SWBG blog

Women's Survey 2024 Launch

On Friday 1st March we launched our Women's Survey 2024! 

Our 2024 Women’s Survey is once again looking to capture women in Scotland's experiences of how they are managing the cost-of-the living crisis and the impact this is having on them and their families. While headline inflation figures have reduced during 2023 and into 2024, prices are still higher than they have ever been, and households' disposable income is lower now than in 2019. [1]  

Our previous surveys have shown that women are often the shock of absorbers of poverty for their households skipping meals, not replacing clothes or shoes for themselves or skipping haircuts etc. to try and protect other family members from the impact of increasing costs. 

‘Sometimes my meals are very different from everyone else’s’ [2] 

The tactics women are using to manage their household budgets have been one of reducing spending on non-essentials to afford items like food and heat. Yet, our surveys have shown that for many this hasn’t been enough, and that single parents and disabled households often must make the decision between heating and eating. 

With the UK having tipped into technical recession as a result of household incomes declining, as part of this year's survey we have added some additional questions around debt and savings. From previous surveys we know that women have been using savings or credit cards to manage regular monthly expenditure and that they are worried about the impact this will have on their retirement. This year, we want to explore the potential longer-term consequences of the current crisis for women.  

Additionally, this year's survey also looks at public sector reform. In November 2023 we heard the Deputy FM say that  

‘there was “no doubt” that staffing for services would have to be reduced due to tight budgets and inflation-driven pay deals’. [3]  

Given the consequences that declining public services have on women, who often end up impacted or picking up the slack caused by this, we feel it's important that we understand what good public sector reform looks like for women and we want to hear from you about this.  

Finally, with the country soon heading to the polls, we are keen to know women’s priorities for the upcoming UK General Election. Decisions made at Westminster have a great impact on women in Scotland. Analysis by the UK Women’s Budget Group last week showed that cuts to National Insurance contributions in the Spring Budget will benefit better off men, impacting on women’s inequality [4]. Let us know what really matters to you so we can advocate for policies that make a difference to women’s lives. 

How can you help us?

We’d like to hear different views from women across Scotland. This is crucial for us to understand the different realities of women in   all local authorities. We are particularly interested in hearing from more ethnic minority women, women that are carers, and women who are single parents.

We are also offering a £25 voucher to 10 people who complete the survey, this will be selected at random. 

If you haven’t done so already, we’d like your support to share the Women's Survey 2024 to help us reach a diverse range of women across Scotland. You can do this by: 

• Sharing the survey through your social media account (if possible): LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter). 
• Sharing amongst your networks
• Sharing with any women’s groups you might work with 

References 

[1] https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-uk-families-suffering-worst-decline-living-standards-g7 

[2] https://www.swbg.org.uk/content/publications/SWBG-Cost-of-Living-report-proof-06.pdf

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-67539045

[4] Tax giveaways to better off men will cost worse off women, says WBG - Womens Budget Group