SWBG blog
Beyond Scotland: what does childcare look like elsewhere?
Over the past year, the Scottish Women’s Budget Group has been exploring different aspects of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)-(2)-220.png)
policy in Scotland: from affordability to flexibility (or lack thereof) of services, to the economic impact of investing in childcare (both in the short and long term). While these webinars have touched on some international examples of best practice, the last event of the series sought to address a question left untouched: what does childcare look like elsewhere? The webinar heard from speakers from Canada, France and Estonia.
Reflecting on the Scottish Draft Budget 2025-2026
While it’ll take some time to go through all the budget documentation, including equality impact assessments, and delve into the detail of the Equality and Fairer Scotland Statement, our first take on the budget is that it offers glimmers of hope for women who are feeling the crunch of years of rising prices. Yet more still needs to be done to invest in care and raise further revenue to support public services.
Responding to news of the delay of stage 2 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill
The delay announced by the Minister for Social Care may not come as a surprise to anyone. The process for developing the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill has lost sight of the vision shared by those who use care services and carers in the development of the Independent Review on Adult Social Care.
Edinburgh Integration Joint Board Grants Programme
Heather Williams, Training Lead at the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, discusses the latest proposals made by Edinburgh Integration Joint Board on their Grants Programme
Reflections on the UK Budget
Our Coordinator, Sara Cowan, shares her thoughts on the UK Autumn Statement
Reflecting on Challenge Poverty Week 2024
Our Policy and Engagement Lead, Carmen Martinez, reflects on this year’s Challenge Poverty Week. -180.png)
Is investing in childcare worth it? A summary
The Scottish Women’s Budget Group (SWBG) is hosting a series of events focusing on the need and rationales for further investment in childcare. Our first two events examined issues of affordability and lack of flexibility in childcare provision in Scotland. The third webinar in this series, “Is investing in childcare worth it?”, delved into how investing in childcare is crucial to supporting the creation of a more inclusive and prosperous economy, as well as child development.
News! Fa'side Women and Girls Group Award Winning Work
-crop-1718808338-220.jpeg)
Fa'side Women and Girls Group has been recognised for its inter-generational approach to its cost-of-living project jointly delivered with Making Rights Real and The Scottish Women's Budget Group.
Women’s Work: The Juggling Act of Multiple Jobs
Guest blog by Louise Lawson, Lecturer in Public Policy and Health Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow
Recognising the needs of parents of multiples in the upcoming Programme for Government
Joint blog by Carmen Martinez, SWBG's Coordinator, and Carole Erskine, Head of Policy & Campaigns at Pregnant then Screwed Scotland.
Flexible childcare, an ideal or a necessity? A summary
The Scottish Women’s Budget Group (SWBG) is hosting a series of events focusing on the need to further invest in childcare in Scotland. To mark International Women’s Day, we delivered the second webinar of this series, Flexible childcare, an ideal or a necessity?
Empowering Voices: Why Disabled Women Matter in the Scottish Budget
Guest blog based on Jennifer Way-Ogunsola's reflections on our Women's Economic Empowerment Project. Jennifer is a policy analyst and Masters Student at the Wise Centre for Economic Justice.
Equalities, women and cuts to public services
Our Coordinator, Carmen Martinez, reflects on the way in which Aberdeenshire Council justified its decision to close their out-of-school-hours care service and the language used by the Glasgow HSCP in their EQIA Budget Report, and questions whether these are examples of a broader trend.
Women and active travel: lessons from our work with Sustrans
Our Training Lead, Heather Williams, discusses why the work we did with Sustrans is key to reducing inequalities in active travel.
Women's Survey 2024 Launch
On Friday 1st March we launched our Women's Survey 2024!
The cost of funding tax giveaways. Reflections ahead of the UK Spring Budget 2024
Blog by Heather Williams, SWBG Training Lead
What’s wrong with childcare in Scotland? A summary
The Scottish Women’s Budget Group (SWBG) is hosting a series of events focusing on the need to further invest in childcare in Scotland. Last month, we hosted the first webinar, ‘What’s wrong with childcare In Scotland? Perspectives ahead of the Scottish Budget 2024/2025’.
Reaction to the Scottish Budget 2024/2025: Cuts to the Housing Portfolio
Our Engagement and Public Affairs Officer, Yve Barry, reflects on the recent cuts in the Scottish Budget 2024/25 Housing Portfolio and their gendered implications for women across the country.
Reaction to the Scottish Budget 2024/2025
On Tuesday 19th December, the Deputy First Minister (DFM), Shona Robinson, published the Scottish Budget 2024/2025. As stated in our pre-budget briefing, we knew that this budget was coming at a time of increased pressure on public finances due to an estimated funding gap of over £1billion for the next financial year (Fraser of Allander, 2023). The Autumn Statement did not help ease budgetary pressures. Consequently, the Scottish Government had to make tough decisions to balance the books. What are these decisions and what do they mean for women and gender equality in Scotland?
Invest to prevent VAWG
Blog by Robyn Moffat-Wall, Training and Engagement Officer at Financially Included & Heather Williams, SWBG's Training Lead about women's experiences of public sector debt.
RSSMailing list
To join our email list, simply enter your email address below.
