce 50 percent gender quotas and employ sanctions for those that fail to comply with regulations. The implication of such legislation should aid in improving current social injustice faced by women and girls in Scotland due to their lack of representation politically.
The disadvantages endured by females in Scottish society extend further than lack of political representation. The gender pay gap is an issue that has persisted within society for many years and has been experienced by women throughout the working world. In Scotland, this issue is disappointingly relevant in the current modern-day society. Despite the improvement from 1997, as the gender pay gap has narrowed on a basis of all employees in Scotland, from 26.5% to 16.1% in 2017 (gov.scot, 2017), it is apparent that inequalities still prevail for female Scottish citizens within the work place. Another major issue surrounding the gender pay gap is the number of women working part-time. As calculated in the 2016/17 provisional results of the Annual survey of hours and earnings (AHSE) conducted by the Office for National Statistics, in Scotland (ONS, 2017), 42% of women are employed on a part-time basis compared to only 13% of men; therefore, women account for a vast 76% of all part-time workers in Scotland. This is an issue, as revealed by data also from the ONS Annual survey of hours and earnings (ONS, 2017), as women’s part-time average hourly pay was calculated to be £10.89, whereas men’s full-time average hourly pay is £16.37. This substantial gap leads to women in Scotland earning on average £182.90 less per week than men. This social injustice may be the result of the expectations and pressure enforced on women by societal norms and structure, forcing or encouraging them to work part-time or to not work at all and take on caring duties. As discussed by Sayer (2006), women are inclined to adopt “feminine” behaviours such as ‘unpaid’ work that takes the form of everyday chores and childcare duties. The expectation to fulfil and perform these duties to the same degree don’t differ even if a woman also partakes in paid work. This is due to women being expected to perform acceptable amounts of domestic work, as discussed also by Sayer (2006) to be viewed as a “good wife and mother”. The barriers that these gender norms create are harmful and demeaning as they pose more burden on women than men in terms of the maintenance of childcare and domestic duties. In an effort to encourage and offer women the ability to work, the Scottish government introduced the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act of 2014 (beta.gov.scot, 2018). The implementation of this relatively new policy offers free 600 hours of early learning and childcare for all 3 and 4 year olds and some eligible two-year olds. Despite the idea of such policy appearing extremely beneficial, in reality, 16 hours of free childcare is not adequate. This is evident when the fact that mothers have to travel to work, complete their shift and travel back to collect their child within this time is considered. This realises the harsh reality that for some, this may only leave 12-14 hours of working time, which for many will not be enough to ensure good standards of living. However, since the implementation of this policy, the Scottish government has vowed to increase the 600 hours per year to 1,140 hours by 2020 to help further reduce barrier that prevent parents from work (beta.gov.scot, 2018). This provisional policy, if implemented, would be highly beneficial; particularly for mother’s eager to work without the means to do so, therefore may help to lessen the disadvantage and burden on the female citizens of Scottish society.
As discussed throughout, women are widely discriminated against in different areas of Scottish society. A critical issue is the recent and extensive gendered impact of austerity. As discussed by Women’s Budget Group (2015) since 2010 the UK government has introduced a ‘Welfare Reform’ that is set to have a catastrophic impact on the UK public, particularly women. By the year of 2020, the reform is due to result in £82 billion worth of social security budget cuts, and a startling 86% of these savings will be sourced from women’s earnings (Women’s Budget Group, 2016). The implications of these cuts will be substantially felt by women as detailed by The Fawcett Society (2006), revealing that women’s dependence on social security is double that of men’s, due to the income of 20% of women coming from the benefits and tax credits system in comparison to only 10% of men’s. These figures reveal a number of women to be reliant on the support of social security which is a desperate issue due to the projected impact of continuing cuts.
Women are also significantly more dependent on child tax credits, as 87% of recipients from families in work were female, and of single parents in work, 94% were female. This discloses the vast disadvantage felt by women in Scottish society today due to the disproportionate gendered impact of austerity, as cuts are directly effecting their everyday lives; despite this, the recent devolution of the Scottish Welfare Fund in April 2013 (beta.gov.scot, 2018) and the newly found Scotland Act of 2016, has granted the Scottish government with new social security powers, previously controlled and reserved by Westminster. This is useful for the women of Scottish Society as the government is instigating legislation in attempt to undo the disastrous effects of Westminster’s austerity cuts. One action to be introduced by the Scottish government as part of their new powers is the ‘Best Start grant’, also discussed by (beta.gov.scot, 2018), which is to be delivered by 2019 to help support low-income families with children. This will be particularly helpful to women as previously it was stated that an exceptionally high percent of women, in comparison with men, are dependent on child tax credits, therefore such a grant will be beneficial to those discussed. In spite of the ongoing efforts of the Scottish government to recover some of the harm caused by austerity cuts, women still experience significant disadvantage due to the consequences of the UK government Welfare reform of 2010.
The women and girls within Scottish society, are shown throughout this essay to be disadvantaged and face discrimination as part of their daily lives, despite the implementation of policy to promote social justice and equality. Women are shown to be disadvantaged socially, politically and economically. The Scottish government and third-party organisation’s efforts to overcome and lessen the disadvantages and discrimination of women has provided a small amount of relief and aid, however it is extremely coherent that more could be done, and needs to be done, in order for Scottish women and girls to be treated as equal members of society and to put an end to this social injustice.