Seminar 1: Care and Constitutional Reform
6 & 7 December 2012: The Old Sheriff Court/Scottish Youth Theatre, 105 Brunswick Street, Glasgow G1 1TF
Care policy and practice has a significant impact on gender equity, and understanding this is relevant for economic policy as well as health and social care policy in Scotland. Getting it right will have a significant impact on children, social care users and paid and unpaid carers, but this is a challenge in a time of welfare austerity. Taking stock of achievements since devolution raises questions about whether Scotland can achieve better, and fairer outcomes by learning from other care regimes, particularly Nordic regimes? This session will focus on the lessons that can be learned about gendered outcomes in long-term and child-care policy.
Format of the Seminar
This will take place over two days. The first day will be devoted to panel discussions, led by academic and non-academic speakers, where the audience will engage in discussion and debate following presentations from the speakers. Facilitators will take notes at these debates, and these notes will be used to produce 'Policy Briefings' that will be sent out to different organisations and networks. However, everything will be annonymised and no participants will be identified. The second (half) day will be a closed session run according to 'Chatham House' rules: ie. that everyone taking part does so on the understanding that the discussion is fully confidential, no participants will be identified or quoted, and everyone will sign an 'off the record' disclaimer. Notes will also be taken at these sessions by the facilitators but will not be used in the Policy Briefings. These sessions are so that participants can explore in more detail the issues raised, without being quoted or otherwise compromising their political or organisational allegiances.
All participants can choose whether to take part in only one day or both days.
Documents relating to this Seminar:
Care and Constitutional Reform Policy Briefing
Gendering the Care Debate
The Case of the Nordic Countries
Seminar 2
The Economy and Constitutional Futures: Gender Equality Matters in a New Scotland
Thursday 17th and Friday 18th January 2013
Venue: The Lighthouse, 11 Mitchell Street, Glasgow G1 1NU
The second seminar in the series examines the challenges faced by women in the Scottish economy, and the gendered impact of economic austerity and welfare reform; it also asks what opportunities are presented by current constitutional debates to rethink economic strategies and envision alternative economic models that place gender equality at their core?
Speakers include:
Stephen Boyd, Assistant Secretary, STUC
Claire Annesley, Professor of Politics, University of Manchester, gender politics and policy expert
Ailsa McKay, Professor of Economics, Glasgow Caledonian University, founder member of Scottish Women's Budget Group
Diane Elson, Gender and Development expert, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University of Essex, and founding member of UK Women's Budget Group
Format of the Seminar
The seminar runs over one and a half days. It comprises a mixture of short presentations and roundtable discussions, led by academic and non-academic speakers, where the audience will engage in discussion and debate following presentations from speakers. The seminar aims to draw lessons from international, UKK and Scottish experience and to promote informed discussion and inclusive dialogue about constitutional futures. Facilitators will take notes at the event, and these notes will be used to inform 'Policy Briefings' that will be sent out to different organisations and networks. However, all comments will be anonymised and no participants will be identified.
To download the Programme for Seminar 2 click here.
To download the Briefing Paper for Seminar 2 click here.
Seminar 3
Women & Constitutional Futures: Gender Equality Matters in a New Scotland
14 & 15 February 2013:
Venue: Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22-26 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PQ
The third event is to be held at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 14 and 15 February 2013. It asks why should women care about constitutional debates? What would an inclusive process and women "friendly" constitution look like? Does focusing on constitutional remedies deflect attention from pressing issues? How can we use existing constitutional and legal frameworks more effectively and creatively to promote women's empowerment and gender equality, including equal political representation and women’s human rights? We draw upon international experience and lessons learned to date in Scotland and the UK to address these important issues.
Speakers include:
• Thor Gylfason, Chair of the Icelandic Constitutional Project, “crowd-sourcing” constitutional reform
• Georgina Waylen, Professor of Politics, University of Manchester, international expert on gender and constitutional reform
• Alan Miller, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission
• Niki Kandirikira, Director of Engender
• Monica McWilliams, Founder member Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition
• Christine Bell, Professor of Constitutional Law and feminist legal scholar, University of Edinburgh
This seminar is jointly organized with the Scottish Constitutional Futures Forum, a consortia of Scottish Law Schools http://www.scottishconstitutionalfutures.org
Format of the seminar
This seminar runs over two days. It comprises a mixture of short presentations and roundtable discussions, led by academic and non-academic speakers, where the audience will engage in discussion and debate following presentations from speakers. The seminar aims to draw lessons from international, UK and Scottish experience, and to promote informed discussion and inclusive dialogue about constitutional futures. Facilitators will take notes at the event, and these notes will be used to inform 'Policy Briefings' that will be sent out to different organisations and networks. However, all comments will be anonymised and no participants will be identified.
Download the programme here
The Women and Constitutional Futures series has resulted in an interesting and exciting debate which addresses many important issues.
Follow the debate at -
Why should women care about constitutional debates? And why are their voices not being heard? February 20, 2013 http://wp.me/p2ndsk-6C
Engendering debate: report from the Women and Constitutional Futures seminar, February 20, 2013 http://www.referendum.ed.ac.uk/engendering-debate/
‘Never waste a good recession’ or a good debate on independence … Care, Scotland and the Future, January 22, 2013 http://wp.me/p2ndsk-3T
Counting women in? Women, the Economy, and Constitutional Futures, January 7 2013
http://wp.me/p2ndsk-5
Women and constitutional futures: save the dates- and join the debate, December 2, 2012
http://wp.me/p2ndsk-38
Women and constitutional futures, November 8, 2012 http://wp.me/2ndsk
Why can’t a (Scots) woman be more like a cave man? November 8, 2012 http://wp.me/p2ndsk-2V