Gender policy coherence: annual statement 2025

Women In Our Four Priorities

As outlined in our Programme for Government 2025-26, we are focusing our efforts and resources on our Four Priorities:

• eradicating child poverty
• growing the economy
• tackling the climate emergency
• ensuring high quality and sustainable public services.

It is key that gender equality is embedded throughout our priorities to ensure we are delivering effective change in a way that works for everyone in Scotland, including diverse groups of women.

This chapter discusses women in our Four Priorities. The first section describes our intersectional approach to tackling women’s and children’s poverty, with an overview of the broad actions we are taking across government. The second section focuses on women in a growing economy. It outlines how we are encouraging Fair Work practices, how we are helping women access and progress in work, and how we are supporting women in entrepreneurship, especially in the tech industries. The next section looks at tackling the climate emergency. It discusses our engagement to understand diverse women’s perspectives on climate change, the economic opportunities for women in ‘green jobs’, women’s specific travel needs as we decarbonise our transport systems, and our commitment to equality and a just transition in the agriculture sector. The last section explains how we are ensuring high quality and sustainable public services for women, focusing on health, housing and transport.

Tackling Women’s and Children’s Poverty

Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and the foremost of the Scottish Government’s four key priorities. We know that child poverty and women’s poverty is inextricably linked and that we can only tackle child poverty by tackling the inequality faced by women.

‘Every Child, Every Chance’, the first Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2018 to 2022, sets out how child poverty is gendered and deeply connected to the roles of women in society and the issues they face. Our second plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ sets out further details of our approach, recognising the need for systems and services to align in order to support families to thrive.

Our approach to tackling child poverty is rooted in evidence. It focuses on influencing three key drivers of poverty reduction: increasing incomes from work and earnings, reducing the cost of living, and maximising incomes from social security and benefits in kind. It also focuses on improving the wellbeing and outcomes of families, and on ensuring that action addresses the challenges and barriers faced by those at greatest risk of poverty.

Women are strongly represented within the six priority family types we have identified. This includes lone parent families, of which around 90% are headed by women, and young mothers under 25. The other priority family types are minority ethnic families, families with a disabled adult or child, families with a child under one year old and larger families with three or more children.

By taking an intersectional approach to policy delivery across our actions to eradicate child poverty, we are working to deliver positive outcomes for low-income families, whilst acknowledging that there are often additional barriers and challenges which groups may face, including experiences unique to women. As part of our 2023-24 Tackling Child Poverty Progress Report, we published a focus report on other marginalised groups at risk of poverty in recognition of the complex nature of poverty and the intersectionality of poverty and other circumstances. This builds on our evidence base on the groups most at risk of poverty, and ensures we recognise the other characteristics and issues which intersect to place people and groups at increased risk of poverty, all of which come together to shape our understanding of unique individual experiences.

Actions in Eradicating Child Poverty

Eradicating child poverty is the top priority across all of government, with actions covering a range of policy areas. Each of our annual Tackling Child Poverty Progress Reports are organised by thematic area, with a focus on the impact of actions taken over each reporting period across:

• Supporting parents to increase their earned incomes
• Transforming our economy
• Improving access to, and the availability of, childcare
• Enhancing access to, and the affordability of, public transport
• Person-centred support
• Enhanced support through Social Security
• Ensuring access to warm, affordable homes
• Maximising income
• Place-based transformation.

Within each of these areas, there are a range of actions being taken which contribute to tackling the inequality faced by women. These include:

• Employability – Women are impacted by working patterns and the affordability and availability of childcare. Parental leave policies still assume women to take the main carer role for children which can result in reducing working hours when returning to the workplace. We are supporting parents to take up employment and progress within the labour market through our No One Left Behind approach. Specific focus is placed on the priority family groups through our employability system, and recognition is given to the significant barriers to entry which some people may face, including women, disabled people and people from minority ethnic communities, demonstrating the intersectional approach taken. Women account for 70% of participants who access the Parental Employability Support delivered as part of the No One Left Behind approach.
• Economy – The gender pay gap and in-work poverty persist. Women are more likely to be in temporary work and on zero-hour contracts in Scotland, whilst also carrying out unpaid work including caring responsibilities. We are taking steps to build a labour market that provides good and sustainable jobs that are accessible to all, as well as offering the wages, hours and conditions needed to allow parents to support their families, including women and other groups who are impacted by workplace inequality. We have continued to take steps to improve pay and promote fair work practices. Scotland has a narrower median and mean gender pay gap and proportionately more women earning the Real Living Wage or more than the UK. In 2024, the estimated median gender pay gap for full-time employees was 2.2% in Scotland and 7.0% in the UK. Across all employees in 2024 (those working both full-time and part-time), the estimated gender pay gap was 9.2% in Scotland and 13.1% in the UK.
• Care workers – The majority of adult and children’s social care workers are women. Since 2016 and 2024 respectively, the Scottish Government has provided funding to enable adult and children’s social care workers in commissioned services to be paid at least the Real Living Wage. In the 2025-26 financial year alone, we are investing £155 million to increase the pay of eligible care workers from £12 per hour to the new Real Living Wage of £12.60 per hour. This policy overwhelmingly benefits women. Women account for 79% of the adult social care workforce, 70% of the residential childcare workforce, which includes Secure Care, Care Homes for children and young people and Residential Special Schools, and 76% of the workforce providing support services for children with disabilities and Housing Support services for care leavers. We have also provided an additional £16 million to local authorities in 2024-25 to enable childcare workers delivering funded early learning and childcare in private and third sector services to be paid at least £12 an hour from April 2024. This is an increase of £2,000 a year for full-time staff in a workforce which is 96% women.
• Childcare – As detailed earlier in the statement, childcare availability and affordability can have a negative impact on household income, especially for those with caring responsibilities, which research shows are most likely to be women. We are continuing to invest around £1 billion in the delivery of 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare for all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds, providing access to high quality, accessible and affordable childcare, supporting equal employment opportunities for women and men and supporting those with caring responsibilities. Our approach to childcare also includes a commitment to work collaboratively with families, including listening to the voices of women and marginalised groups to ensure our offer meets their individual needs.
• Transport – Women are less likely to have access to private transport and are more dependent on public transport, with part time work meaning women may require to travel outside of peak times. We have continued investment to make our transport system available, affordable and accessible for all, including by providing access to free bus travel for 2.3 million people in Scotland, including all children and young people under 22, disabled people and everyone aged 60 and over.
• Person-centred support – Women consistently experience a greater burden of mental health issues than men. We have continued investment in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, ensuring that the Fund’s guidance highlights the importance of considering the six priority families, which feature women strongly.
• Social Security – Women are twice as dependent on social security and have been disproportionately affected by cuts to social security since 2010. Our Scottish Child Payment currently provides £26.70 per eligible child per week and is forecast to benefit the families of over 330,000 children in 2025-26. Our five family payments, including the Scottish Child Payment, could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns six and around £25,000 by the time an eligible child turns 16. The interim evaluation of Scottish Child Payment, published in July 2022, found that this payment has led to more money being spent on children, including for essentials like food, family day trips, and medical items for families with disabled children. The payment has also helped people avoid debts, with some feeling they would be forced to use foodbanks without the benefit.
• Unpaid Carers – Women account for a significant majority of unpaid carers in Scotland. Data from the Scottish Government’s Carers Census shows that around three-quarters of carers in the 2023-24 census (73%) were female. This increased to 80% of working age carers. In the 2025-26 financial year, the Scottish Government is investing £522 million to deliver three benefits to support unpaid carers: Carer Support Payment, which is replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland, Carer’s Allowance Supplement, and Young Carer Grant. Carer’s Allowance Supplement and Young Carer Grant are only available in Scotland. Our investment this financial year is £100 million more than the Scottish Government receives from the UK Government for carer benefits.
• Housing – Women are more likely to depend on social housing and spend longer periods in temporary accommodation, particularly if they have children. We have targeted funding and support to local authorities with sustained temporary accommodation pressures to increase the supply of social and affordable homes, including larger properties suitable for families.
• Maximising income – There are proportionally higher costs for lone parent households, primarily headed by women, to support children. We are continuing to invest in the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice, supporting people to understand their rights and entitlements and helping to reduce poverty. Our Advice in Accessible Settings Fund is supporting partnership working between agencies and services, delivering holistic advice services to families including lone parents, minority ethnic families and families with disabled children.
• Place-based transformation – Women are impacted by a range of issues, including those referenced above such as housing, higher costs, and in-work poverty and the gender pay gap. We are enabling local authorities to test and improve how they deliver services to promote family wellbeing, maximise incomes and support people towards sustained employment through our Fairer Futures Partnerships. Through these, service providers operate as a network to help people access support easily from a range of organisations.

Next steps

We continue to recognise the intersectionality between child poverty and women’s poverty and will use our next Tackling Child Poverty progress report, which is due to be published in June 2025, to further demonstrate these tangible links. As part of this we are working to produce a focus report deep dive into gender which will allow us to improve our understanding of the link between gender and poverty. In this we will review evaluations from policies detailed in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ to assess whether they are designed and reviewed with a gender lens in mind.

Further, as we look ahead to the next Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31, we are committed to working with and hearing from gender equality organisations to inform the development of the Plan and its actions. Engagement is ongoing throughout 2025 with the Plan to publish by the end of March 2026, setting out the actions we will take as a Government between 2026 and 2031 towards eradicating child poverty and meeting the final child poverty targets set for 2030.

Women in a Growing Economy

The 2024-25 Programme for Government is clear that boosting fair, green economic growth is central to the Scottish Government’s four interconnected priorities. It acknowledges that children’s poverty is parents’ poverty and recognises the impact of caring responsibilities on women. It includes measures to foster an inclusive and productive workforce by removing barriers to employment, and to tackle challenges such as economic inactivity and skills shortages, including by improving access to health services. These measures are intended to sit alongside other work across government, for example in relation to childcare.

Building on this, the 2025 Programme for Government sets out further actions to help people remain in work and strengthen pathways into sustainable employment for those furthest from the labour market. We will also invest up to £6 million to implement the Pathways report and enable more women to start and scale businesses. In addition, to help address the gender export gap we will support women-led businesses to export more, including by increasing the number of women who participate in international trade missions.

We have also committed to funding pilot projects that will develop actions employers can take to implement inclusive recruitment practices – including flexible working, support for disabled employees, and supporting people at risk of economic inactivity.

Our Wellbeing Economy Monitor tracks broader economic outcomes beyond GDP on issues such as health, equality, Fair Work and the environment. The National Strategy for Economic Transformation’s (NSET) ‘Measures of Success’ include the gender pay gap, employment income, contractually secure work, and new company incorporations by women. We aim to improve labour market outcomes for groups who experience the most disadvantage and inequality, especially disabled people, women, and people from minority ethnic communities, including where these characteristics intersect.

Fair Work

We continue to use fair work to drive success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society. Fair Work is vital in tackling the cost of living crisis, in-work poverty and child poverty, all of which disproportionally impact women, many of whom face intersecting structural barriers to accessing, sustaining and progressing in work. Fair Work supports positive outcomes in all parts of society. That is why it was central in our second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’, and our fourth National Planning Framework.

Fair Work First is the Scottish Government’s main lever, in the absence of legislative powers over employment and industrial relations, for promoting Fair Work practices in Scotland. Employers in receipt of public sector grants, contracts and other funding are asked to adopt Fair Work First criteria. Following the implementation of the more stringent Fair Work First grant conditionality in July 2023, requiring public sector grant recipients to pay their workers at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective voice, Fair Work First has been applied to over £2.6bn worth of public sector grants between July 2023 and March 2024.

Our Fair Work First criteria is:

• Provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice, such as trade union recognition
• Payment of at least the real Living Wage (rLW)
• Investment in workforce development
• Address workplace inequalities, including pay and employment gaps for disabled people, racialised minorities, women and workers aged over 50
• No inappropriate use of zero hours contracts
• Offer of flexible and family friendly working for all workers from day one of employment
• Oppose the use of fire and rehire practice

Our Fair Work First Guidance provides good practice examples and encourages employers to align workplace policies with Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls.

In 2024, Scotland remained the best performing UK country for the share of employees paid the rLW or more at 88.6% for all employees (18+). However, in Scotland, the estimated proportion of women (employees aged 18+) earning the rLW or above was 87.3% compared to 90.04% of men, and 59.8% of those earning below the rLW were women, according to our annual survey of hours and earnings. More needs to be done and we want to use Fair Work conditionality to uplift more workers to the rLW, helping to narrow pay gaps.

Payment of at least the rLW could relieve the disproportionate financial pressures experienced by single-parent households, households with a disabled member and households with a baby, and reduce poverty, particularly child poverty across rural and island communities. Security is largely linked to having a consistent income and there could be particular benefit to those over-represented in zero-hours contracts and low-paid insecure work, including women and minority ethnic women. (For more information, see our Equality Impact Assessment).

The Fair Work Action Plan brings together our original Fair Work, Gender Pay Gap and Disabled People’s Employment action plans, along with our Anti-Racist Employment Strategy. It takes an intersectional approach where possible, focusing on the structural barriers and issues faced by disadvantaged groups in Scotland’s labour market, specifically women, racialised minorities, disabled people and the over 50s workforce.

We have committed to working with employers and trade unions in sectors where low pay and precarious work is most prevalent to promote Fair Work sectoral agreements and collective bargaining to achieve higher standards of pay, better security of work, and greater union representation. This action is expected to benefit women in particular, given their over-representation in sectors with historically low pay and work insecurity. Existing commitments to encourage and progress sectoral agreements are being pursued in a number of sectors including construction, retail, social care, childcare and hospitality.

Employability

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government’s shared approach to delivering an all-age, place-based, person-centred model of employability support in Scotland. Scottish and Local Government work with public, private and third sector organisations to design and deliver services that meet the needs of people and labour markets locally. Participation is voluntary, with no maximum period of support and value placed on wider progression and outcomes other than job starts. We made up to £103 million available for the delivery of employability services in 2023-2024, including specific funding to support more parents to enter employment and increase their earnings as part of our plans to tackle child poverty.

We aim to build an employability system that tackles labour market inequality by creating a more responsive, joined up and aligned employability system. We recognise that people face significant challenges and barriers to obtaining and sustaining work, including women, disabled people, parents and people from minority ethnic communities. Research by One Parent Families Scotland highlighted the challenges single parents face and noted a consistent undervaluation of unpaid care and women’s work more generally. The majority of unpaid carers and single parents are women, suggesting that an intersectional and gendered lens must inform Scotland’s employability framework.

Entrepreneurship

We want to establish Scotland as a world-class entrepreneurial nation that encourages and promotes entrepreneurial activity. By targeting priority groups, including women, and offering additional support, we aim to address inequality around entrepreneurship. The Ana Stewart Review, Pathways: A new approach for Women in Entrepreneurship, informs the design and delivery of our policies.

Our immediate priorities are to:

• Establish a capacity building fund to support and evaluate partner-led projects supporting the key Pathways themes of access to support, access to finance and investment and education;
• Work with our enterprise agencies, the Scottish National Investment Bank, and private sector investors to open up investment avenues for women-led businesses, and for other under-invested groups;
• Work with partners to enhance entrepreneurial learning in schools; and
• Work with delivery and academic partners to improve our collection and reporting of data, developing a dashboard of measures around how our actions are closing the gender gap and widening participation in entrepreneurship.

Techscaler Network

Techscaler is the Scottish Government’s platform to help people launch and scale tech startups, run by startup ecosystem builder CodeBase. There are 11 physical hubs across seven regions, and an online community open to all. Delivered through community activity, entrepreneurial education programmes and mentoring, Techscaler focuses on addressing barriers faced by under-represented groups, including women. The first Techscaler Annual Report, published in March 2024, shows that the programme supported over 500 startups in its first year. 36% of Techscaler Founder applicants were female and 36.3% were non-White European. The Techscaler performance indicators include measuring progress in achieving diversity and inclusion outcomes.

Techscaler partnered with AccelerateHER, an organisation supporting female founders. Through this collaboration, they have developed tailored support initiatives, including regular Tech Clinics, Hackathon events, an online community space and regular Scotland-wide meetups. Techscaler hubs hosted events focused on connecting women founders with investment, including events with Female Founders Rise, Mint Ventures and Investing Women Angels. In Stirling, the Techscaler team co-hosted an event with Netwomen celebrating Black Female Founders as part of Black History Month. Techscaler uses hybrid delivery methods for workshops targeting women, with baby-room facilities provided.

Women and the Climate Emergency

The Scottish Government recognises that different aspects of the net zero transition will have particular implications for women and girls. As part of our commitment to a just transition for all, we are taking significant action to understand and assess the different impacts, across the full range of transition policy.

Engagement

We have undertaken a significant programme of engagement and participation to inform the development of our Just Transition Plans. Phase 1 of this programme, carried out in March 2023, involved a series of online workshops designed to explore the aims and vision for the Plans. Participants included representatives from organisations such as Engender, Equate and the Scottish Women’s Budget Group. These workshops highlighted a number of considerations in relation to gender equality and net zero, from potential opportunities from the growth of green jobs, to particular socio-economic implications of transition policies.

Following the publication of our Just Transition discussion papers in summer 2023, the Scottish Government undertook further engagement with communities across the country, as well as the public sector, businesses, workers and trade unions. In total, our Climate Change Participation Programme engaged with over 2,000 people in 2023/24. In order to reach people who might not have been involved in these kinds of climate discussions before, we partnered with representative organisations that had well-established and trusted relationships with groups who have particularly relevant lived experience, such as people from lower income households and single parent families, the majority of which are headed by women.

We are taking action to gain a clearer understanding of public attitudes towards a just transition and climate change, including the attitudes of women and girls specifically. For example, since 2022, the Scottish Government has allocated £886,000 from our Just Transition Fund to the North East Scotland Climate Action Network’s (NESCAN) Just Transition Communities project, a flagship deliberative democracy and just transition capacity building and research programme. The programme spans the North East region and engages local communities in exploring what a Just Transition means for them. It has delivered a number of engagement activities with a focus on women and girls, including a workshop co-delivered by Aberdeen Ethnic Minorities Women’s Group CIC, an event with Girl Guides in Turiff, and an event run by Go Deep Scotland which focused on young people and adults from diverse multicultural backgrounds, including women and girls.

In 2024, the Scottish Government launched the Scottish Climate Survey, which is designed to generate reliable estimates of Scottish adults’ awareness and understanding of climate change-related issues. The survey results will include demographic breakdowns, including by sex and, in doing so, provide a basis for more meaningful engagement with women. The first wave of the survey was published in April 2025, and we will repeat the survey regularly to monitor changes in public attitudes and behaviour.

Economic Opportunity

We recognise that the move to net zero provides an opportunity to address labour market inequality, and promote greater gender balance in key transition sectors. Research suggests that ‘green jobs’ in Scotland attract higher salaries than ‘non-green jobs’, and that women are currently underrepresented in these roles. Supporting more women into these jobs will help reduce the gender pay gap.

The Scottish Government believes that progress in addressing this challenge, and ensuring that women can share equally in the opportunities of net zero, is vital to delivering a just transition. In our energy sector, it is estimated that just 25% of people (aged 16+) in employment are women. Key actions we are taking to address this disparity, in the energy sector and other transition sectors, include:

• Ongoing implementation of our national strategy to improve the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in schools, colleges and universities, with a particular focus on encouraging more women and girls to pursue STEM subjects.
• Encouraging further measures from industry to address the underrepresentation of women in key sectors. This is a key proposal of our draft Just Transition Plan for Transport.
• Enabling actions to support more women into work, such as our early learning and childcare policies, and our support for workplace equality
• Putting equality at the heart of our reform of Scotland’s post-school education and skills system. We are exploring improvements in every aspect of the skills pipeline, from careers guidance, to apprenticeships, to the funding landscape.

Transport Transition

In February 2025, the Scottish Government published a draft Just Transition Plan for Transport, which sets out our determination to transform our transport system in a way that addresses, existing inequities. The draft Plan recognises that the transport transition has specific implications for women and girls. For example, it highlights the fact that women tend to use public transport, and make multi-purpose trips, more than men, in part because women are more likely to take children to school or provide other caring responsibilities. It also cites evidence that reliance on public transport is higher among minority ethnic women, and that car use is lower among disabled women.

In addition, the draft Plan outlines the action the Scottish Government and others are taking to address personal safety on public transport. Our engagement has underlined that perceptions and experiences of safety on public transport affects the mobility and travel choices of women and girls. The draft Plan seeks views on our approach to addressing types of problems, as our transport system decarbonises.

In developing the Just Transition Plan for Transport, one of our partners leading on consultation events as a ‘trusted messenger’ was the Scottish Women’s Budget Group (SWBG), since the net zero transition in the transport sector has particular implications for women and girls. The SWBG led on five events including one with disabled women (in partnership with the Glasgow Disability Alliance), and another with a mixed group including those on low incomes, and with migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Agriculture Transition

We intend to publishs our consultation on a Just Transition Plan for Land Use and Agriculture in summer 2025. Our approach to a Just Transition recognises that women have a vital role to play in shaping the future of all sectors, and that by supporting women’s skills, talents and ambitions, we can help build a stronger, fairer economy – one that’s resilient in the face of climate challenges and open to new opportunities.

To that end, we continue to invest in initiatives like Women in Agriculture Knowing Your Business and the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund. These programmes provide hands-on training and support to women and girls, particularly those who face barriers to opportunities. Whether it’s developing practical farming skills, improving business know-how, or building confidence in leadership, these programmes are about breaking down barriers and making sure women get the support they need to thrive. They also help reduce isolation and strengthen local networks, making rural communities more connected and resilient.

We know that women are early adopters of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. That’s why we are supporting women and girls aged 13 and over across Scotland through Women in Agriculture, empowering them, enhancing their skills, and helping them adopt climate change solutions in line with the Scottish Government’s Just Transition approach.

Looking ahead, we are developing Scotland’s first Gender Strategy for Agriculture, as part of our commitment to equality and a just transition. This strategy will give women a stronger voice in shaping the industry’s future, ensuring they have the opportunities and support to succeed. By putting equality at the heart of our agricultural policies, we’re not just supporting women – we’re building a more innovative, sustainable, and inclusive future for Scottish farming.

Women and Public Services

Women and men often have different needs when it comes to using public services, whether this is different usage patterns, different priorities or different experiences as services users. Women are often more likely to use public services. For example, in 2022/23, the rate of women receiving social care was over one and half times that of men (605.8 women compared to 389.4 men per 1,000 population), according to Public Health Scotland. The public sector is an important employer of women. In 2023, over 60% of people in employment in the public sector in Scotland were women, compared to 44% in the private sector. Quality public services must therefore be designed to work for all women, otherwise these services risk being ineffective or even causing additional harm and barriers. This section discusses some of the work we are doing in improve women’s experiences of healthcare, housing and public transport.

Health

We know that women face particular health inequality and disadvantages because they are women. Health outcomes for women are poorer than those for men, particularly in some vitally important areas such as heart health. For example, ischaemic heart disease is the single biggest killer of women in Scotland – before breast cancer – yet women are less likely than men to be prescribed medication to prevent a second heart attack.

Women are under-represented in health research and in clinical trials. This failure to gather data on disease and disease outcomes related specifically to women has, over many years, limited both our knowledge and the availability and efficacy of treatments for women. Endometriosis, for example, impacts one in ten women, making it as common as asthma and diabetes, and yet many women struggle for years to receive a diagnosis. At present there is no cure and it can be challenging for women to manage their symptoms using the treatments currently available.

Women consistently experience a greater burden of mental health issues than men. In 2021 the biggest difference was amongst 16-24 year olds where the percentage of female patients (20%) reporting a mental health condition was nearly twice as high as male patients (11%).

While women may have a longer life expectancy and healthy life expectancy than men, the proportion of their life that is spent in good health is notably and consistently lower than men’s. In Scotland, data from the Scottish Health Survey 2022 found that women are more likely than men to report living with a limiting long-term health condition (42% and 32% respectively).

More information about the evidence related to women’s health inequality can be found in our published research on ‘Women’s experiences of discrimination and the impact on health’.

Women’s Health Plan: Phase One

Women’s health is key priority for this government which is why Scotland was the first country in the UK to publish an ambitious Women’s Health Plan in August 2021. The Plan aims to address women’s health inequality by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care for women across their life course and reducing inequality in health outcomes for girls and women, both for sex-specific conditions and in women’s general health. The Plan sets out 66 actions across six priority areas: menopause, menstrual health, endometriosis, abortion, contraception (including postnatal contraception) and cardiac disease.

Our ambition is that healthcare for women will be holistic, inclusive, respectful, centred around the individual and responsive to their needs and choices. Women will be provided with consistent, reliable and accessible information, empowering them to make informed decisions about their health and healthcare.

Since its publication in 2021, the Women’s Health Plan has brought change for Scotland:

• We appointed Scotland’s first Women’s Health Champion, Professor Anna Glasier OBE.
• We improved access to consistent, reliable information for women and girls by launching our Women’s Health Platform on NHS Inform.
• We supported the development of the endometriosis care pathway for NHS Scotland which sets out a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.
• We improved women’s access to services by ensuring there is a specialist menopause service in every mainland health board and a ‘buddy’ support system in place for the Island health boards.
• We increased the choices that women have to access contraception at community pharmacies.
• We supported women in the workplace by establishing a menopause and menstrual health workplace policy for NHS Scotland.
• We mapped the data on women’s health in Scotland and published a ‘Review of the Data Landscape’ that sets out some of the routinely published data on women’s health currently available in Scotland and highlights key gaps.

Our Final Report on Phase One provides more detail, highlights other key achievements, and shines a light on the breadth of work from our partners across the health and social care sector, and beyond.

Women’s Health Plan: Phase Two

The first phase of the Women’s Health Plan has provided a solid foundation for us build upon, but we know there is a lot more to be done. We are now working on Phase Two. We are bringing together an evidence base and gathering views from our stakeholders with the intention of publishing Phase Two in 2025.

Phase Two will be an opportunity to build on progress as well as focusing our efforts where they are needed most. For example, we are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support, and to reducing time to diagnosis. We also want to see cervical cancer eliminated – and we believe that this is something that can be achieved in our lifetimes.

Significant data gaps remain regarding the health of women. For example, there is a lack of published data on menstrual health. This includes information on menarche (starting menstruation), painful and heavy periods, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), period poverty, menstrual migraines, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis. Data on both prevalence of these conditions and women’s experiences of these conditions is lacking. The Women’s Health Plan highlights the need to improve the data on women’s health. That is why we published the Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review in November 2024. Improving data on women’s health will continue to be a priority as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

But we don’t shy away from the reality that improving health outcomes for women and girls is also about cultural change – so that women don’t feel that they have to fight to be heard. Changing that culture is as important as developing services, and we are committed to seeing that through.

Free Period Products

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has invested over £53 million to make period products available free of charge in a range of settings, including schools, colleges and universities and public spaces. We have also worked with community groups to ensure that women on low incomes are able to access free period products. In 2021, the Scottish Parliament passed the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill 2021, enshrining access to free period products in law. The now Act places duties on local authorities and education providers to ensure that free period products can be obtained reasonably easily, and in a way that respects dignity. In January 2022, the social enterprise Hey Girls, launched the ‘PickUpMyPeriod’ mobile app with funding from the Scottish Government. The app helps women and girls to identify locations in Scotland where period products can be accessed for free. The Scottish Government has also funded the creation of the website myperiod.org.uk which provides advice, tools and training resources to help businesses become period friendly.

Housing

We recognise that women’s experiences of homelessness are very different to men’s experiences of homelessness. Therefore the response to their housing needs should also be different.

Domestic abuse is a leading cause of women’s homelessness in Scotland. Official annual homelessness statistics, published in September 2024, show that 23% of women seeking homelessness assistance cited the reason as due to ‘dispute within household: violent or abusive’. The main reason for men making a homelessness application was due to being ‘asked to leave’ which accounts for 28% of homelessness applications made by men.

Improving Housing Outcomes for Women and Children Experiencing Domestic Abuse in the Social Rented Sector

In 2020, the Scottish Government commissioned a working group, co-chaired by Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland, to look at the actions needed to prevent homelessness for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.

The Improving Housing Outcomes Report was published in December 2020. Scottish Government accepted all 27 recommendations in principle. In 2022, stakeholders agreed to focus on the implementation of part 2 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021, which creates a new ground for recovery of possession by a landlord where they consider a tenant may be experiencing abuse by a partner or ex-partner, and on the proposed duty on social landlords to have a domestic abuse housing policy in the Housing (Scotland) Bill.

Homelessness Prevention Duties

The Housing (Scotland) Bill, introduced to Parliament in March 2024, will introduce a new duty on social landlords to develop and publish a domestic abuse policy which outlines how they will support their tenants experiencing domestic abuse.

The policy objective is to prevent homelessness due to domestic abuse. By having a domestic abuse policy, social landlords will better understand and respond to people experiencing domestic abuse and support them with their housing needs. This duty will be underpinned by statutory guidance, which will be developed with partner organisations and include extensive stakeholder engagement in both the housing and VAWG sectors. It is intended that the guidance will also incorporate a number of the recommendations from the Improving Housing Outcomes report including the importance of gender analysis.

Provisions in the Bill will also ensure social landlords fully consider domestic abuse financial control. This will allow them to support individuals with financial arrears caused by domestic abuse in a specialised manner, before commencing legal action to recover possession of a property. This will help protect the rights of women and children experiencing domestic abuse financial control, living in social housing, to remain in their home, or be re-housed if that is their wish, and ensure arrears accrued because of domestic abuse are not a barrier to accessing social housing in the future.

The Bill also updates the definition of domestic abuse in housing legislation to bring it into line with what constitutes domestic abuse in the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021. The Bill is currently going through the parliamentary process. We will work in partnership with stakeholders to ensure the legislation is fit for purpose and that we have the right guidance, training and timescales for implementation to support the successful delivery of the duties.

Homelessness Data review

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a review of its homelessness and homelessness prevention data collections. The review aims to ensure collection content is up to date and fit for purpose, and flexible enough to respond to changing data needs. This includes reviewing the information collected on the reason for the homelessness application and how best to record cases of domestic abuse.

Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans (RRTPs)

All 32 local authorities in Scotland have developed and are implementing Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans (RRTPs). RRTPs aim to move people into settled, mainstream housing as quickly as possible, with time in temporary accommodation and transitions reduced to a minimum. As part of the annual monitoring of RRTP progress, local authorities are requested to submit an Equality Impact Assessment. This will help ensure the needs of women and girls are fully taken into account.

Local Housing Strategies

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to prepare a Local Housing Strategy that sets out their priorities and plans for the delivery of housing and related services.

Equality and consultation is central to the development of a Local Housing Strategy. All local authorities are required to consult widely with communities and prepare an Equality Impact Assessment to help inform local priorities and outcomes. Local authorities are encouraged to work with their local Violence Against Women and Girls Partnerships to help inform the development of a Local Housing Strategy to ensure that a gender sensitive approach, that recognises the dynamics of domestic abuse, is considered.

Refreshed Local Housing Strategy guidance will be published in spring 2025. It will continue focusing on ensuring that women and girls at risk of and experiencing violence, abuse and exploitation, receive joined up, effective mainstream and specialist service support.

Public Transport

Evidence shows that women use public transport more than men and that their use is shaped by intersecting factors, such as income, ethnicity and parental status. However, evidence also suggests that both female passengers and transport workers frequently feel less safe than their male counterparts.

We undertook a programme of research on women and girls’ safety on public transport. This included a large qualitative study with women and girls using public transport as well as transport workers. The research placed individuals with lived experience at the centre of engagement, ensuring that their voices are used to directly inform policy aimed at improving the safety of women and girls accessing and using public transport.

Participants came from diverse demographic backgrounds, including those:

• Living in both urban and rural areas of Scotland (including island communities);
• Women living with disabilities (both physical disabilities and learning disabilities);
• Women from minority ethnic communities;
• Women with caring responsibilities (including lone parents);
• Professional/employed women, unemployed women and students;
• Women living in both high and low income communities; and
• Female transport workers (from within both the rail and bus industry).

The results and recommendations from this research were published in March 2023. Age, ethnicity and disability were the three features of participants’ personal characteristics that intersected with gender to make them feel most vulnerable. Young women were most likely to report being victims of sexual harassment, disabled women were most likely to report general anti-social or intolerant behaviour from fellow passengers and women from minority ethnic communities were most likely to report extreme examples of verbal abuse (including both sexist and racist abuse).

The report contained 10 recommendations aimed at creating conditions in which women and girls both feel and are safer when using public transport. The recommendations referred to the need for staff training and better and clearer procedures for following up after incidents are reported and the need for improved sharing of best practice. The recommendations also highlighted the impact of the presence of drugs and alcohol on safety concerns. Transport Scotland is taking forward a range of actions informed by the research and officials are working closely with colleagues in Scotrail to promote a range of measures aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour.

In December 2023 the Cabinet Secretary for Transport attended a workshop to discuss the recommendations from the research. 40 stakeholders from over 30 organisations including British Transport Police, Unions, Transport Providers and youth and women’s organisations participated. The event took place as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence and produced co-designed principles intended to improve collaboration between key stakeholders. A summary report of the meeting was published in April 2024.