Women's Economic Empowerment Project

The Women's Economic Empowerment Project is a joint project between SWBG, the WISE Centre for Economic Justice, Glasgow Disability Alliance and the Women in Multiple Low-Paid Employment project (University of Glasgow).

Background

Women’s experience of financial insecurity due to the cost of living crisis, energy fuel costs escalating, wage stagnation, and multiple other economic factors, many of them highly gendered, have been well documented by the project's partners and in wider research. The intersectional and multiple factors that increase women’s poverty in paid work, and in relation to other forms of income, has also consistently been highlighted by the partners.

This project aims to build on the evidence shared by many women in the surveys, research projects, and other ways in which women in Scotland have engaged with the partner organisations, by increasing their knowledge of the ‘economy’ and economic policy and public finance processes in Scotland.

Project Aims

We aim to work with women to understand their perceptions of the Scottish Budget and economic policymaking processes and the role they can play in these.  We will build women's knowledge and direct experience of the Scottish Budget process asking the question Do you see yourself and your needs reflected in the process?

What We Have Done

As part of this project we have supported women to understand the Scottish Budget process by holding a number of online and in-person workshops to explain the different stages of the budget cycle and the role of gender budgeting. These have included watch alongs of the different stages of the budget where we played some budget bingo (picking out the key phrases/lines used by Ministers and MSPs) and explored key questions including:

• Do you feel that women and issues affecting women (more likely to have caring responsibilities, gender pay gap, gender- and sex-based discrimination, different infrastructure needs, etc.) are reflected sufficiently in the current Scottish budget? Why? Why not?
• What were your impressions of the budget process, including the Committee hearing and the Stage 3 reading in the Scottish Parliament?
• How do you feel you can/can't influence economic decision-making in Scotland?
• What barriers are there to economic and political participation for women in Scotland? How could these barriers be reduced?

Resources

To support those taking part in this work we have developed the following resources:

• Gender Audit of the Scottish Budget 24-25
• Resource List and Glossary 
• Workshop January 24 Presentation 1
• Workshop January 24 Presentation 2
• Workshop March 24 Presentation