SWBG blog

SWBG Women's Survey results are in

Blog by Heather Williams, SWBG Training Lead

Earlier this year we conducted a survey of women in Scotland to find out more about their local public spending priorities, impact of the cost of living crisis and experiences of child and social care.

We heard from women in every local authority area in Scotland. 425 women responded to the survey with a range of life experiences.

Women told us that they didn’t think local authorities were taking women’s different needs into account when they made decisions, how cuts in services had impacted on them, that the cost of living crisis (even ahead of the energy increase in April) was worrying many and impacting on their spending decisions, and that caring responsibilities was impacting on their physical and emotional health as well as on their finances.

Read a detailed breakdown of the survey results.

Local Authority Priorities

Ahead of the recent local authority elections we asked women to rank what they thought should be the top 3 priorities of local authorities. They told us that addressing poverty, particularly in relation to the cost of living crisis many are experiencing, was the key area they felt local authorities should be focussing on. Followed by addressing the impact of the pandemic through improving responses to children’s mental health and wellbeing and adult social care.

Women from across Scotland told us that the changes made to service provision as a result of Covid was still negatively impacting on them and those they care for and it was important to get service’s operating again.

‘After school care is yet to return to pre-lockdown levels - I lost my job as I couldn’t manage childcare and working full time. Current employers are more understanding but my post has become temporary until I can commit to being able to work 9-5 five days a week by end of the year, which I cannot as still don’t have after school care available or breakfast club from 8’

‘Social care remains in complete meltdown due to previous disinvestment and the impact of the pandemic. As a result, I have no idea what would happen to my profoundly disabled husband if I get sick…. or worse. No one can answer this question. It’s a heavy worry which keeps me awake at night, it has been part of the reason we’ve remained tied to our home during this never-ending crisis.’

Cost of Living Crisis

Our survey was undertaken ahead of the energy price rise in April yet 32% of those who completed the question on increasing prices told us they were already struggling to afford energy costs. 45% told us they were having to make changes to other household spending to afford energy prices. Respondents told us they were switching heating off, or only having it on for a limited period to manage costs.

‘Living in an all-electric house, it's hard to achieve any level of cosiness however much you spend. My monthly DD has gone up from £45 to £73 pcm in one fell swoop and I'm dreading the price rise due in April. KWs produced by oil or gas radiators are far more efficient at heating. So it's not worth paying the extortionate prices; when I'm home, I wear multiple layers (including a hat), wrap myself in wraps and throws and have a hot water bottle. I heat the bathroom when I have a shower and put the heating on in the living room for a couple of hours in the evening.’

22% were struggling to manage food costs and almost 43% were having to make changes to other household spending to afford food costs. Respondents told us they were changing where they shop, buying cheaper brands or cutting back on buying certain goods.

‘The cost of food has gone up dramatically that I’m having to make a budget and I have cut down on what I thought were basics like cheese because the price has gone up dramatically.’

‘I had to leave the supermarket check-out leaving the shopping behind me or put few items away to afford the shopping, very embarrassing.’

Those who live in rural areas or those who have a disability told us that their ability to make savings was limited due to the additional costs associated with where they stayed or their disability.

‘Energy costs have increased during the winter months - meaning I have to choose between turning the heating on to keep my baby warm or being able to afford proper food for my baby. Transport costs are making it difficult to get into work on time, especially as local public transport is often late or cancelled.’

‘The diet has changed, my daughter has allergies and only certain foods can be bought - which are priced high! As a minority ethnic woman I have to travel into the city to buy certain food supplies - the cost of travel and food are felt much harder now so I try and forgo items. Life should not be about sacrifices all the time.’

‘I have a disability which is made worse by cold temperatures. I am fearful about turning my heating on at the moment in case I get a frightening bill. It is preventing me from being able to manage larger payments for repairs in my house.’

Women went on to tell us more about their experiences of child care and social care. We’ll share more on these experiences in this short series of blogs.

Read the full breakdown of the survey results.

The survey was undertaken between 9^th February and 10^th March 2022, 425 women from across Scotland responded.

5 principles to drive local action for a gender equal economy

Today we are launching our pre-local election report, Local Spending and Women’s Equality.

Our short paper sets our 5 principles for prospective Councillors to deliver against to help build a gender equal economy.

Councils elected in 2022 have a triple set of challenges to contend with. The cost of living crisis which is rapidly impacting people’s lives, Covid-19 pandemic recovery which impacted many Council run services and the need for practical action on climate change.

To deal with the multiple challenges we’ve set out 5 principles which aim to guide responses that will build in equality:

• Hardwire gender analysis into decision making
• Recognise the gendered nature of poverty
• Build local communities that put care and wellbeing at the centre
• Embrace participation and hear from a diverse range of women
• Understand the role of revenue raising in tackling inequality

With energy prices soaring, managing to get by as the cost of living outstrips wages and social security is a key concern. SWBG conducted a survey between February and March 2022 in which 425 women participated.

The survey demonstrated that the rising cost of living was already having an impact and women are having to make difficult decisions on heating, eating, transport and more. 32% of those who responded said they were unable to manage energy costs before the latest increase on 1 April, and concern about future rises in energy bills was already impacting on people’s household spending.

My husband is disabled, and has been shielding. Our heating costs are higher because he is largely confined to the house, and we will have to cut back on other day to day spend to manage this.

I have no savings left, no chance to find a better paid job due to my caring role. As people go back to the office, this further reduces the jobs open to me due to the continued high prevalence of Covid which restricts our lives.

Energy costs and transport are our highest expenditure after mortgage payments, and these two items take up 80% of my take-home pay. We have very little left to cover food and we are unable to spend on 'fun' activities, holidays etc as a consequence. I am very aware that this is limiting my children's childhood experiences.

Councillors elected in May will have a challenging job to support local communities through these difficult times. Working to build equality into the system in the face of these challenges is a first step building fair communities that work for everyone.

Read the full paper.

If you would like an accessible copy of the paper please contact us on info@swbg.org.uk

Responding to the Spring Statement

Blog by Heather Williams, SWBG Training Lead

When the Chancellor Rishi Sunak made his Spring Statement on Wednesday (23/3/22) he provided little relief for the many people already struggling with rising prices and low incomes.

According to the Women’s Budget Group analysis of the spring statement this year’s Spring Statement took place against the background of a rapidly growing cost of living crisis which will have severe consequences to people’s incomes. With the cost of essentials like food and energy going up, and to public services and public sector pay, as departmental cash settlements were agreed back in the autumn when inflation forecasts were expected to be half of today’s rates.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is forecasting that inflation will reach a high of 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022 and will average 7.4% in the 2022/23 financial year - its highest rate for 40 years. This is nearly double the inflation forecast in October 2021.

SWBG carried out a women’s survey over February and March this year which highlights some of the ‘hard choices’ women are already making. For 32% of women who recently told us that they struggled to pay their energy costs and were already making the choice to switch off their heating this Spring Statement is unlikely to allay their fears about their ability to heat their homes or cope with the forthcoming energy price rise. For women with an income of under £10,000 this Statement leaves them with even less room to manoeuvre, our survey showed that 75% (of those who responded with an income of less than £10000) were struggling to manage energy costs and 58% had difficulty affording food.

Our survey of women across Scotland showed that a substantial number of those who took part were already struggling to afford rising costs. As such were switching off heating and missing meals or were having to make decisions to cut back on other spending to afford essentials such as food, energy, housing and public transport costs.

Women also told us about how they were cutting back on spending on winter clothes, leisure activities and home improvements to manage everyday costs as budgets are squeezed.

‘I have a disability which is made worse by cold temperatures. I am fearful about turning my heating on at the moment in case I get a frightening bill. It is preventing me from being able to manage larger payments for repairs in my house.’

‘Due to anxieties around energy costs, I've cut back on spending on winter clothing and shoes’

The Chancellor’s actions benefit the richest more than the poorest and will disproportionately benefit better off men, it leaves women yet again hardest hit.

Notes

The SWBG conducted an online survey between 9^th February and 14^th March 2022, 425 women from across Scotland completed the survey.

8 Priorities for a Feminist Economy in 2022

Blog post by Katie Gallogly-Swan, SWBG Convener, and Sara Cowan, SWBG Coordinator

The COVID-19 crisis has compounded the existing inequalities across the world, likely leading to the biggest regression in gender equality in our lifetimes. Scotland is no exception: because of an economy hardwired to marginalise women, where women are poorer, in more precarious work and undertake the majority of underpaid and unpaid care work, our ambitions for a more equal society have taken a massive blow. If we want to tackle these setups and indeed surpass past progress, efforts to address the widening gap between genders must be redoubled.

In 2022, we will see the roll out of the increased Scottish Child Payment, an increase in the minimum wage floor for social care staff, and free bus travel for those under 22; all efforts that – if designed with the help of gender budgeting tools and methods – can make a huge difference for Scotland’s women and marginalised communities. In this blog, we highlight eight of our priorities for 2022 to tackle the injustices from the pandemic and get us on the road to a feminist recovery.

1. A revolution for the care economy

2022 will see the Scottish Government progress the next steps in the National Care Service. This has the opportunity to transform how care is delivered in Scotland but only if it is properly invested in with secure and well-paid staff, is delivered with a human rights-based approach, responds to local needs, provides universal access to quality services, and puts gender analysis at the centre of the decision-making process. Designing a feminist NCS will take significant investment and political will, but the gains for all of Scotland’s people and particularly for women will be life-changing. While work on the NCS continues, existing care services need further investment to best deliver for care workers, service-users and their families.

2. Rallying women to engage in decision-making

Over the course of the year we’ll be looking to provide opportunities for women to raise their voices as part of the political process at local and national levels. The local elections in May are likely to follow previous trends with low participation compared to national elections, despite the fact that decisions made at local level are crucially important to the public services that are delivered in our communities. It is encouraging to see early efforts to engage diverse candidates considering the under-representation of women, minorities and people with disabilities in our existing councillor cohort. At the national level, the Scottish Government will be undertaking a series of important consultations throughout 2022 on issues critical to a feminist recovery, and ensuring engagement from diverse women will be critical to their success.

3. Transformative investment in public services

The Resource Spending Review will be published in May 2022, setting a multi-year spending direction across services that we interact with every day. Well-funded services are a critical part of a feminist economy, and should be designed to be ‘gender-transformative’, leveraging further equity for all women. Despite talk of fiscal tightening to manage the pandemic stimulus bill, we know that it was the former cuts to services that undermined our resilience when the pandemic shock hit. Ahead of the publication there is an open consultation that we will be responding to and we’d like to hear from you: sign up our series of events that will inform our response and our asks ahead of the Local Elections, take part in our women’s survey launching in February and get in touch if there are particular issues you think SWBG should be covering.

4. Hardwiring equality into our society

The Scottish Government is also consulting on how the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland at the start of this year (until 7 March). The duties have been in place for 10 years this year and they provide a legislative underpinning that requires the public sector to embed and promote equality throughout their processes. If you have experience of the Public Sector Equality Duty or working with Equality Impact Assessments we’d love to hear from you to support our response, email Heather to get involved.

5. Getting Scotland on the road to a feminist recovery

Later in the year we expect a consultation on the National Performance Framework. This framework sets the tone for what is valued within our society and economy and throughout 2021 we joined calls with others for the addition of a national outcome on care. This culminated with the publication of a blueprint of what such an outcome could look like and we will continue to work with partners at Oxfam Scotland, One Parent Family Scotland, Carers Scotland and Scottish Care to highlight the importance of including care within these important measures.

6. Gender budgeting at every level of government

Throughout the year we’ll be working with local authorities and women’s groups to build capacity on using gender budgeting at a local level. There’s lots of ways women across Scotland can get involved from attending our training workshops, joining our team of mentors, participating and sharing our Women and the Economy survey due out in February, and joining our deep dive sessions running through February and March.

7. An anti-austerity fiscal framework

The Scottish Fiscal Framework –detailing how to operationalise the fiscal powers recommended for devolution by the 2014 Smith Commission – is due for review with the UK Government in 2022. This is an opportunity to consider how our existing fiscal framework can better deliver for our social and policy ambitions, especially considering the investment needs of recovery and climate action which far outstrip existing trends. A new suite of tax levers and borrowing powers could put the Scottish Government in a better position to tackle inequality and manage economic shocks in the coming years.

8. A Feminist Just Transition

The Just Transition Commission reconvened in early 2022 with the objective to scrutinise government plans and propose policy directives to manage the rapid decarbonisation required to meet Scotland’s climate commitments. With a SWBG appointee on the Commission this year, we want to elevate the importance of an intersectional approach to Scotland’s just transition, using the opportunity of decarbonisation to tackle the diverse inequities in Scottish society. This includes ensuring representation of women across emerging renewable sectors, but also investing in social infrastructure such as care, health and education as critical low-carbon sectors where women are disproportionately represented and underpaid. Care jobs are green jobs, and the success of Scotland’s transition will depend on understanding this task beyond the energy sector to include a systemic and society-wide transformation.

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