Increasing the number of women in the Scottish Parliament ultimately comes down to one thing
Voters are the final arbiters of who should sit in the Scottish Parliament
Is John Swinney running scared of the BBC’s Question Time by sending Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan to stand in for him in tonight’s Scottish election special? Or is he nobly boosting the representation of women in our male-dominated political culture?
Whatever the reasons, McAllan may find her debating skills tested to the limit as she attempts to justify the SNP’s truly shocking track records on health, education, transport, policing, local authorities and more – and her stock will rise if she can do it.
However, with Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay the only female leader of a major party, and only 35 per cent of Holyrood election candidates being women, it’s clear there is a risk that the progress made on equal representation of the sexes in recent years could suffer a setback.
The Scottish Parliament was supposed to be different, but its working practices and standard of debate have been blamed for putting women off, while the manosphere-style abuse of female politicians is a real problem.
But, ultimately, if we want more women in parliament, it is we, the voters, who can make this happen.
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