The Young Women’s Movement (YWCA) launched the second Status of Young Women in Scotland report on 30th January 2017. This report expands on last year’s, interviewing twice as many women and focusing on the experiences of women whose voices are often unheard. This year’s report explores personal issues and highlights a trend – young women are talked at and about more often than they are listened to and valued.
The report is very easy to read, consisting mostly of quotes from the participants, but don’t be fooled by its accessibility: it tackles some very heavy and important questions around gender inequality. These are some of the points that are particularly important to me.
- Young women in rural communities regularly experience gender bias, at home and at work. They arguably have to work harder than men, due to expectations that women do the lion share of domestic duties in addition to work. And yet ironically they receive less appreciation: “You have to work twice as hard as all the men to get half as much recognition, and then if you slip up then it’s because you’re a girl”.
- There is still a prevalent attitude that women are responsible for child rearing, and even within service provision the emphasis is on educating and working with young mums, with little or nothing available for dads
- Little day to day struggles of young mothers have a cumulative adverse effect on the whole family and it’s future opportunities
- Examples of sexual harassment and assault are widespread, as well as domestic abuse. For some, the unwanted and unpleasant harassment, such as being groped at school, is also seen as a measure of attractiveness. The women don’t want to be groped, but they worry they’re not attractive if it doesn’t happen
- There is evidence of gender bias in educational settings – One participant explaining that “I knew my limitations before I knew my strength” – girls are discouraged from curiosity, adventure and risk whilst it’s fostered in boys
- “A lot of the stuff you see written about women… seems to be focused around their looks in a way that men don’t get”
These young women found the opportunity to take part in the interviews to be a positive experience and we, as readers, can also take a lot of inspiration from this informative and thought provoking report. In the words of Nicola Sturgeon who prefaced the report: Gender equality isn’t just good for women, it’s good for all of us.