Social Security

An Overview of VAWG and the Role of Public Policy in Scotland in Prevention

Nov 28, 2023: This briefing paper examines the prevalence of VAWG and gender inequality in Scotland and highlights the urgent need for integration of a primary prevention approach within the Scottish policy landscape. VAWG is not only a justice or equalities policy issue, but one that all policymakers – regardless of their area of work – must play a role in preventing and ultimately eradicating.

Date of publication: November 2023

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: The Two-child Limit

Oct 6, 2023: This is a briefing for MSPs ahead of the Scottish Government debate on reversal of the UK Government's Two-Child Benefit Limit. We fully support calls to scrap the two-child limit at the UK level, which harms women and children across Scotland, directly pushing many into deeper poverty. In Scotland, we support calls for the Scottish Government to invest in mitigating the UK Government’s policy on grounds of equality and human rights.

Date of publication: October 2023.

The largest poverty indicator that no one's talking about

Blog – Oct 6, 2023

Cost of Living: Fight Against Poverty is a Fight for Gender Equality

Blog – Jul 3, 2023

Women's economic, social and cultural rights in Scotland

Blog – Apr 14, 2023

Engender submission of evidence to the Scottish Parliament Social Justice and Social Security Committee’s Inquiry into ‘Addressing child poverty through parental employment’

Apr 7, 2023: Engender welcomes this opportunity to submit evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Social Justice and Social Security Committee in response to their inquiry on ‘addressing child poverty through parental employment.’ Our submission focuses on the gendered impact of poverty and asks the Committee to recognise that most parents locked out of employment are women, with further barriers for minoritized and marginalised women. We stressed that without acknowledging this, the root causes of child poverty cannot be understood, and effective policy solutions created.

Date of publication: April 2023.

Cost of Living Crisis: Gaps in support for women on low incomes in Scotland

Blog – Jan 13, 2023

Gender Edit Of The Scottish Government Budget 2023-24

Dec 16, 2022: This gender edit of the Scottish Budget 2023 - 2024 compiles all references to women, gender and issues with implications for gender equality which appear in the document. The Budget was introduced by the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney MSP on the 15th of December 2022.
Key announcements made in the run-up to the Budget included an increase in taxation for higher income earners, an additional £1bn on health and social care spending, and uprating of social security entitlements under the control of the Scottish government in line with the rate of inflation.
This gender edit examines the Budget in sequence, with emphasis added by Engender.

Date of publication: December 2022.

Delivering Equally Safe: Challenging and eradicating violence against women

Blog – Dec 6, 2022: To mark the annual 16 Days of Activism campaign, our Policy Officer for Engender's Delivering Equally Safe project, Hannah Brisbane, shares some background on our briefing for MSPs on the importance of primary prevention in challenging and eradicating men's violence against women.

The cost of living crisis and women: read our new report

Blog – Nov 16, 2022: Today Engender has released a report setting out how the deepening cost of living crisis will have a devastating impact both on different groups of women in Scotland, and on women's equality as a whole.

Women & the Cost of Living: A Crisis of Deepening Inequality

Nov 10, 2022: The escalating cost of living crisis will result in untold harm in Scotland, particularly for women, other oppressed groups and those living with multiple inequalities. It will deepen gender inequality at a time when women continue to experience the egregious fallout of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Women in Scotland are and will be disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis, with acute ramifications in terms of economic and physical security, health and wellbeing.

This report highlights the impact of the impact of the cost of living crisis on women, and makes recommendations for urgently needed action to ensure that responses to the crisis do not further entrench gender inequality in Scotland.

Date of publication: November 2022.

Cost of Living Crisis: The financial impact on women's access to housing

Blog – Oct 21, 2022

Engender submission of evidence to the Scottish Parliament Finance and Public Administration Committee call for views on its pre-budget scrutiny 2023-24

Aug 26, 2022: Engender welcomes this opportunity to comment on the Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny and, in particular, its focus on the impact of the cost of living. Current spiralling inflation is highly gendered, and it is imperative that the Committee interrogate the ways in which the Budget cumulatively impacts on women and men as part of a cross-portfolio approach throughout the Scottish Parliament.

Date of publication: August 2022.

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: International Women’s Day 2022 - #BreakTheBias

Mar 8, 2022: Engender welcomes this opportunity to mark International Women’s Day 2022 with this briefing and the Parliament’s debate. This year’s theme - #BreakTheBias – aims to highlight conscious and unconscious discrimination against women in all walks of life. Preventing and eradicating violence requires serious action to secure women’s social, economic and cultural equality and the rights of women and girls. UN Women has estimated that the impact of Covid-19 for women’s equality could mean the loss of 25 years’ worth of progress, and Scotland is not immune. Measures to respond to the pandemic have disproportionately affected women’s access to paid work - especially younger women and women of colour - and the volume of care that women provide.

Breaking the structural bias that leaves women poorer, further from power and opportunities and more vulnerable to violence, abuse and harm demands urgent attention and action.

Date of publication: March 2022.

Engender Submission of Evidence to the Scottish Parliament Social Justice and Social Security Committee Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWAG) and Domestic Violence Thematic Session

Mar 2, 2022: Engender welcomes this opportunity to participate in a thematic discussion on violence against women and girls and domestic abuse and ahead of the meeting have outlined here our current work in this area for the Committee. Engender does not provide violence against women services but works across a number of relevant policy domains.

Date of publication: March 2022.

January 2022 - Policy Round Up

Blog – Feb 1, 2022

Engender submission of evidence to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee call for views on its Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2022/23

Oct 7, 2021: Engender is grateful for the opportunity to provide evidence to the Committee in support of its pre-budget scrutiny for 2022 – 2023. Our submission focuses on the transformative potential of gender budgeting in the realisation of women’s equality and the need for gender to be strategically analysed across subject committees including, but not only, the Social Justice and Social Security Committee.

Date of publication: October 2021.

Marking 10 years since the Christie Commission

Blog – Jun 28, 2021

GUEST POST: Gender-Based Violence Policies at the Local Authority Level Part 2

Blog – May 7, 2021

Engender response to the Scottish Government consultation on Adult Disability Payment

Apr 7, 2021: Engender welcomes this opportunity to comment on the Scottish Government’s draft regulations for the new Adult Disability Payment (ADP). We have been engaged on work around gender and social security since the 2010 programme of “welfare reform” and over that period we have sought to highlight the ways in which women and women’s equality, safety, access to resources and human rights are all affected by the design and delivery of social security.

Date of publication: April 2021.

Engender response to Mark Griffin MSP’s consultation on a Proposed Scottish Employment Injuries Advisory Council Bill

Feb 5, 2021: Engender welcomes this opportunity to respond to Mark Griffin MSP’s consultation on Proposals for a Scottish Employment Injuries Advisory Council Bill. We have kept our comments to four broad themes – the changing nature of workplace risk, the need for and characteristics of a Scottish Employment Injuries Advisory Council (SEIAC), gender and health, and the additional concern that Covid-19 places on women’s health and the nature of work.

Date of publication: February 2021.

Engender submission of evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee inquiry on Welfare policy in Scotland

Feb 1, 2021: This is Engender's submission of evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee inquiry on Welfare Policy in Scotland. The design of the social security and ‘welfare’ system is one of the key drivers of inequality in the UK and it remains a critical lever available to ensure women have access to an adequate standard of living, equal access to choices and opportunities, and safety and security. Women are more likely to rely on social security for all or part of their income than men due to a greater risk of poverty, gendered experiences of the labour market which push them into poorer paid and insecure employment, the impact of men’s violence, and deeply-ingrained norms around the provision of care and childcare.

Date of publication: February 2021.

Engender response to the Scottish Parliament Local Government and Communities Committee on the Fair Rents (Scotland) Bill

Dec 17, 2020: Engender welcomes this opportunity to respond to the Scottish Parliament Local Government and Communities Committee consultation on the Fair Rents (Scotland) Bill. We welcome the Bill and support its general principles; recognising that it represents a first step to make rent more affordable for women in the Scottish private rented sector. However, it is our view that the Bill could go further and address the widening gaps between women’s incomes and the amount women spend on rent.

Date of publication: December 2020.

Engender submission of evidence to the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee inquiry on the role of Scottish Social Security in Covid-19 recovery

Oct 15, 2020: Women are twice as likely to rely on social security for all or part of their income than men due to a greater risk of poverty, gendered experiences of the labour market which push them into poorer paid and insecure employment, the impact of men’s violence and deeply-ingrained norms around the provision of care and childcare.

Engender is acutely aware of the scale of impact the Covid-19 pandemic presents to women and to inequality in Scotland and we do not underestimate the challenges of meeting the various demands this will place on Scottish and UK public services. However, we are strongly
of the view that the principles of Scottish social security require it to build on existing commitments to meet new and expanding needs. While we are concerned about the adequacy of the system as a whole to respond to the huge and complex dangers to women’s equality and risk of poverty, there are specific groups for whom there is evidence of building need and opportunity for policy-makers to react in the more immediate term.

Date of publication: October 2020.

Gender Edit of Scotland's Programme For Government 2020-2021

Sep 2, 2020: This gender edit of The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government compiles all references to women, gender and issues with implications for gender equality which appear in the document.

This year’s Programme for Government comes amid the Scottish Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and ahead of the Scottish Elections in 2021. Considerable focus is given to protecting jobs and adjustments or investments in the health and social care system. The Government announced four new Bills to be introduced and the continuation of Bills already introduced ahead of the dissolution for the election next year.

Date published: September 2020.

Engender submission of evidence to the UK Parliament Women and Equalities Committee inquiry on Unequal impact: Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the impact on people with protected characteristics

Jul 10, 2020: Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the UK, Engender has sought to draw attention to the highly gendered impacts of both the virus and steps to mitigate it.

This submission was made to the Women and Equalities Committee at the UK Parliament at the beginning of May, and sets out the broad range of issues that have emerged pertaining to women’s inequality during the first weeks of the UK’s management of Covid-19. Inevitably, this pandemic will remain a serious and evolving issue, with phased recovery and cycled periods of response. The scale of the potential impact for women’s equality is enormous. It is therefore vital that as the full range of measures to implement mitigation and recover are developed, gender is a key and foremost consideration, otherwise decades of slow progress for women’s equality will be lost.

Date of publication: July 2020.

Women and COVID-19

Mar 26, 2020: The COVID-19 global pandemic represents an unprecedented situation and the responses and aftereffects will have long-term consequences for everybody in Scotland, notably for women and women’s equality. These include risks to the ongoing work Scotland is doing to realise a more equal Scotland for women and men. It is vital that these programmes and the progress they will realise are not lost. Equally, women’s needs and realities need to be well-integrated in the urgent responses to this crisis.

The evidence from previous pandemics tells us that gender equality measures and action plans are vital components of an effective response. Women’s inequality around the world exacerbates their vulnerability to not only catching the virus, but the social and economic burdens of our collective response. When the safety nets put in place by the state are stretched to breaking point, it is women that are hit the hardest, and this health crisis is highlighting gaps in UK social and economic policy in an unprecedented way. This briefing explores some of the ways in which the differences between men’s and women’s lives play in to COVID-19, and describes critical issues that Scottish Government and parliamentarians should include in their thinking about crisis response, and medium-run mitigation programmes and spend.

The information in this briefing refers to the situation up to 26th March 2020. We are still in the early days of this crisis and the thinking continues to develop at pace, with new Scottish specific and UK-wide measures announced daily. Engender will continue to monitor events and look to supplement this briefing as necessary.

Date of publication: 26 March 2020

Engender submission of evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry on the Economics of Universal Credit

Mar 24, 2020: This document is a submission of written evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry on the Economics of Universal Credit.

We welcome this opportunity to submit our views to the House of Lords Select Committee’s inquiry into the economics of universal credit (UC). Our years of work in this area and our feminist analysis of UC and its impacts leads us to conclude that UC is failing women. It is ensuring, increasing and embedding women’s poverty and contributing to pervasive sexism whereby the state punishes women for decisions around their reproductive rights, motherhood and the labour market, and is further reducing equality between women and their partners.

Date of publication: March 2020

A WOMAN'S PLACE: GENDER, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS IN SCOTLAND

Mar 4, 2020: Women are largely invisible in housing and homelessness policy across the UK. The extent and nature of women’s homelessness is not well understood, and next to nothing is known about the experiences of women who live with multiple forms of inequality. This ‘hidden homelessness’ means that policy interventions and mainstream services do not cater to women’s needs, particularly for those facing multiple economic and social discrimination, including black and minority ethnic (BME) women, disabled women, and older and younger women.

This report sets out the international context on the right to housing, summarises key issues for women’s equality across housing and homelessness, and explores the extent to which the legislative and policy landscapes in Scotland are gendered. We conclude with findings and recommendations to mainstream gender within housing and homelessness policy frameworks in Scotland.

This report is designed to sit alongside a complementary literature review which draws out themes on women’s homelessness, access to affordable housing, and the differential needs of groups of women who are particularly at risk of housing insecurity.

Date of publication: March 2020

GENDER, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Mar 4, 2020: Housing and homelessness are policy areas in need of an explicitly gendered perspective. Women’s experiences of housing, including their pathways into and out of homelessness, are different from men’s, but are poorly studied and understood.

This paper seeks to analyse available literature on gender and housing and provide a brief overview of the interconnected factors related to women’s housing issues, with a particular focus on women’s homelessness, access to affordable housing and the differential needs of groups of women who are particularly at risk of housing insecurity. It also seeks to identify areas where more research or development work is required to develop a feminist policy approach to housing and homelessness. The paper is designed to sit alongside a complementary report 'A Woman’s Place: Gender, Housing and Homelessness in Scotland', which explores the housing and homelessness policy landscape in Scotland and the extent to which Scottish policies and discourse are gendered.

Date of publication: March 2020

The invisible women in Scotland’s housing system

Blog – Mar 4, 2020

Engender response to the Social Security Scotland Draft Equality Outcomes Consultation

Feb 14, 2020: This document is a response to the Social Security Scotland Draft Equality Outcomes consultation. We are concerned that the draft outcomes put forward in this consultation do not take sufficient cognisance of women’s experiences and lives and are therefore insufficiently targeted to address inequalities in access to social security in Scotland.

Date of publication: February 2020.

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Universal Credit

Nov 20, 2019: This is a briefing ahead of the Scottish Labour Debate in the Scottish Parliament on Universal Credit on 20th November 2019. Parliament Member's Business Debate on Charities, Scotland and Holyrood on 30th October 2019. We fully support ending and substantively reforming the elements of the UK ‘welfare’ system which are having a harmful impact upon women across Scotland. This briefing sets out the particular concerns and impacts of universal credit, the two-child limit and the benefits cap.

Date of publication: November 2019.

Engender response to the Scottish Government consultation on Scotland’s National Transport Strategy

Oct 29, 2019: This document is Engender's response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on its National Transport Strategy. The use of Scotland’s transport systems is highly gendered. Women are the majority of public transport users, and the minority of drivers and cyclists. Women also tend to make more complex and frequent journeys due to caring responsibilities and working patterns. Scotland’s current transport systems, however, do not reflect the different needs of women.

Date of publication: October 2019.

Engender submission to the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee inquiry on benefit take-up

Oct 25, 2019: This document is a submission of written evidence to the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee inquiry on benefit take-up. We welcome the Committee’s inquiry into benefit take-up and the opportunity to outline our concerns as well as the constructive, yet ongoing, discussions with the Scottish Government to ensure equalities considerations are addressed.

Date of publication: October 2019.

Engender submission of evidence to the UK Government Scottish Affairs Committee inquiry on welfare policy in Scotland

Oct 23, 2019: This document is a submission of written evidence to the UK Government Scottish Affairs Committee inquiry on welfare policy in Scotland. This submission was originally made in September 2019, but was not published until mid-October owing to the possibility of prorogation of the UK Parliament.

The design of social security and ‘welfare reform’ has a disproportionate impact on women. Around 20% of women’s total income comes from the benefits and tax credit system, compared with 10% of men’s. Women also rely more on public services, and as a result, up to 86% of net ‘savings’ between 2010 and 2020 will come from women’s incomes, not accounting for additional cost savings sought as a result of upcoming economic changes. Disabled, BME and refugee women, lone parents, unpaid carers and other marginalised groups are at even greater risk of poverty and destitution. We therefore welcome this opportunity to highlight issues relating to ‘welfare’ and social security in Scotland which we hope will help inform the committee’s work.

Date of publication: September 2019.

Engender response to the Scottish Government consultation on disability assistance in Scotland

Jun 3, 2019: Engender has been engaged on work around gender and social security since the 2010 programme of Welfare reform and over that period we have sought to highlight the ways in women, who are twice as likely to rely on social security for their income, have been systemically and grotesquely disadvantaged by reforms.

We therefore welcome this opportunity to respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the future of devolved disability assistance within Social Security Scotland. In the UK, women are a small majority of disabled people and, as a group, disabled women are amongst the very hardest hit by welfare reform.

Date of publication: June 2019.

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Social Security Committee Debate on In-Work Poverty

Apr 22, 2019: This is a briefing ahead of the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee debate on in-work poverty. The design of social security has profound implications for women’s capacity to be in paid work, and in their experience of poverty once they are employed. This is because women are twice as likely to be reliant on social security as men, and have very different experiences of both poverty and the labour market. In their evidence to the committee’s inquiry, Close the Gap highlighted in-depth the multitude of factors which ensure that paid work is not a route out of poverty for women in Scotland. Despite the policy intention behind Universal Credit (UC), its design contributes to trapping women in poverty and exacerbates inequality between women and men.

Date of publication: April 2019.

Engender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement Changes

Apr 2, 2019: From 15 May 2019, new changes will be introduced which will require couples where one partner has reached state pension age and one has not (‘mixed age couples’) to claim universal credit (UC) instead of Pension Credit. Engender is concerned that the rule changes have attracted little attention and no gender analysis.

Date of publication: April 2019.

Can the DWP's proposed changes to Universal Credit deliver for women?

Blog – Feb 8, 2019

What's in it for women? Scottish Government Budget 2019-2020

Blog – Jan 18, 2019

Engender Gender Edit of the Scottish Government Programme for Government 2018-19

Oct 5, 2018: This document is a ‘gender edit’ guide to the Scottish Government Programme for Government 2018-19. It provides excerpts which refer directly to women and gender, but also captures sections on equalities and social justice where women and girls in Scotland would be directly impacted.

Date of publication: September 2018.

Joint Engender and SWA Parliamentary Briefing ahead of the Scottish Government Building a Social Security System Together Debate

Oct 2, 2018: Engender and Scottish Women’s Aid welcome this opportunity to discuss the creation of the Social Security Charter and the importance of ensuring women’s voices are heard in the process. Since 2013 our organisations have worked together to highlight the gender-impact that women accessing social security face.

Date of publication: September 2018.

Joint Response to the UK Government Work and Pensions Committee Short Inquiry into the Impact of the Universal Credit Household Payment

May 10, 2018: Since 2010, the UK Government has pursued an austerity agenda and programme of ‘welfare reform’ which will result in a total of £82 billion of cuts to the social security budget by 2020. This is having an egregious impact on women’s access to resources, security and safety, and therefore on gender equality and women’s human rights. Over the decade of austerity, from 2010 to 2020, 86 percent of net ‘savings’ raised through cuts to social security and tax credits will come from women’s incomes.

Joint Briefing ahead of the Scottish Parliament Social Security (Scotland) Bill Stage 3 Debate on Universal Credit

Apr 24, 2018: Ahead of the Stage 3 Debate in Parliament, Engender, along with The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, One Parent Families Scotland, Advocard, The Health and Social Care Alliance, Poverty Alliance, Scottish Women’s Aid, and the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers have produced a briefing in support of Amendment 144 Universal Payment: Payment to Joint Claimants to the Social Security (Scotland) Bill.

Date of publication: April 2018.

Dear Social Security Committee, Let's talk about split payments of Universal Credit

Blog – Mar 16, 2018

Engender Submission to the UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights Call for Evidence on the Impact of Economic Reforms and Austerity Measures on Woman’s Human Rights

Mar 7, 2018: This is Engender's response to the UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights call for evidence on the impact of economic reforms and austerity measures on woman’s human rights.

For years, Engender has worked with women and women’s organisations in Scotland to provide evidence on how the UK Government’s economic reform policies are breaching women’s human rights, and to lobby for policy change.
We are very pleased to present some of this evidence here. Our response mainly focused on social security policy, as well as provision of social care, violence against women and legal aid services in the UK.

Date of publication: March 2018.

Gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals

Blog – Dec 14, 2017

Scotland's Social Security Bill can still have equality at its heart

Blog – Sep 20, 2017

Scotland's Programme for Government - what's in it for women?

Blog – Sep 11, 2017

Engender Submission to the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee on the Social Security (Scotland) Bill

Aug 23, 2017: Engender welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Committee’s call for views. Over the last two years, we have worked with our partners at Scottish Women’s Aid, Close the Gap, the Scottish Refugee Council and Carers Scotland to highlight the link between women’s inequality and the existing UK social security system.

Date of publication: August 2017.

Message from Jeane Freeman - Minister for Social Security

Blog – Jun 28, 2017

5 things you need to know about the Social Security (Scotland) Bill

Blog – Jun 27, 2017

Scottish Government tables Social Security (Scotland) Bill

Blog – Jun 22, 2017

Engender Submission to the Scottish Parliament Local Government and Communities Committee Call for Evidence on Homelessness

Jun 19, 2017: Engender welcomes the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee study on homelessness in Scotland, and its aim to ‘explore the underlying reasons which can lead to a person seeking homelessness services, and whether homelessness prevention services are effectively tackling those underlying reasons for homelessness’.

A review of policy and practice quickly reveals that approaches to tackle homelessness remain ungendered. Women’s experience of homelessness, including their pathways into and out of homelessness, are different from men’s, but poorly studied and understood. As explained by researchers in the UK, while ‘literature has increasingly acknowledged the presence of women amongst the visibly homeless population, it has rarely explored their experiences in any detail or sought to unpack the experiences of visible homelessness through an explicitly gendered perspective’ .

Date of publication: June 2017.

#GE17: What's in it for women in Scotland?

Blog – Jun 2, 2017

10 questions for Damian Hinds on the 'rape clause'

Blog – May 24, 2017

Engender Submission to the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee Call for Evidence on the Two-child Limit for Tax Credits and Universal Credit

May 18, 2017: Engender welcomes the opportunity to present evidence to the Social Security Committee on the two-child limit. We have been working with other women’s organisations in Scotland over the last few years to chart the impact of ‘welfare reform’, and the ways in which it is widening inequality between women and men.

Analysis of the two-child limit by Child Poverty Action Group calculates its impact as a loss of up to £2,800 every year per child. In addition, it is projected that these deep cuts to social security for families with more than two children will push up to 200,000 more children into poverty, and will impact approximately 510,000 families in 2019-20.

Date of publication: May 2017.

Engender Submission to the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee Call for Evidence on the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill

May 9, 2017: Engender welcomes the introduction of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill, which ambitiously sets targets to eradicate child poverty by 2030. The introduction of the proposed legislation signals a commitment by the Scottish Government to continue to implement measures to build a fairer Scotland. Though we welcome the Bill, we wish to highlight the importance of understanding the gendered dimension of poverty, as it is our firm belief that understanding and tackling women’s poverty in Scotland will be central to the success of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill.

Date of publication: May 2017.

UK General Election 2017: Priorities for women’s rights and equality

Blog – Apr 27, 2017

The ‘family cap’ and ‘rape clause’: where do we go from here?

Blog – Apr 25, 2017

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Child Tax Credit and Child Element of Universal Credit ('Family Cap') Debate

Apr 24, 2017: Engender's briefing in advance of the Scottish Parliament debate on Child Tax Credit and Child Element of Universal Credit (known as the 'family cap', and including the so-called 'rape clause').

Date of publication: April 2017.

Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Engender statement on the ‘rape clause’, ‘family cap’ and the UK general election

Blog – Apr 21, 2017

5 things you can do to help call on the UK Government to scrap the 'family cap' and 'rape clause'

Blog – Apr 14, 2017

#ScotSocialSecurity and why we need gender-balanced experience panels

Blog – Apr 11, 2017

Guest post: Explaining Secondary Legislation and the 'rape clause'

Blog – Apr 4, 2017

5 things you need to know about the 'family cap' and 'rape clause'

Blog – Apr 1, 2017

One last chance to scrap the rape clause

Blog – Mar 20, 2017

Scottish women’s organisations make final appeal to House of Lords to scrap the 'rape clause'

Blog – Mar 20, 2017

Engender Response to the Scottish Government Consultation on Universal Credit (Claims and Payments) (Scotland) 2017

Mar 15, 2017: Engender welcomes the opportunity to respond to the consultation on the proposed regulations respecting two of the devolved flexibilities related to Universal Credit.

Date of publication: March 2017.

#ScotSocialSecurity and language

Blog – Mar 15, 2017

SUCCESS: Scottish Government commits to individual payments of Universal Credit

Blog – Feb 22, 2017

Message from Jeane Freeman - Minister for Social Security

Blog – Jan 20, 2017

Engender Response to UK Government Consultation on Exceptions to the Reforms Which Limit the Child Elements in Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit to a Maximum of Two Children

Nov 28, 2016: Engender fundamentally rejects the principles behind both reducing vital social security for mothers of more than two children, and making an exception where a child is conceived as a result of rape.

Date of Publication: November 2016.

Social Security Consultation Focus Groups - Report

Nov 21, 2016: A report of eight focus groups run by Engender, Scottish Women's Aid, Carers Scotland and the Scottish Refugee Council, to contribute to the Scottish Government consultation on social security.

Date of publication: October 2016.

Social Security Consultation Focus Groups - Report

Nov 21, 2016: A report of eight focus groups run by Engender, Scottish Women's Aid, Carers Scotland and the Scottish Refugee Council, to contribute to the Scottish Government consultation on social security.

Date of publication: October 2016.

Engender Response to Scottish Government Consultation on Social Security in Scotland

Oct 28, 2016: Engender welcomes this opportunity to respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation on social security in Scotland. Together with partners at Scottish Women’s Aid, Close the Gap, the Scottish Refugee Council and Carers Scotland, we have consistently worked to highlight the links between women’s inequality and the current UK social security system. Earlier this year we released a policy report on Scotland’s new powers over social security, recommending a suite of ways in which new powers can be engaged to increase women’s equality in Scotland.

Date of publication: October 2016.

5 things you should know about the Fairer Scotland Action Plan

Blog – Oct 7, 2016

6 reasons you should fill out the Scottish Government Consultation on Social Security (with musical accompaniment)

Blog – Oct 5, 2016

Engender Response to the Scottish Government Consultation on a Child Poverty Bill

Sep 30, 2016: Engender welcomes this opportunity to comment on the Scottish Government’s plans for a Child Poverty Bill for Scotland. We have consistently worked to highlight the inextricable links between women’s economic inequality and child poverty, and this consultation response is based on the need to mainstream gender throughout the development of any new legislation. Women are twice as dependent on social security as men, the gender pay gap persists at 14.8% in Scotland, 62% of workers that earn below the living wage are women, and pervasive violence against women undermines women’s access to resources and financial autonomy. Disabled women, black and minority ethnic (BME) women, lone mothers, unpaid carers, and refugee and asylum seeking women, amongst other groups are particularly at risk of poverty due to their gender and other forms of inequality and discrimination. Statistics show that a small majority of women in Scotland live in poverty, but these only take stock of figures for single-headed households and mask the extent of women’s poverty due to income inequality within many couple households.

Date of publication: September 2016.

Gender Matters in Social Security: Individual Payments of Universal Credit

Jul 1, 2016: A paper calling on the Scottish Government to automatically split payments of Universal Credit between couples, once this power is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Supported by: Carers Scotland, Close the Gap, Scottish Refugee Council, Scottish Women's Aid, Inclusion Scotland, The Poverty Alliance, BEMIS, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, the Irish Heritage Foundation, Rape Crisis Scotland, the Sottish Women's Budget Group, Zero Tolerance, the Young Women's Movement in Scotland, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the Wheatley Group, Barnardo's Scotland, Oxfam Scotland, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, One Parent Families Scotland.

Date of publication: March 2016.

Securing Women's Futures: Summary of Recommendations

Jun 13, 2016: A summary of recommendations from 'Securing Women's Futures: Using Scotland's New Social Security Powers to Close the Gender Equality Gap'.

Date of publication: June 2016.

Securing Women's Futures: Using Scotland's New Social Security Powers to Close the Gender Equality Gap

Jun 13, 2016: This joint report from Engender, Close the Gap, Scottish Women's Aid, the Scottish Refugee Council and Carer Scotland summarises why and how women are affected by social security policy and sets out ways in which new powers can be engaged to increase women’s equality in Scotland. Our recommendations are presented in terms of systemic gender inequalities that dictate the impact of social security policy on women – paid work, unpaid work, domestic abuse and multiple discrimination. We also highlight experiences of women with whom we work. It is this documenting of daily realities and of growing anger, fear and stress that remains the basis of our call to action on women’s social security.

Date of publication: June 2016.

Gender Matters in Social Security - why we need individual payments of universal credit

Blog – Apr 19, 2016

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Welfare Reform Committee Debate on Women and Social Security

Nov 27, 2015: In respective budgets since 2010, between 70% and 85% of cuts to public spending on benefits, taxation, pay and pensions have come from women’s incomes.

Engender welcomes this parliamentary debate and the Welfare Reform Committee’s report on women’s social security. In partnership with other women’s organisations, we have worked to highlight discrimination against women within the austerity agenda. ‘Welfare reforms’ and wider austerity measures are undermining progress towards gender equality, and have a major impact on women’s lives.

Since the Welfare Reform Committee held its inquiry into women and welfare, the context for women has worsened. The House of Commons Library estimate that 70% of the £34 billion worth of cuts announced in the UK Government’s ‘summer budget’ will fall on women. Further extensive cuts will have been announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement by the time this debate takes place. As a result of structural gender inequality, a similar gender profile can be expected. Certain groups of women, including lone mothers, refugees, disabled women, unpaid carers and women experiencing domestic abuse face multiple and particularly extreme impacts as a result.

The role of the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament to protect social security for women is therefore more vital than ever. Strategic action is manifestly needed, or else existing commitments and political ambition on gender equality will not be achieved. Along with Scottish Women’s Aid, Scottish Refugee Council and Close the Gap, we are calling for a high-level summit on women’s social security, to develop such an approach.
This briefing sets out the current context for women and our proposals regarding forthcoming and existing powers over social security and related policy areas.

Date of publication: November 2015.

Challenge Poverty Week: Gender Matters in Care

Blog – Oct 23, 2015

Guest Post: Challenge Poverty Week: Food for thought from EaRN’s consultation event, A Platform for Positive Change

Blog – Oct 22, 2015

Challenge Poverty Week: Women's employment support

Blog – Oct 21, 2015

Guest Post: Challenge Povery Week: Women’s poverty and ‘austerity’ in the UK

Blog – Oct 20, 2015

Guest Post: Challenge Poverty Week: Tackling Poverty and Inequality with Edinburgh’s new Equality and Rights Network (EaRN)

Blog – Oct 19, 2015

Engender Response to the Scottish Government Consultation on the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Act Regulations and Guidance

Aug 26, 2015: Engender submission to the Scottish Government consultation on the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Act regulations and guidance.

Date of publication: August 2015.

Women lose in Summer Budget 2015

Blog – Jul 9, 2015

Engender Submission to the Scottish Parliament Welfare Reform Committee Inquiry Into Women and Welfare

May 1, 2015: Since 2010, £26 billion worth of cuts have been made to benefits, tax credits, pay and pensions. 85% of this has been taken from women’s incomes.
Engender welcomes this opportunity to submit our views to the Welfare Reform Committee’s inquiry on women and welfare reform. This submission highlights the links between discrimination against women within the welfare reform agenda with other areas of gender inequality.

Date of publication: May 2015.

Women's and Equalities Sector Joint Statement to the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare: Women, Further Devolution and Social Security

May 1, 2015: The Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare is an intergovernmental group with ministerial representatives from Scottish and UK governments working around the post-Smith Commission devolution of some elements of social security. This is a joint statement to that working group from (in alphabetical order): Close the Gap, Electoral Reform Society Scotland, Engender, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, Inclusion Scotland, Lead Scotland, NUS Scotland Women's Campaign, One Parent Families Scotland, the Poverty Alliance, Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Scottish Refugee Council, Scottish Women's Aid, Scottish Women's Budget Group, Shelter Scotland, Voluntary Action Scotland, Women's Support Project, YouthLink Scotland, YWCA Scotland, and Zero Tolerance.

Date of publication: March 2015

A Widening Gap - new report shows women bear the brunt of welfare reform

Blog – Apr 30, 2015

A Widening Gap: Women and Welfare Reform

Apr 27, 2015: Since 2010, £26 billion worth of cuts have been made to benefits, tax credits, pay and pensions. 85% of this has been taken from women’s incomes.

This is a joint report from Engender, Scottish Refugee Council, Scottish Women’s Aid, Close the Gap, and Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations looking at the devastating impact of welfare report on women in Scotland.

Date of publication: April 2015.

Statement to the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare

Blog – Feb 10, 2015

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Welfare Reform Committee Debate on Welfare Reform and the Smith Commission

Dec 19, 2014: A briefing paper for MSPs in advance of the Welfare Reform Committee debate on welfare reform and the Smith Commission on 18 December 2014.

Date of publication: December 2014.

'Welfare' and women: an update

Blog – Nov 13, 2014

Guest blog: Women and work: what next? (Indyref Thursday #7)

Blog – Sep 4, 2014

Engender Response to the Scottish Parliament Welfare Refom Committee Consultation on the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Bill

Aug 28, 2014: Engender's response to the Welfare Reform Committee's consultation on the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Bill.

Date of publication: August 2014.

Engender Parliamentary Briefing - Welfare Debate 2014

Aug 13, 2014: A briefing paper for MSPs in advance of the Scottish Government debate on welfare in the Scottish Parliament on 13 August 2014.

Date of publication: August 2014

Guest blog: Indyref, women and poverty (Indyref Thursday #2)

Blog – Jul 31, 2014

Scotland's Futures: Women and Poverty

Jul 30, 2014: This briefing is part of a series that sets out how power and responsibility to tackle critical gender equality issues are divided between Holyrood and Westminster. It is part of Engender’s contribution to the independence referendum debate.

Date of publication: July 2014.

Event on 'welfare reform' and gender

Blog – Apr 10, 2014

Launching our joint paper on gender and 'welfare reform'

Blog – Apr 1, 2014

Gender and 'Welfare Reform': A Joint Position Paper

Apr 1, 2014: This joint position paper on gender and ‘welfare reform’ draws together the multiple ways in which women are penalised by cuts to the benefits and tax credits system, and describes the gender inequality that accounts for these impacts. It also makes a set of recommendations to Scottish Government as it shapes its ‘mitigation’ response to the UK’s ‘welfare reform’ agenda. We produced it in collaboration with Close the Gap, Scottish Refugee Council, Scottish Women’s Aid, Scottish Women’s Convention and Zero Tolerance.

Date of publication: April 2014

Engender Submission to the Expert Working Group on Welfare Call for Evidence on Social Security in an Independent Scotland

Mar 5, 2014: Engender's response to the Expert Working Group on Welfare's second call for written evidence on social security in an independent Scotland.

Date of publication: December 2013.

Multiple Jeopardy? The Impacts of the UK Government’s Proposed Welfare Reforms on Women in Scotland Background Paper

Mar 5, 2014: This policy paper outlines the multiple ways in which women are set to be adversely impacted by the UK Government's 'welfare reform' agenda.

Date of publication: January 2012.

Multiple Jeopardy? The Impacts of the UK Government’s Proposed Welfare Reforms on Women in Scotland Briefing Paper

Mar 5, 2014: This briefing paper outlines the multiple ways in which women are set to be adversely impacted by the UK Government's 'welfare reform' agenda.

Date of publication: January 2012.

Women in Scotland: Facts and Stats 2012 Calendar

Mar 5, 2014: Women in Scotland calendar 2012: monthly facts and stats on women's inequality.

Date of publication: January 2012.

Politics in Your Pocket Resource

Mar 5, 2014: A pocket guide to gender inequality across political life in Scotland.

Date of publication: 2010.

Gender Audit Series: Housing

Mar 5, 2014: A summary and discussion of the implications of data from the Gender Audit of Statistics [Breitenbach,E. and Wasoff, F. Scottish Executive Social Research 2007] relating to care and caring prepared by S. Macpherson, Engender Associate and E. Thomson.

Gender Audit Series: Income and Wealth

Mar 5, 2014: A summary and discussion of the implications of data from the Gender Audit of Statistics [Breitenbach,E. and Wasoff, F. Scottish Executive Social Research 2007] relating to care and caring prepared by S.Macpherson, Engender Associate and E. Thomson.

Engender Response to the Scottish Government Consultation on Changes to Passported Benefits

Mar 5, 2014: Engender's response to the Scottish Government consultation on changes to passported benefits that will arise as a result of the introduction of Universal Credit and personal independence payment (PIP).

Date of publication: October 2012.

Engender Response to the Scottish Government Consultation on Tackling Child Poverty in Scotland: A Discussion Paper

Mar 5, 2014: Engender's response to a Scottish Government discussion paper: Tackling Child Poverty in Scotland: A Discussion Paper.

Date of publication: January 2011.

Engender Response to the Discussion Paper on Tackling Poverty, Inequality and Deprivation in Scotland

Mar 5, 2014: Engender's Response to the Government Discussion Paper on Tackling Poverty, Inequality and Deprivation in Scotland

Date of publciation: June 2008.