Scottish Government accused of 'contempt for women' over language clash on day of For Women Scotland protest

Social Justice Minister Shirley Anne Somerville launched a new report highlighting the progress made using devolved benefits to tackle child poverty.

However, a press release describing the event didn’t say “women” or “mothers” and instead used the phrase “pregnant people”.

The move came on the same day For Women Scotland, a grassroots gender critical campaign group, held a demonstration outside the Holyrood.

For Women Scotland’s Supreme Court case against the Scottish minister led to a judgment mandating that the word “sex” in law refers to biological sex.

The group has threatened the government with a second legal action over its failure to produce single-sex guidance for Scottish organisations.

A government response to the court threat is due on Friday.

Susan Smith, of For Women Scotland, said: “It’s insulting that the Scottish Government came out with this statement on the day that hundreds of women gathered at parliament to demand they obey the law and restore our rights.

“They deliberately signal their contempt for women by such insulting statements.”

On Thursday, Ms Somerville visited Brunstane Primary School in Edinburgh to speak to mothers about the impact the five benefits had on their families.

The Five Family Payments include the Scottish Child Payment, the Best Start Grant, the Pregnancy and Baby Payment, the Early Learning Payment and the School Age Payment.

They also include Best Start Foods, which is described in official government comms as “a prepaid card to buy healthy foods for pregnant people and children under the age of three, with a minimum payment of £5.40 a week.”

The rest of the communications are at pains to use gender-neutral language and not include the words “mother” or “woman”.

‘Ludicrous language’

Alba MSP Ash Regan said: “On the day that women from across Scotland gathered outside Parliament, here we are again with ludicrous language being used by the Scottish Government.

“The Scottish Government was forced to accept in court that sex is a biological reality but bizarrely they still can’t accept that only women can get pregnant.

“The Scottish Government must accept the findings of the Supreme Court and they must urgently stop allowing gender self-ID to be threaded through their policies contrary to the law.”

In an evaluation by the Scottish Centre for Social Research, parents and carers in receipt of any of the Five Family Payments were interviewed on the effect these were having on recipients’ overall finances.

The SCSR found the welfare changes had helped to reduce material deprivation and food insecurity for low-income families.

The majority of Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Foods recipients agreed the payments meant they did not need foodbanks.

Feeback also shows the majority of Best Start Foods recipients, who receive a pre-paid card to purchase healthy food, reported that the card enabled their families to have healthy meals more often.

Reduction to household debt and borrowing was also found to be a benefit while more children are able to undertake extra-curricular activities.

At Brunstane primary, Ms Somerville heard from mothers who spoke of the difference the payments had made to them.

One woman described how she had struggled following the breakdown of her marriage but the additional benefits had given her autonomy and prevented her having to rely on her ex-husband for money.

She told The Scotsman: “The big numbers, of course, are important when we talk about Social Security, but when you hear about the difference it makes to people's lives - that’s why Social Security is so important, and why that support we give to people clearly makes a difference to those mums and their children.”

Ms Somerville also said that lifting children out of poverty as early as possible will make a long term difference to closing the poverty-related attainment gap in Scotland’s schools.

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She added: “If we can tackle poverty, that will help us tackle that attainment gap still further.

“So our ability to ensure, as those mums were just telling us that the children can go to school because they've got the uniform, they can go to school and take part in things because we're dealing with the cost of the school day - all of that allows the family to be able to support the child, to come into school and to be an active participant.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Best Start Foods is a payment available to eligible pregnant women and families with children under the age of three.”