A new report published today (Thursday 2 May 2024) by the National Advisory Council on Women and Girl’s (NACWG) states that women and girls’ equality remains sidelined or “an afterthought” in many areas of policymaking within the Scottish Government.

While there has been welcome commitment from across the Scottish Government’s leadership for the NACWG’s scrutiny and accountability approach in Phase Two, the Advisory Council has raised concerns about the slow progress in implementing its recommendations and highlighted the barriers it has encountered in the report submitted to the current First Minister, Humza Yousaf.

Setting the tone for the next First Minister to prioritise the progression of gender equality and accountability within Scottish Government, the report highlights where recommendations have been repeatedly made by the NACWG, women’s organisations and wider equality organisations, but have yet to be implemented or responded to adequately. The NACWG has reiterated these pleas along with a fresh set of calls to action for the Scottish Government, under the following themes –

Anna Ritchie Allan - Co-Chair of the NACWG

o Accountability culture – additional training is required to create a culture which supports open and honest conversations, even if it means admitting that their work needs to improve.

o Data and lived experience expertise – prioritisation and improved resourcing is needed on data collection and meaningful participation efforts which focus on the overlapping inequalities faced by marginalised women and girls.

o Coherent cross-government prioritisation and delivery - a national gender equality strategy should be created to ensure policymaking, whether on the economy or the environment, embed the needs of women and girls.

o Local services - the Scottish Government should work more closely with The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) to prioritise the needs of marginalised women and girls in key decision-making, and should include recognition of the importance of gender equality in the Verity House Agreement.

o Cost of living crisis - Plans to tackle poverty in Scotland must resource specific and meaningful interventions which focus on marginalised women and girls in Scotland and must be made more accessible in local communities to prevent women and girls from missing out on support they need to survive.

Although “pockets of good practice” on the inclusion of lived experience in policymaking were identified, it is clear there is no coherent approach across the Scottish Government.

While recognising the capacity and resource constraints, there still appears to be a lack of urgency in embedding gender mainstreaming and intersectional analysis within the Scottish Government, the NACWG has found. These are both essential to ensuring that Scotland has policies which effectively advance equality for women and girls.

The NACWG was formed as a catalyst for change to address gender inequality by providing independent strategic advice to the First Minister. Since its inception in 2017, it has made a series of recommendations to tackle gender inequality across Scotland, with a particular focus on creating the leadership, culture and systems required to enable women and girls’ equality to be better prioritised and responded to competently. All recommendations were accepted by the Scottish Government, with a commitment to some form of action for all.

In this second phase of work, which began in 2022, the NACWG is holding the Scottish Government accountable for the implementation of these recommendations and its response to the current experiences of marginalised women and girls in Scotland, with topics such as the cost of living crisis.

NACWG co-chair, Anna Ritchie Allan, said: “We’ve centred accountability in our work, and this has exposed Scottish Government’s current ways of working leaves women and girls sidelined. From poverty and the cost of living crisis to the economy, women and girls’ lives are largely invisible, which sustains the inequalities they face.

“The NACWG has called on the Scottish Government to do things differently because their current approach to tackling gender inequality isn’t working. This means prioritising the needs of women and girls most marginalised within a national strategy, and critically this must come with adequate resourcing and capability within government.”

This report – the first report focusing on the NACWG’s Phase Two work - provides an overview of the participatory work it is resourcing and co-producing with its Empowering Women Panel, and insights into areas for improvement within the Scottish Government.

NACWG co-chair, Talat Yaqoob, said: “Working groups are repeatedly set up to report back to the Scottish Government with a range of recommendations and then cease work when recommendations are accepted or acknowledged. However, external accountability of accepted recommendations is severely lacking and has, at times, contributed to a lack of pace on implementation or implementation that does not align with the original intentions from external expertise. We need faster movement that delivers tangible, positive change for marginalised women and girls in Scotland, and this must be a priority for whomever has the privilege of being the First Minister.”

Following this report, the NACWG will be commencing its Third Focus of Scrutiny, which will continue to scrutinise the implementation of a number of NACWG recommendations made during its Phase One period. Following a successful first year of collaborative partnership, the NACWG will continue to work with the Empowering Women Panel to ensure that lived experience continues to inform NACWG activity.

To read the full NACWG Phase Two report, visit: To read the full NACWG Phase Two report, visit: www.generationequal.scot/app/uploads/2024/05/NACWG-Report-May-2024.pdf.

An easy read version is also available on the website: www.generationequal.scot/app/uploads/2024/05/NACWG-easy-read-report-May-2024.pdf.

Advisory Council reports concerns over ‘lack of urgency’ in embedding gender equality