Scottish Government

BRIEFING NOTE FOR THE STRATEGIC GROUP ON WOMEN

By Esther Breitenbach
June 2003

WOMEN IN SCOTLAND CONSULTATIVE FORUM

This document is also available in pdf format (14k)

This paper provides a brief outline of the development and activities of the Women in Scotland Consultative Forum (WISCF) to date. It summarises the principles and views about membership and structure that were agreed at Forum meetings, lists the key policy areas that were discussed at Forum meetings, and provides a brief commentary on the achievements of the WISCF.

Establishment of WISCF and Forum meetings

The Women in Scotland Consultative Forum was established in 1998, following the publication of a consultation document 'Reaching Women in Scotland' in 1997. Its purpose was to provide a mechanism for women's organisations in Scotland to communicate their views to the government, to meet with Ministers, to consider specific policy areas of interest and to suggest priorities. Setting up the Forum in 1998 was seen as preparatory to devolution, and it was anticipated that the Forum and its networks would provide an established framework for continued close contact and consultation between the Scottish Executive and women in Scotland after devolution.

A number of large WISCF meetings were held, and also a number of smaller meetings. Large WISCF meetings were held in April 1998, August 1998, November 1998, February 1999 (jointly with the Cabinet Office Women's Unit as part of the UK wide 'Listening to Women' campaign), November 1999, and May 2000. The first two meetings, held close together, discussed the principles that should guide the Forum, and its membership, structure, and remit. The meeting in November 1998 was regarded as the formal launch of the Forum, and a Women's Issues Progress Report was published to coincide with this. Apart from the joint 'Listening to Women' meeting, the format of meetings was to have an opening speech from the Minister and other key note speakers, followed by workshop discussions of policy areas. Reports of the meetings were written up and circulated to all the organisations on the Women in Scotland database, developed by the Scottish Office, and maintained by the Scottish Executive, and now maintained by Glasgow Women's Library on behalf of the SE.

Connected to the WISCF was the Women's Issues Research Advisory Group, which was set up to advise the Women's Issues Research Consultant in her work. This group was formed by a very open process of self-nomination by women from organisations attending Forum meetings, with a small number of other women being approached to bring in particular expertise or perspectives. Membership of the group was around 24 people, and it met on fairly regular basis up until December 2001.

Principles for the WISCF

Views on the principles that should guide the WISCF were sought through the initial consultation document, through workshop discussions at the first meeting in April 1998, and through a questionnaire. The following principles, which emerged from this process, were then endorsed at the meeting held in August 1998:

• Accessibility
• Inclusiveness
• Openness
• Accountability
• Effectiveness
• Action
• Partnership
• Empowerment.

Possible structures for the WISCF

Views on structure had been sought through a questionnaire, and from analysis of this a broad consensus emerged on the following points:

• The Forum should be open mixed organisations with a track record on women's issues as well as women's organisations;
• While mixed organisations could be members of the Forum, they would be expected to send women as representatives to Forum meetings;
• All levels of organisations should be represented i.e. UK, Scottish, regional, local;
• There should be a statement of aims for the Forum, to which organisations should commit themselves;
• Representation to the Forum should be a combination of interest group, sectoral, and regional representation;
• The Forum structures should ensure adequate representation of women from all walks of life: minority ethnic women; women with disabilities; lesbians, older women, women from rural areas, and women with other types of life experiences.

In addition, various suggestions were made as to the size of the Forum and to how it should operate, for example by having regional or interest group meetings, While no specific structure was agreed, the key points underlying proposals were that they should facilitate communication between women's organisations and government and that they should also serve the purpose of communicating information to the wider public who may not be involved in organisations. Local meetings were seen as a particularly effective way of doing this, and could be organised in conjunction with local government and voluntary organisations. In addition, it was suggested that interest group meetings or working groups would be needed in order to make an effective contribution to discussions on policy since it was not anticipated that the large meetings could do this in any depth.

Remit

A draft remit for the Forum was discussed in workshop sessions at the meeting in August 1998, and was broadly endorsed. The draft remit proposed that the WISCF would:

• Represent the views of women in Scotland to the Scottish Office and Scottish Executive after devolution;
• Enable the Scottish Office, and in future the Scottish Executive, to discuss its proposals with Scottish women to hear their views on them;
• Consider specific policy areas and recommend priorities to Ministers for policy development;
• Participate in networks with officials to develop ideas and proposals for how policy can be made more women-friendly;
• Provide a channel for reporting on the implementation of the Global Platform for Action (the outcome document of the 4 ^th World Conference on Women in 1995) across the relevant strata of institutions and organisations in Scotland;
• Encourage women to participate in policy development and to work for the new Scottish Parliament to encourage the widest possible participation in public life;
• Encourage consultation prior to drafting policy recommendations;
• Provide the means for the Scottish Parliament to report back regularly on policy development so that the Forum could monitor the extent to which the Scottish Parliament was responding to its recommendations.

Key policy areas discussed

In some of the WISCF reports a detailed account of discussions and of action points is given. These were wide ranging, and varied in their level of generality or detail. Rather than attempt to summarise this, the key areas discussed at the large Forum meetings are simply listed. This is at least indicative of the areas which have tended to be consistently of interest. Major policy areas discussed at Forum meetings included:

• violence against women;
• social inclusion/poverty;
• employment and training (childcare issues were discussed under this heading);
• women and enterprise;
• education;
• women and decision making in public life;
• children and families;
• health and community care.

Additional meetings

In addition to the large Forum meetings, a number of other WISCF meetings were held in 2002 and 2003, including a meeting with minority ethnic women's groups in Glasgow, a meeting in Aberdeen, and a meeting in Easterhouse on the theme of Women and Poverty.

The meeting with women from minority ethnic organisations discussed the themes of barriers to participation; examples of good practice in overcoming barriers; the role of separate women's events; and the role of separate events for minority ethnic women. Discussions identified that racism continued to be a problem and that there was a continuing need for institutional change. Minority ethnic groups were in many ways over-consulted but action was not taken as a result of consultations, and the skills of individuals and groups from minority ethnic communities were not recognised or used. Examples of good practice were seen as lying in the self-empowerment of minority ethnic groups, and in areas such as training, outreach and advocacy work. Separate meetings were seen as important in giving women a place where they felt comfortable and could participate in discussion. A similar view was taken of separate meetings for minority ethnic women, though it was also seen to be important to be able to speak to white women, and not just to 'the converted'. The meeting also discussed the role of education which was seen to be particularly important in addressing racial discrimination, in promoting understanding of different histories and cultures, and in communicating values about human rights.

The focus of discussion at the Aberdeen meeting was barriers in the workplace. Childcare was identified as a key barrier; education and training were also seen as barriers, in that low aspirations and limited training and education limited women's career choices; women also interrupt their employment or reduce hours to cope with domestic responsibilities. Solutions therefore would involve the provision of more childcare, more involvement of men in childcare, more support for women for their career aspirations, better support to return to work, and better representation of women by trade unions.

Themes discussed at the Easterhouse meeting included: childcare; coping with credit and managing debt; and discussion of policies and projects that made a difference. Discussion emphasised the need for more flexible and affordable childcare; for better credit facilities for women, including credit unions; for better pay for caring and other 'women's' work; for resources for women's projects that would ensure sustainability; and for better public transport provision.

Achievements of the WISCF

Overall the WISCF has succeeded in involving a broad range of women's organisations across Scotland, quite a number of which had not previously had active engagement with political or governmental processes. The majority of women attending the large Forum meetings tended to be from organisations in the central belt (meetings were held in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee), though considerable effort was made to ensure wide representation in terms of geographical area and different groups of women. Those unable to attend received regular information via the Women in Scotland database (which had at that time 500-600 organisations on it - though this did not provide comprehensive coverage across all areas of Scotland). A number of regional meetings and meetings with groups which tend to be excluded were held from 2002 onwards to complement the large meetings and to include a wider range of individuals and organisations in discussions.

A broad consensus emerged within the Forum about the principles that should inform the operation of the WISCF, about who should be included in it, and about what its remit should be. This was developed through the initial consultation document 'Reaching Women in Scotland', through questionnaires, and through workshop discussions.

Women attending Forum meetings clearly appreciated the opportunity to meet Ministers and to put their views directly to them; to meet with each other and build contacts; and to meet with civil servants to discuss policy initiatives.

Key points from workshop discussions and action points were summarised in Forum reports and fed back to civil servants across the Scottish Executive. What the reports of the Forum meetings demonstrate is that this allowed for the communication of more detailed information about current policy developments by civil servants, and for the opportunity for women's organisations to respond with suggestions for taking things forward, or to make criticisms. However, there was not necessarily the opportunity to discuss in depth the viability or practicability of various suggestions, nor was any consistent process of reporting back on any follow up action put into place.

Overall it may be said that the WISCF has made an important contribution in identifying the range of organisations in Scotland with an active interest in women's issues; that it underlined the desire for women's organisations to be involved in discussions on policy making and to meet with Ministers and civil servants; and that it provided a means of two way communication on policy issues. A mechanism for continuing to fulfil the functions of bringing together a wide range of organisations with Ministers and civil servants on a periodic basis seems likely to continue to be well supported by women's organisations, on the basis of the WISCF experience.

In terms of being able to engage in more detailed discussions in which the expertise and experience of women's organisations could more directly inform policy development, however, WISCF meetings were limited, and possibly not generally expected by participants to fulfil such a function. One reason for this was that meetings were attended by people with a wide variation in experience and knowledge of issues, and that suggestions made by workshops were not always well directed or feasible, for example, in their appreciation of the legal and constitutional framework in which the Scottish Executive carries out its work. This however also underlines the potential educative role of consultative structures, and the need for information and education about how the new political system functions as well as on policy issues. It suggests that there may be different formats for meetings and different mechanisms for achieving different objectives, whether these are to inform and educate, whether these are to provide an opportunity for direct communication between women's organisations and Ministers, whether these are to facilitate networking, or whether these are to involve women's organisations in a more active contribution to the policy making process. Suggestions for other mechanisms to facilitate more active participation in the policy making process, such as working groups, did not get taken forward at this time. It is likely that there would be continuing support for developing a means of facilitating this.

Fundamentally, the WISCF demonstrated that many women wish to be able to put their views directly to Ministers and civil servants, and that they would like to see evidence that these views have been taken into consideration in the formulation of policy. The principles, representativeness, and functions and remit of such a consultative body were well discussed and there was a broad consensus around these, and they are therefore still likely to be well supported. In taking forward the commitment to a new mechanism for consulting with women's organisations in Scotland, it is not necessary to start again from scratch. Rather the ideas clarified in discussions at the WISCF can be commended to the new convention as something they may wish to consider in shaping new developments. This would have the virtue of continuity and of building on past developments even if new momentum is now needed.

Esther Breitenbach
June 2003