Round Table Discussions
Recognising that women's needs are complex - depending on socio-economic background, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and faith - the Scottish Government asked the Scottish Women's Convention to hold three round table events:
- Older Women - 13 October 2006 - Note
- Lesbian, Bi-sexual and Transgender Women - 20 October 2006 - Note
- Women from Different Faith Communities - 26 October 2006 - Note
These events built on the Multiple Discrimination round tables held in 2005 by the Government, which explored those issues of concern for Disabled and Minority Ethnic women. The views and experiences collected from these roundtables will help inform the work of the Scottish Women's Convention and will also feed into the policy initiatives of the Government.
Today's Woman Debate 2006
Today's Woman was a nationwide debate to seek out views on key issues that affect women in today's society with the view that these be used to inform the development of future UK policies.
A number of women's events were been held throughout the UK where there were roundtable discussions on 5 themes - work & work life balance; health & wellbeing; safety, security & crime; money, debt & savings; and education & skills.
In Scotland, there were 2 such events - one in Glasgow on 2 June and the other in Inverness on 5 June. These were organised, at the Government's request, by the Scottish Women's Convention, which the Government funds. Yvonne Strachan (Head of the Government's Equality Unit) spoke at the Glasgow event and Nicola Munro (then Head of the Government's former Development Department) spoke at the Inverness event.
Findings from the Glasgow (.pdf file) and Inverness (.pdf file) events are now available, and these were sent to our colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government in London to help inform the development of UK policies. The findings from these events has been used to inform the Scottish Government's ongoing engagement with the women's agenda.
Local events and consultations
The Government continues to engage with women at events on specific topics and also at events such as those to celebrate International Women's Day. Such events may be arranged directly by the Government, by others, or jointly with others.
Scottish Women's Convention
The Government, in partnership with women's organsations, established the Scottish Women's Convention in 2003 to take forward, in a more strategic way, the consultation work done in the last few years by the Women in Scotland Consultative Forum and through local events. You can read about the Convention's latest activities and plans on their website.
Women in Scotland Database
Glasgow Women's Library manages, on behalf of the Scottish Government, a database of women's organisations in Scotland (over 550 by March 2007), mainly local grass-roots groups that cater for the needs of specific groups or women. The Library can provide distribution lists, by topic if required, for consultation exercises. Further information about the database is available from the Library's website.