Exclusive:Women in Scotland suffering 'income crisis caused by misogynistic political choices'
Group calls for measures including 50 hours of funded childcare and a Minimum Income Guarantee for unpaid carers
Women in Scotland are suffering an “income crisis” caused by biased political decision making, a leading advocacy organisation has said.
Engender claims urgent steps are necessary to reverse decade of financial inequality affecting women and children.
The group is calling for the Scottish government to introduce a raft of measures including 50 hours of funded childcare and a Minimum Income Guarantee pilot for unpaid carers.
Catherine Murphy, Executive Director of Engender, said deep inequality had been caused by “biased everyday political decision-making”.
Women’s poverty, Ms Murphy said, has been misunderstood and under prioritised across a range of critical policy areas.
The 2008 financial crash, austerity, the Covid pandemic and now cost of living crisis have had a cumulative impact on women that has not been addressed, she said.
“These are shocking figures and haven’t received anywhere near the attention and recognition they should do in terms of the alarm bells that should be ringing,” Ms Murphy added.
“Austerity-related changes were made to the benefits system and many of those were misogynistic.”
The benefits cap, for example, had an impact on single-parent families, as did the two-child limit, while the Universal Credit household payment structure leaves women vulnerable to financial abuse.
The Scottish government’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls made a raft of policy proposals.
However, few of these have been implemented.
Ms Murphy added: “it’s easier to make positive gestures towards equality than actually invest the time and the money in the systems change that is needed in redesigning these systems.
“But it's worth doing because it ultimately means that you're getting much more value for money from public services because they're actually designed in a way that meets people's needs.”
Engender’s policy paper, Confronting Women’s Poverty, warns marginalised groups including disabled women, unpaid carers, single mothers, young women and migrant women are hit hardest.
The report outlines that Scotland’s gender pay gap stands at 10 per cent, with women making up 61 per cent of all jobs paid below the Real Living Wage.
Between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of unpaid care in Scotland is delivered by women - work
that is worth an estimated £15.9 billion a year to the economy.
Men only account for 27 per cent of applicants to Social Security Scotland, while women are 60 per cent of those in receipt of Universal Credit.
By 2027, the most economically marginalised women in the UK are projected to have endured a 21 per cent fall in living standards since 2010.
In response, Engender plans to campaign for a new Taskforce on Women’s Poverty - a cross-government body to recommend statutory poverty reduction targets.
It will ask for a Women’s Equality Fund - ring-fenced crisis support to prevent destitution for women with no recourse to public funds, disabled women, unpaid carers, women experiencing domestic abuse, and single mothers.
A Minimum Income Guarantee pilot for unpaid carers, 50 hours a week of funded, flexible childcare for children aged six months and over, and and an overhaul of the Public Sector Equality Duty are also on the list of demands.
“We're going to push as hard as we possibly can, and we hope that the anti-poverty organisations in Scotland will also help us with that in pushing forward these arguments,” Ms Murphy added.
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