Womanifesto for Independence

Women for Independence’s National Committee committed to developing a Womanifesto for Independence, with human rights at its heart. Women for Independence is a member of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and a proud signatory of the Scottish Declaration on Human Rights. Human Rights are Women’s Rights – and these rights underpin everything we write in this document.

Aims of
Women for
Independence

Membership
and
meetings

National
Committee
2021

In composing this Womanifesto we have followed Women for Independence’s principles: Listen First, find out what matters to women, do politics differently.

We invited women from across Scotland to National Council meetings (pre-pandemic) and we held meetings in Inverness, Galashiels, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirling and Glasgow. Many of the draft recommendations were approved at Annual General Meetings and have since been updated.

Whilst all the issues addressed are interconnected, we have focused on five overarching areas:

This work is not finished – we still have work to do with you on developing other key policy areas, such as criminal justice, professional and skills development, housing and homelessness, power, pay and pensions, education and transport.

But we wanted to share our work so far, in the hope that it sparks curiosity, conversations, deliberation and debate.

Each section acknowledges the progress we have made so far and sets out our aspirations for the future in an independent Scotland. We also call on action in specific areas now, where we have devolved powers to act. As we write, we know our Parliament’s devolved powers are under threat.

Every section has a link to additional information to enable you to explore and examine each topic. We hope together we can keep the conversations going and through continuing to be respectful, inclusive and welcoming, all of us can develop our thinking about the power, role, contribution and wellbeing of women in our future nation.

Womanifesto for Independence is seeking whole system change, applying a gendered lens to all that we do to create a gender-just, inclusive society, now and into an independent Scotland.

There is nothing that happens in our society that does not require a gendered approach. We agree that independence is not only inevitable but essential to allow these changes to take place.

We need the full range of powers available to any self-respecting, independent nation and we are all part of that change. The presumption of a truly equal society makes life better for us all.