 Welcome to your Scottish Parliament. I am Alison Johnston MSP, and, as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, I am delighted to chair this year's International Women's Day event. I am so pleased that this important gathering is one of the first few to be hosted here as we are able once more to meet in person. Over the years, we have been delighted to hold task in your Parliament and we have been honoured to welcome, through our doors, thousands of women from all parts of Scotland and beyond. As you will know every year on and around the 8 of March, thousands of events are held around the worlds to mark International Women's Day. A day on which we recognise and celebrate the incredible awe-inspiring and profound achievements of women. I'm so pleased that the Scottish Women's Convention has once again chosen Holyrood to host this event, and I'd like to congratulate Agnes Ptollmy, the chair, and her colleagues at the convention for all of the important work they do in furthering the influence and the rights of women in Scotland. So dear friends and colleagues, we're gathered here together at long last, and I know I can feel how much this means to all of us, but I know too that our thoughts and our hearts are with the women of Ukraine. As we gather here, they are being forced apart from loved ones, families torn apart. Women as they so often do caring for all who need it in the most difficult of circumstances, and you will have seen images of women in Ukraine phoning the mothers of very young Russian soldiers and telling them that their sons are safe. On this international women's day, we stand in solidarity with women in Ukraine, and with women experiencing conflict wherever they may be, and I'd like to ask that you might join me in standing, if you're able, to demonstrate our solidarity with them in a moment's applause. The theme of this year's event is celebrating women in Scotland, and I'm pleased that today's event provides a forum that helps women to get involved and to engage in the political process. After all, it's vital that a healthy democracy improves life for everyone in society, and the best way to understand what everyone needs is to hear from everyone. That's why it matters that this Parliament looks like the people of Scotland, and I have to say that this Parliament is looking pretty broad today. In September 2014, I co-founded Women 50-50 with Kezia Dugdale and others, campaigning for 50 per cent representation of women in our Parliament and in council chambers across Scotland. Last year's election returned 58 female MSPs, bringing us up to 45 per cent. History was also made by Co-Cab Stewart MSP and Pam Gosall MSP being the first women of colour elected to the Parliament, and I'm pleased to say that we'll hear from Pam later in the programme, and I've said it before, but it shouldn't have taken until 2021 to have them join us. So last May's election returned our most representative and diverse Parliament to date. We welcome this progress, but we can't be complacent. We can't take this for granted. Women's representation in this Parliament has gone up and it's gone down. It's taken 22 years to reach that 45 per cent, 22 years to return our most diverse Parliament. So it's a really good moment to have a broader look at how the Parliament takes a count of barriers to equal representation in all that we do here. So we've therefore recently launched an audit that will do just that based on work that was initially developed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. So all political parties in Holyrood are represented on a board that will oversee this work, which will consider the audit's finding and make recommendations for change. There are so many women in our past who we thank today. History has given us exceptional women to celebrate women who have broken down some of the barriers that existed and made it possible for us to do what we do today. These women are recognised both at a national and an international level, but one only has to look at the range of statues, for example, in this city to see that there's much work to be done. There are many exceptional women in modern Scotland who have achieved success in their fields and I am delighted that we will hear from so many of them today. These past years, women have worked in communities throughout Scotland and they've risen to the challenges thrown at them daily. Women from all walks of life have made sure that their families, their communities and their workplaces were safe and secure. That's something positive that we can take away from what has been a really difficult time. From science to social care, from nursing to our neighbourhood shops, women have been at the heart of our pandemic response. This afternoon, we will hear from inspirational women and you will have your chance to have your say, to tell your stories and to ask questions, so please do get involved. We have a lot to cover and I shall conclude by once again welcoming you to your Parliament and wishing you all a very productive and enjoyable afternoon. It's now my great pleasure to introduce Agnes Tolmy, chair of the Scottish Women's Convention. Agnes has been an active campaigner in the women's movement for over 30 years, campaigning on such issues as equal pay and women's representation in political and public life. During the 1990s, Agnes was involved along with a coalition of women in Scotland in campaigning for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and campaigning with the STUC Women's Committee for the 50-50 gender balance. Agnes was the recipient of the STUC Women's Meditorious Award in 2012 and the TUC Gold Badge for Service to Women in 2013. Good afternoon, sisters. What a two years it has been for us all, and it's so good to be together again, albeit in much smaller numbers. Hopefully next year, we can fill this place like we usually do. I want to begin by thanking you, Presiding Officer, for officiating here today at International Women's Day and your first International Women's Day with us. You are the most recent of a list of women to whom we are privileged to share this day with us, and those have included Trish Godman, who is sadly no longer with us, Elaine Smith and Linda Fabiani, the inimitable Linda Fabiani, and of course our very own Christina McKelvie, and it's fabulous to see you here, Christina. You are such an inspiration to each and every one of us. Those of you who are familiar with this event are aware that we are always oversubscribed. In our normal year of IWD, we have over more than 1,000 women chasing around 350 places in this Parliament, so you can imagine the response when the team announced the reduced numbers for this year. I've been offered all sorts of bribes and bounty in exchange for a place even down to a beautiful necklace that I once admired on a woman who was at one of our events, but I told her I'm not for sale. However, you know who you are, sister, so welcome. We all have a price. It's an honour to spend International Women's Day with you and to recognise the contribution made by our women in Scotland in our communities, retail, transport and so many areas of our society. Who could ever forget the role played by our first responders during the pandemic, especially our NHS? Thank you to each and every single one of you. First Minister, I would expect to understand that your diary may not permit you to spend all day with us, and we understand that. I usually close this event where I'm giving a vote of thanks, but if you're going to not be here, I just want to say a few words about your contribution. When we look around this world at so-called leaders, it's hardly surprising that chaos reigns all around this globe. It's usually caused by men, whether they get blonde hair or no hair. Whilst we came through the pandemic, I was in Washington at the start, after I had done International Women's Day here, I was in holiday with a friend, and we were in Washington, and the Donald was on television every morning. However, we had a blether the other day. A crowd of us were sitting having a chat, and we agreed unanimously, and I'm sure there are thousands and thousands of people in our country that you put in a shift. You delivered for us, and each and every one of us is eternally grateful, so thank you. As I said to you earlier, my old dad, 96, thanks you because he got to the pub. However, much has happened since the last time we met, and for a small country like ours, our Parliament is delivering for women in Scotland. We are the first country to have a women's health plan. Our Parliament is legislated for free-period products, which are being copied or simulated around the world. Other people are saying, if that we country can do it, why can't we do it? Free school meals, holiday food for our children, social care, childcare and all on this Parliament's agenda. The reason why it's on the agenda is because women are in this Parliament helping to push that agenda. There have been casualties, and we all know someone, but I have to mention Emma Richard of Engender, who passed away during Covid. Emma knew Emma for so many years, and she was a real stalwart for women in Scotland, and I know that she will be sadly missed. Sisters, we have some fabulous speakers for you today. As you can see from your agenda, Karen Perchini, actor, will give autographs, but not until after half past four. Professor Linda Bald, Linda, you have no idea. You've got the Attenborough thing. Whenever you're on the telly and speak, everybody stops what they're doing and sits down and listens. It's amazing, and your interviews and all the contributions you made during this pandemic were absolutely fantastic and delivered in such a lovely way, and I'm so glad that people could supply you with the flowers in the background. We are a wee country and we're in our Scottish Parliament to celebrate it, but this Parliament came from a groundswell of people in Scotland who wanted their own Parliament and we wanted it for a reason. I'm confident that we'll have a good day today, even with the restrictions that I've noticed the First Minister and I came in the wrong door and down the wrong stairs. Is that correct, Karen? I was just following her, by the way. Sisters, we are known in Scotland for reaching out in solidarity across the world to sisters in struggle. Chili, South Africa, Yemen, Colombia and Palestine, to name but a few. As the Presiding Officer said, it is important at this time that we send out a message of support and solidarity to the women and families in Ukraine who are facing the most awful onslaught on their homes and countries. The Scottish Women's Convention has a new team, due to staff retiring, and two of them are here just now. Caroline and Anne are our retirees, but, as you can see, they don't get away. We keep a whole day to come back and help out, but we're able to have our farewell drinks together, Anne and Caroline, because we haven't managed that during Covid. I just think that we can tell people you had your night out at work in the Scottish Parliament. There can't be many people who are able to say that. Anyway, our new team, Susan McKellar, could you stand up and wave, is our new manager, and she's absolutely amazing. Gemma Nagie and Jess Galloway have worked their socks off to produce this day. We've also got a group of young women here today, with their teacher, the Prime, but I use girls. The Prime, and Ms Debbie Roddy, as we call them. Everything is certainly different today, but I know and you know that we will work around the Covid restrictions. We will get down, we will enjoy our day, have a good time, mingle as best we can, cuddle or not. We're going to have a great day, so welcome to international women's day, and I'll see you later. Thank you. Thank you, Agnes. I would now like to call upon the First Minister of Scotland, the right honourable Nicola Sturgeon MSP, to speak. Nicola Sturgeon is Scotland's first female First Minister and the first woman to lead any of the devolved UK Administrations. Prior to that, the First Minister worked as a solicitor in the Drumchapel Law and Money advice centre in Glasgow. The First Minister is currently member for Glasgow Southside and has been First Minister since November 2014. Thank you to all of you. Agnes, a massive thank you to you, to the Scottish Women's Convention for all the incredible work that you do, not just organising this international women's day event but all the work that you do year in, year out, day in, day out to advance the cause of women in Scotland and across the world. To you personally, Agnes, thanks for being such a fearless champion for women here at home and across the world. You know, when the history of this era of feminism in Scotland is written, as it will be one day, there will be a name that shines out from all the others and that name will be Agnes Tommy. You really are a true sister, Agnes. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is so amazing to be here. It's always amazing to be here but it is just so truly wonderful to be here and see you all in person. This is always a special occasion but there is no doubt that it is more special than ever this year because we are getting the opportunity, albeit in reduced numbers, to be here and see each other in the flesh for the first time in two long, painful years. It's made me think today that the things that we took for granted before the pandemic, we really, really, really have to try not to take them for granted ever again. That ability is just to see a friend face to face. That ability to give somebody a cuddle—I'm a bit of a cuddler as well, Agnes. Agnes and I have had our first cuddle in two years already today, which was amazing. Those are things that we used to take for granted and not think about but we've been reminded in these past two years just how special they are, how special and precious human interaction and human contact is and we should never, ever take it for granted again. It's great and always a privilege for me to share platforms at these events with some inspiring women. Carmen here, Linda. I was thinking this morning actually just as I was preparing to come here and it underlines that point that I've just made that I've spoken to Linda over the past couple of years, probably more than I've spoken to some members of my own family and I've watched her, as everybody has, give us that calm, authoritative advice on the television that Agnes spoke about but actually today is the first time I've ever met Linda in person, which again underlines just how extraordinary the past couple of years has been. So it is so amazing and so wonderful to be here in person with all of you. What I'm about to say, I say every year at this point, so if you've been here before and heard me say this before, my apologies for repeating myself, it's not the first time I repeat myself, it will not be the last, but every year when I stand here and remember for me, this is a really unusual view of this chamber, I'm usually standing there being grilled from all corners of this chamber, so for me to stand here and look at the chamber from this perspective is quite different and very unusual, but every year when I stand here and I look out at this chamber full of women, I have the same thought and I'm having it again right now. If only more parliaments and more decision making bodies across the world looked more like this every day, the world would be a much much better place than it is right now. So let's dedicate ourselves as we always do on international women's day to the work that will ensure that parliaments and governments in future do look a bit more like our Parliament looks today. International Women's Day is, of course, an occasion that has a really strong international dimension. Each year we come together to advance the cause of gender equality in our own countries but also to celebrate and show solidarity with women right across the world. At 8 March, International Women's Day itself is actually marked as a public holiday in many countries, not yet in Scotland and maybe that's something that we should put right in years to come, but one of the countries that does mark International Women's Day as a public holiday is Ukraine. Last year, thousands of women marched peacefully through the streets of Kiev to demand action to advance gender equality. One year later, of course, Ukraine's capital city is a very, very different place. What we are witnessing each and every day right now on our television screens is horrific and unfortunately is likely to become more horrific as the days unfold. But what we are also witnessing is extraordinary courage and bravery from President Zelensky to every man, woman and child resisting aggression, resisting brutality. I know that as we gather here in Edinburgh today, our thoughts are very much with all of the people of Ukraine, perhaps particularly the women and the girls who are suffering and will suffer so much, but as the Presiding Officer rightly said, our thoughts are with women and girls in the front line of conflicts right across the world. It's important today that we send them our solidarity, our love and our support. The theme for our event here today is celebrating women in Scotland through the pandemic and its recovery. I was reflecting to Agnes just before we came into the chamber today that this is probably—I can't remember this absolutely, but I'm pretty certain—this is the last in-person event that I did in 2020 before lockdown changed the world as we know it. It's important to say, because if I don't say it, Linda will remind me of it later. We're not out of this pandemic yet. We've got to continue to treat it seriously and behave responsibly and cautiously, but I really do hope and believe that we are on a road now back to living much, much more freely and normally. In the past two years, our world has changed immeasurably, so it might not, and in some respects, it should not ever go back to exactly the way it was before the pandemic. It's important this year to acknowledge in person, as we did virtually last year, the invaluable contribution that women have made in tackling the pandemic. Women, as we know, are more likely to be the main providers of childcare and unpaid care. Women are more likely to be the key workers in areas such as education and essential retail, which we have relied on so heavily over the course of the pandemic. Of course, women make up the majority of Scotland's health and social care workers. Indeed, throughout the pandemic, tasks that were often predominantly carried out by women, which are undervalued in terms of pay and status, and have been for generations, have been shown not just to be valuable but absolutely vital. That raises an important point. We have all heard a lot of talk in the past two years about building back better from the pandemic. That is a term that sometimes, understandably, attracts some scepticism, but it is so important that we hold on to that and dedicate ourselves to making sure that, out of the trauma of a pandemic, we build a better world and a better society here at home. That has been the most profound crisis to affect the country in most of our lifetimes. Certainly in my lifetime, it has exposed and, in many cases, it has exacerbated some of the deep inequalities that already existed. The idea of simply returning to the status quo after so many people have sacrificed so much cannot be right. We cannot allow that to happen. We must learn lessons from the pandemic and work together to build a fairer country. Given the massive contribution that women have made to tackling the pandemic, the massive contribution that women make to our society each and every single day, any attempt to build a better society out of all this must have gender equality absolutely at its heart. Today, I want to briefly highlight just some of the ways in which the Scottish Government, which I am proud to lead, will ensure or seek to ensure that that happens. I am going to talk particularly about three issues. First, misogyny and the important role of our justice system in tackling the misogyny that has bedevilled women here at home and across the world for generations. I want to talk about the economy and our work to deliver a just transition to net zero and the important role of women in that. Before I do any of that, let me just pick up on the theme that the Presiding Officer spoke about, the importance of equal representation in democracy, the importance of ensuring that. I said at the outset how much better the world would be if decision making chambers looked more like this one. Women make up more than half of the world's population. Currently, only three parliaments in the entire world have 50 per cent female representation. That is just not good enough and that must change. As the Presiding Officer said, this Parliament has come closer as a result of the election last year. 45 per cent of MSPs are now women, and, as the Presiding Officer said, we saw the first women of colour elected in the 23-year history of this institution. However, we have not yet reached equality. We are not yet anywhere near close enough. We are just approaching elections this year for councils where, right now, less than 30 per cent of councillors and council chambers across our country are women. That has to change. Of course, having a gender equal Parliament or council does not guarantee that we achieve gender equality in our wider society, but I do think that it makes it significantly more likely. More women put certain issues higher up the agenda. As we heard from Agnes, in this Parliament we have produced the first women's health plan. We have seen period products made free. Issues that I do not believe would ever have happened, change that would never have come without the contribution of women leading that change. It is important if we are to see the issues that matter to women tackled, that we have more women in decision making positions. However, it is also important to recognise that inequality in our political system is a symptom as well as a cause of deeper inequalities. The forthcoming council elections is a case in point. All parties, including my own, are putting a lot of effort into trying to get more women standing and more women elected. However, I have a real fear about the forthcoming council elections, and that is that we are not going to make strides forward, because I know from my experience that I speak regularly to a number of women in my party who feel that they do not want to put themselves forward for elected office because they perceive politics in the modern age to be somewhere that is toxic, where they will face abuse and harassment. They see the political environment as not being safe for women to participate in. We cannot allow that to be the reality. We must collectively change that. That, for me, is a priority as we go through the period of recovery from this pandemic. Of course, the issue of misogyny runs deep and influences what I have just spoken about. That is the first issue that I want to briefly touch on. As I do every year, I chair a session of the Scottish Cabinet that happened in Tuesday last week, where we have a joint Cabinet with the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Scottish Children's Parliament. We put the voice of young people at the heart of Cabinet decision-making for one day a year, but it is probably the most important meeting that we have in the course of the year. On Tuesday, a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament made a compelling powerful presentation to the Cabinet about the pernicious effects of misogyny on the lives of young women today. She spoke really passionately about what it was like for young women scared to go out at night, the things that women had to do as a matter of course to try to protect themselves against attack or abuse by men. That was heartbreaking to listen to, because no young women should feel like that. What made it even more heartbreaking is that I can remember exactly the same feelings when I was that age. My mother could remember it when she was that age. My grandmother would have been the same when she was that age. Misogyny goes back generations, centuries to the days when women who spoke out or displayed any spirit or personality used to be branded as witches and murdered for that. We must break the cycle of misogyny, and our justice system has a big part to play. Of course, those responsible for misogyny are the perpetrators, but we must have a justice system that treats crimes motivated by misogyny as seriously as they deserve to be. This week, we will see Helena Kennedy produce the report that the Scottish Government asked her to do on how we better tackle misogyny in our society. I won't pre-empt that report. I will speak about it when I lead a debate from this chamber on International Women's Day itself, but I hope that that will be a real turning point in our battle to ensure that misogyny and all that flows from that is a thing of the past, so that a generation from now, when a future First Minister, hopefully another female First Minister and there will be many along the way, I hope, will sit with a representative group from the youth Parliament and not have to hear again about the experiences of young women. The second issue that I want to briefly touch on is equality in the workplace. It is so important as we recover from the pandemic. The inequalities that women experience in the workplace are not just harmful for women, although they are. They are harmful for our economy and our society because they mean that we are not using the talents of everybody across our country, and therefore we are holding ourselves back as a whole. We are making great strides in trying to tackle some of the causes of that, extending childcare, recognising that women so often have the responsibility for childcare. We have made great strides and we are pushing forward in the course of this Parliament, too. Earlier this week, we published a new strategy for economic transformation, the role of women absolutely at the centre. Entrepreneurship rates amongst women, the rate at which women set up businesses in this country are around 40 per cent lower than the rate at which men set up businesses. If we were to equalise that, as we must aim to do, not only would more women have the opportunity to start their own business and succeed in their own business, the GDP of our country would grow as a result. Any quality for women is bad for women, but it holds all of us back, and that is why we absolutely must tackle it. The last issue that I want to focus on is climate. Right now, across the world, when we saw this week the latest report telling us in no uncertain terms about the impact already being suffered from climate change and what happens if, as a world, we do not face up to that and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. In Scotland, we have ambitious targets to do that and working hard to achieve them. Right now, it is women often in the front line of dealing with the impacts of climate change right now. When Glasgow hosted COP just a few months ago, I had the privilege there of speaking to some really inspiring women—Vanessa Nakati, the young activist, Prime Minister Mia Motley from Barbados—to bring home the impact of climate change on women, but the role we must give women internationally and here at home in finding the solutions. As we take forward our work to lead by example in tackling climate change, we must make sure that the voices of women and the skills and expertise of women are absolutely at the forefront. All those issues matter and we get the opportunity at this annual event to focus on. It is hard right now for any of us looking at the horrors around the world, considering the trauma that so many have suffered over the past two years. It can be hard to feel optimistic about the world that we live in right now, but we have a duty all of us to the generation of women who come after us to instill a sense of hope about what we can do. Above everything else is the most powerful thing about International Women's Day. It is about that sense of hope, that sense of determination, that coming to the fore of voices of women in every part of the world, voices like Agnes Hear in Scotland replicated across the world, that says that we do not have to accept things as they are. We have made strides forward, that should motivate us for the work that we have still to do. The cause of gender equality is as yet an unwon cause, but our generation has a duty to do everything that we can to win it, so that the next generation does not have to fight all the battles that so many of us spend so much of our lives still fighting right now. None of us can do it alone, but together, I believe, we can be unstoppable. Thank you so much for being here today, and let's go forward from this International Women's Day, with that spirit of solidarity, of support for women here at home and overseas. Let us all renew our determination to make gender inequality a thing of the past and give the next generation that hope that they deserve. Thank you all so much indeed. Thank you First Minister. I would now like to introduce Professor Linda Bald, OBE. The Bruce and John Usher Chair of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, as well as her academic research and work on science communication to Scottish, UK and international audiences. Professor Bald was also appointed as chief social policy advisor for the Scottish Government and is key to the programme of work that is taking place on Covid recovery, bringing her wealth experience in behavioural science, public health and social policy to that post. Professor Bald. I feel privileged to be here, but I bet none of you envy me at the moment, because I've had to follow the First Minister in her address, which I think is a really intimidating task. I think that all of you will join me in not only commending her for putting in such a long shift, and I know that she has, but also her outstanding communication and the clarity of that. That is reflected not only in the respect that I and others, and I'm sure across this room, have for her, but in the evidence that we've seen from studies around trust in communication and government during this pandemic, which have been consistently higher in Scotland. I think that her ability to be honest and to explain when there's uncertainty, the rationale for decisions and why things might be difficult is really very commendable. I think that you will probably join me in applauding her for that. Thank you also, Presiding Officer, and Agnes very much for this invitation. I want to reflect today on a number of things, but International Women's Day has been celebrated since 1911, so many years now. Over those years, as you've already heard from Agnes and from the First Minister and the Presiding Officer, huge progress has been made in the global fight for women's rights. All through that period, women and girls have struggled around the globe. They've struggled during a crisis, and that's what I'm going to talk about, but also during conflict. As each of the three speakers has said before me, today we really have to think about what is happening to women and to people in Ukraine. The First Minister highlighted some of those impacts on women in Ukraine, but I also just wanted to mention the importance of free speech and a free press. What we're also seeing in that conflict yet again is that being undermined in some countries of the world and people not having information about what is happening during a conflict. That is something that we hold dear in Scotland and that we need to continue to promote, not only here but internationally. I also wanted to commend the effort of the journalists, including many women who are in Ukraine now giving us all vital information that decision makers also will use to try and help people there. In reflecting on crisis, I want to start with another one, a historical one, before I come on to the pandemic, which has a Professor of Public Health that I was asked to reflect on. That's the last international trip I made before the lockdown in March. In February of 2020, I was in Ethiopia. This is a country that I have a long-standing collaboration there with colleagues at the University of Addisababa doing public health research. I was there in particular to meet again a colleague of mine who had been here, Salaman Whitherpa, who is an outstanding young public health scientist. However, I had not been to Addis itself before. She suggested that before I leave, I make a visit to a museum to try to better understand what Ethiopia had been through in recent years. This is a memorial museum to what is called the red terror that many of you will be familiar with. It happened in my lifetime in that in the First Minister in Agnes in 1976 to 1978. As many as 500,000 Ethiopians were killed during that period. Many of them were suspected of opposing the governing regime. In particular, they targeted young adults, including young women. When you visit that museum, it is covered by the photographs of the victims of the conflict. Often they were taken from their homes at night, and they were subjected to horrific torture before they were executed. As I walked around the museum, it was the faces of the women that I remember. From that visit. I took them with me those images back to the UK in my mind. It was only a few weeks later that the World Health Organization declared that Covid-19 was a pandemic. I think that what I want to say is that this was not and has not been the horrific series of events that people in Ethiopia and in countless countries around the world, including now in the Ukraine, have faced. Nonetheless, it has been and continues to be a crisis on a global scale. That is what I want to reflect on, particularly on International Women's Day. I want to reflect on how the pandemic has affected the lives of women across Scotland and elsewhere, but also how they and we can play a major role in Covid recovery. The pandemic has affected all our lives. I think that everybody in this room can reflect on how things have changed and how it has been for them. Of course, most of all, we think of the over 13,000 people in Scotland based on their national records of Scotland records who died from this disease, but also those who have been seriously ill or are now experiencing long Covid, which we do not yet understand. There have also been significant impacts on health and social care and on many people who have experienced delayed diagnosis or treatment for other equally important conditions. The social and economic harms have been significant, but there are particular ways in which women in Scotland have been disproportionately affected. The First Minister mentioned some of them. You all know that they make up a significant proportion of the health and social care workforce and have it been at the front line of caring for those with Covid-19, but also coping with the additional pressures that the pandemic has placed on our health and social care system, and they are not just about the direct disease. In addition, studies and surveys, including here in Scotland, have repeatedly found that women have experienced greater mental health impacts, and that is something that I will touch on again. Domestic abuse and violence has disproportionately affected women and children as it does at all times, but the public health measures that required people to stay at home have put more women at risk. Women have also experienced, as we have heard, an increased burden of caring responsibilities during the pandemic due to their disproportionate role in providing unpaid care. That will have affected women's health and wellbeing, but for those in employment and working from home, it had a direct impact on their productivity and their ability to cope. I also want to say something about the amazing contribution that my colleagues and many other women across the country have made, not just in the front line, but also in the public health workforce. Those are names that you will not know. There are thousands of people working in an area that is not perhaps at the forefront of medicine or science, but is really what keeps so many of us safe. From our brilliant directors of public health to our colleagues in Public Health Scotland and an army of statisticians, modellers and analysts who have designed, collected and analysed data sets and dashboards that decision makers have used and the public every day to inform themselves and know what comes next. Those women have also been working in labs, in universities, in the NHS and in the private sector, to conduct research that has helped us understand the virus, develop treatments and also develop vaccines. Women have rolled out our vaccine programme in terms of developing that but also delivering it. Many of our colleagues have been doing that. They have worked in schools under difficult circumstances and in vital services by local government, many partners and also companies. Most importantly, and this may include many of you, they volunteered in their tens of thousands across the country during the pandemic supporting those shielding and those most vulnerable. They work also in the media, I know that I mentioned the media before, but also that is important, sharing information and asking difficult questions. The First Minister knows this because I do not have many briefings she did, but it was a lot of them. Those questions need to be answered and they have been making decisions and guiding us and that includes many of you here in this Parliament and across Government. It is my thanks to all those women. We really owe them a huge debt of gratitude. For the last parts of what I want to say, I want to look ahead. As the First Minister said, many of the worst effects of the pandemic have impacted our more deprived communities. I think that it has shone a light on inequality, which is a long-standing, wicked issue here in Scotland but also around the world. It is very clear to me and I have heard this evidence regularly in the advisory groups that I chair, in the groups that I am a member of and the studies that I read. Just how things that were there in our communities already and we had not adequately addressed have really been made worse by the period that we have gone through over the last two years. As the Presiding Officer says, I am now working within Government and that is a true privilege. Part of that has been helping with the on-going Covid response, particularly supporting our education sector to do that, but it is also working now and I really hope that I will continue to do this very seriously on the Covid recovery strategy. There is a lot of work to do, but central to that is a deep commitment in this country to address child poverty. Around one in four children in Scotland live in poverty and that is the situation that working together we must change. Yesterday, I was in Dundee with Scottish Government colleagues to learn more about their work that they are doing there. That is just an example that has happened across the country. That involves Dundee City Council, the Department for Work and Pensions, Social Security Scotland, whose role is going to grow and develop the Scottish Government and many other organisations and partners. I had the opportunity to meet some really amazing women. They are supported by one parent family Scotland and we talked about how they have coped during the pandemic, but more importantly what else we can do to support them in relation to employment, their particular needs, childcare and many other factors. We also looked at how flexible childcare Scotland is wrapping childcare around the circumstances of women so that they do not have to organise their lives to fit in with when childcare is affordable or available. We also visited, and this was close to my heart, somebody in public health, a fantastic centre dealing with people who are having treatment for addictions and need access to support and physical activity, the Street Soccer Change Centre. The colleagues there are working with Working Right, which is an organisation that takes people who are maybe far away from employment on a journey towards that, if that is what fits for them. You may think that not all of those things are about child poverty but they are, because child poverty is about changing and addressing it is about changing the lives of women and families so that they have the opportunity to really seize what is available to them in Scotland with both hands and make the best for their lives. We can help those youngest children in particular. We will really set them on a path to a healthier and more sustainable future for themselves and for others. The thing that the Dundee visit really brought home to me, and this is the point that I want to emphasise, is that there is something that we have learned from Covid-19. That is that a collective response with a laser focus on a particular goal really demonstrates that ambitious action delivered at pace and at scale, underpinned by good evidence and data, I would say that, can be achieved across Scotland when all partners are united in focus and they are also delivering shared outcomes. Working with partners and many others across the country, I think that if we look at these really important issues for Covid recovery, we can get there and we can make huge progress. A final thought, and I am speaking now to the gallery up above in particular, I want to finish with a final thought on this International Women's Day. I really think that that is about the women who will one day stand in this chamber and in many other places across Scotland who will be the decision makers and the leaders that follow in our footsteps. I just wanted to say that I do know that this pandemic has disrupted your lives. I know that you have been separated from your friends and social networks for months on end over two years. I also know that you have missed opportunities to work, to travel, to form relationships, to see your loved ones elsewhere in the country and also overseas. I know that some of you will have suffered abuse, loneliness, depression and anxiety or worse, and maybe most importantly I do know that you have lost education and training. But these are experiences that you share with millions of other women and girls around the world. So there are many challenges ahead but my hope is that the immediate one, the real challenge that we have been dealing with recently, this pandemic will not cause the same harms again. I know that we can look to you to help us to rebuild and focus on the future. I would now like to invite guests to watch a short compilation video and hear from a range of women across Scotland on how they have risen to the challenges of the last two years and also what they'd like to see in a greener, fairer Scotland. I am Agnes Tollway and I'm chair of the Scottish Women's Convention and we wanted to highlight and recognise the work done by women in Scotland throughout the pandemic. This video is only a smidgen of the work done by these women but I know that you will recognise like us and are thankful for them. Through the help of online technology, I am able to meet lots of amazing women in action here in Scotland during the pandemic. Well, this woman not only inspired me to become a better person and somewhere along the way, they became my friends, a family to be exact. I am really grateful and thankful to have ever met and be part of a group who inspire, empower and support one another. Listening and going through difficulties in life really makes a lot of difference, at least to me it does. Hello, my name is Leanne and I am a mum to two little girls. Before the first lockdown, I got in touch with some women via an outdoor walking group. Those strangers quickly became friends. Throughout the pandemic, our group chat became a lifeline to us all. A chat where anything goes, all without judgement and nothing but support. We all had one thing in common and that was our love of the outdoors. It's been two years since we first met and that group of friends has grown. These empowering women continue to inspire me through their total inclusion and fantastic sense of adventure. Times have been tough and I've no doubt that we all have our own individual challenges ahead. But with women like this in my life, I know there will always be unconditional support. Scotland is stunning. We've had so many adventures in this beautiful country that we're lucky to call home but I'm lucky because these women are my friends. During Covid, I've met amazing women. If not for the technology, it wouldn't have been possible. I've met people like Margaret who was very supportive to me and my family during the Covid and during online programmes. She has inspired and encouraged me all through the challenges of the pandemic and she has brought in older women from London, from even US to be able to speak to us, to share their challenges, raise our hopes and to make us know that the skies are limiting how that we do. The Covid was a very terrible time, however, being online, having to share and interact with each other made it easier, it reduced isolation and it made us feel that we are loved. Thank you. In my local community, the women are still the shoppers and we've been working together in friendship groups and church groups to find ways of buying toiletries and cleaning products that are plastic free. We find that the cost is quite prohibitive as alternatives, so we've been looking at how we can do our shopping together, share quantities bought, come up with lots of advice and help towards each other around this and then we've gone a little bit further and we're talking about cost of transport and even heating systems for the future, so women to women are for us definitely the way. I have so many women that inspire me in my life and they should all be celebrated. My daughter has shown me what the world could look like if we started looking after it now before it is too late. She's fighting for her future and I want to support her in that. I have made many changes to our lives to ensure that we are recycling and trying to save the planet for her and the generations of women that will come after us. Thank you to everyone who took part in that moving and inspiring video. It was great to hear from such a range of diverse voices and to learn more about their contributions over the last two years and we're now going to have a 10-minute comfort break, so we'll see you back at quarter past three. Thank you very much. I'll introduce each member of the panel and they'll give some introductory marks ahead of the Q&A session, but at this point it gives me great pleasure to introduce Pam Gossel MSP. Pam is a Scottish Conservative MSP for the Glasgow region and is the first Indian Sikh MSP and one of the first women of colour to be elected to the Scottish Parliament. Pam is the Shadow Minister for Further and Higher Education, Youth Employment and Training. Pam Gossel MSP. Good afternoon. What a great honour it is to be standing here among such amazing women on international women's day. It's great to see people dressed up in their own culture and dress just like me. This is truly diversity today. The First Minister did speak standing here. She's not seen it from this side. I have never seen it from this side. I have to say that the Presiding Officer has a great view of all of us, but today, honestly, there is just so much diversity and it's so great to see so many women today in the chamber. It has been so inspiring to hear from the Presiding Officer, Agnes, from the First Minister and from Professor Linda. Today is an important day to celebrate how far we have come and we have progressed, but also to pave the way for the future generations of women to have a fairer future. Before I introduce myself properly, I would like to take a moment to express my solidarity with Ukraine and its people for families fleeing for their lives and those on the front lines. My heartfelt thoughts go out to those women and girls who have been displaced and are currently facing an uncertain future. Back in 2014, in the fight against Russian-backed separatists, many women took up arms. Yet it wasn't until 2016 that women could officially join the Ukrainian military and combat positions. Today, they make up 10 per cent of the Ukrainian military. To those women, you are strong, you are brave and you are fierce. To give a short introduction about myself, my name is Pam Gothel. I am a member of the Scottish Parliament for the West Scotland region for the Scottish Conservatives and Unions party. In May 2021, a major glass ceiling was shattered in the Scottish Parliament. As not only, just like the Presiding Officer said, I was the first Indian female, but I was the first Sikh in Parliament, but also with Cwcab Stewart, one of the first women of colour. If anybody had told me while I was growing up or even a couple of years ago that, Pam, you are going to be standing here on International Women's Day in the Scottish Parliament addressing all you amazing ladies, I would have said get away. There is no way that I am growing up because I had no politics in my whole family. Nobody told me anything about politics, nobody taught me anything about politics, but what an amazing place politics is where decisions are made for people like yourself and everybody else. A little bit about myself, I left school with no qualifications or experience in business or anything because, sadly, I lost my father very suddenly in my teenage years and it was his death anniversary yesterday, so it is very also timely. Then I lost my big sister due to a heart and lung failed transplant, so I had no time to think. I was thrown in the deep end. I had to suddenly become the head of the family. I suddenly had to look after the business. Having such high expectations and responsibilities placed on my shoulders from such a young age was not the norm for any female Asian, but that was a stereotype that I was determined to break in a male-dominated world. I won't lie, I came up against many obstacles and challenges, but it is what I am today that has made me stand here and be the woman that I am and standing here continually challenging myself every single day. Alongside looking after the family and working full-time, I made a choice to go back to formal education. As a mature student, I went to college first, then to university and now I have just handed my PhD in last year, still waiting for my wife. We must not forget how resilient we are as women and, pretty much, we multitask and do everything. My own and traditional route into education has given me the passion to support others, whether that be in politics, volunteering or mentoring. I think that as women, education is of paramount importance for us, that we must teach others the things that we have learnt through the hard times, how to ensure that you are heard, you are seen and you are respected. Lift as you climb, ladies. This year's theme, break the bias, yes, as women we have progressed, however, there is still much to be done where bias still exists. The pandemic has highlighted how much traditional gender roles still plague our societal structure. Women, more so than men, took on the role of unpaid carers, homeschool teaching, being the mother, the household cleaner and, therefore, spent less time focusing on themselves and their careers. As a Parliament and as politicians and as individuals here today, we all have a duty and a responsibility to break the bias. How can we help? I am just going to highlight three areas but I am sure that there are many more. First, as politicians and as leaders in our field, we can make change happen through policy in here in this chamber, through our working practices with you leaders out there. Secondly, we must act as role models and as mentors and empower all females around us. And last but not least, we all have the power and the duty to push for more female representation on boards, politics and leadership roles so that decisions making can truly reflect the needs of women. I encourage all you women and girls to dare to dream big because I did and look where I am today. In my closing remarks, I want to share a quote that I think is very relevant today. Malala Yousafie, the quote is from, I raise up my voice not so that I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot succeed when half of us are left behind. Thank you very much. Thank you Pam. I would now like to introduce Christina McKelvie MSP. Christina is Minister for Equalities and Older People, as well as being MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. Prior to that, Christina was MSP for Central Scotland and was convener of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee. Thank you so much for having me back, Agnes. I am back amongst my sisters, and I couldn't be any more joyous. Can I pay tribute to my colleague Pam Gosel, who I have not had a chance to build relationships over the last year with the new colleagues and the women, especially across his chamber? What a wonderful speech, what an inspiration you are and I look forward to working with you is in the months and the years to come. Thank you. Agnes, the women's convention, oh my God, you look amazing. I cannot wait any next year to be packed to the gunnels again. We are all sitting at each other's knees and stuff because that place looks radiant. It is just full of life and joy determination. I love it. Thank you for bringing that joy into this chamber every day. I still sit in here after 14, nearly 15 years and look at the fabulous lights and think, how the heck did a wheel-assie-feaster who has ended up here? Much like you, and I still do it all these years later, because it is a real privilege. You have no idea how much of a privilege it is, and we carry that with us, and everything that we do, you might see as Archie Bargain, you might see as drawing each other dirty looks and all the stuff that goes with it, but the spine of this place is the work that we all do together to move things forward, and we have really demonstrated that over the last two years. My role for my party role is to be that woman who lifts those other women up. There are many women in this chamber now and in council chambers and in positions across the way where I have offered my support, put out my hands saying, let's see how we can do it, the late night phone calls, the cups of tea, the odd bucket of gin, but that's what we do. We lift each other up and that's the purpose that I pledge in my life within our party, and I think that it's why we've made the strides that we've made to see people like Cocab here and many, many others. We've actually got a parliamentary group now that's more women than men. That's brilliant. I also have to say that this place in the past week or so, and hearing the speeches today about the women in Ukraine, you just can't imagine in a European country seeing what's happening again and anybody here who's been involved in the work where we remember Shrebenitza, look at that with horror. We look at the things that we've seen in the Balkans war, looking now with horror the Second World War. You know the terrible impacts that people are facing every single day and those heartbreaking pictures of women and children saying goodbye to their loved ones at train stations and bus stops to try and flee that war. And then you look at the Hamilton mamys who just this week collected up a number of baby boxes and sent them to Ukraine for the mamys there. That's the women in our society who step up and step in and have done so much of that over the past two years, all inspiring women for me, all doing an amazing job. Can I just give you a wee special shout-out for the unpaid carers out there? Those unpaid carers had to step in and step up doing much more than they already do because their support systems disappeared overnight. I always remember them in that sense because when I grew up, my dad was diagnosed with Morton Uron disease when I was nine and my mother was one of those carers and we didn't have the support mechanisms that we have now. So we went to school through the day, my mum looked after my dad, we came home from school, she fed us at five o'clock and she went to work and we looked after our dad. So I never forget that role that women do every single day but the past two years has been murder for them I think. You look at how it's impacted us all. There are many things that we have learned through this pandemic. I worked in social work before I came into this Parliament and one of the things that I did in that was that I was a unison steward of closer was that I was like that's no fair. I was doing something about it, everybody steps back, I'm the only one left stepped forward, a bit like Agnes, you know, right okay I better do something about it and you realise some of the issues. In most of the cases I had were people with long-term conditions, people had acquired a long-term condition or women were caring responsibilities and the employer told them they couldn't have a flexible work, they couldn't have a situation where you know they could work for your home or they could have that flexible work and oh my god we changed that overnight didn't we in the pandemic. So we've learned lots of lessons so there's no excuses now to not giving women that flexibility to be able to work from home and work in a more flexible way. There's no hiding place for it now and that's a brilliant thing and it's some of the things that I bring in my role as a minister for equalities all of these lived experiences all of the things that you learn I learn from my constituents for the women and the people that I know are striving everyday to make life better and when we say we want a fairer Scotland that's what I see at the heart of that that support that lifting each other up that making sure there's a safety net that making sure that you've got voices in here like men like Pam like Beatrice like others all my colleagues across this chamber where we're all standing up and we had a great debate in international women's day the other day we spoke in it and we will have a superb debate come this Tuesday led by our first minister you can't ask for better in all of that so the past year for me has been really rough I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of last year and it was my birthday yesterday and last year on the second of march I had my first surgery and a second surgery in the 16th of march I don't remember my birthday last year but what I do remember is wondering whether I would be here on my next birthday and here I am and do you know why because the women lifted me up the breast cancer care nurses looked after me with utter dedication the surgeons the staff and the beats and oh my goodness I can't praise that place and the staff enough and lately the emotional support I've been getting from the Maggie's centre the beats and charity Macmillan breast cancer now honestly is a woman when you're facing that it's really really tough but see when you know that those people are there for you you know you've got a responsibility to celebrate them so my closing remark is to all of those women who have lifted me up no doubt lifted you up we celebrate you all I celebrate you all here today and a young woman came up to me early to apologise for shouting at me I mean a few years ago this is don't ever apologize for shouting at a government minister she wants to hear what you've got to say don't ever apologize for that but it'd be a lesson remember well behaved women seldom make history thank you thank you minister thank you Christina and we're now going to hear from Pam Duncan Glancy MSP who is joining us online from Glasgow Pam is a Scottish Labour MSP for the Glasgow region and Scottish Labour spokesperson on social justice and social security and Pam is the first permanent wheelchair user to be elected to the Scottish Parliament Pam Duncan Glancy MSP thank you very much Presiding Officer and thank you to you all for having me here today a special thanks to Agnes for inviting me but also for the good regard that I got last night because I wasn't able to collect it in person today and I'm really sorry but I'm not in the chamber today because I would really love to be sitting in the chamber to look back at so many or look out at so many women in there and so I have FOMO as I call it fear of missing out so I definitely have FOMO but thank you for having me join you like this and a special thanks to Agnes as well just another we mentioned that the goodie bag had some nice food and alcoholic beverages which might have been consumed so thanks again for that I also want to say thank you to the other women speakers here today who are some of the most inspirational women I've met in a long time and I look forward to building a relationship more with you Christina as your bag it's great to have you back in Parliament and I look forward to getting to know you better and thank you to Pam also for your contribution today in the chamber and also for everything that you've been doing to lift women up as well and I just want to say thank you to both of you it's so good to share another platform with such incredible women and to be on an old women platform because we know we don't often get many of them but can I also say how excited I am to celebrate women all across the globe and I too want to pay tribute to the women of Ukraine who are stepping up and stepping in against the horrific Russian attack on their country, their democracy and their people and I stand with them and of the best images I saw of one of the most powerful images I saw of the war in Ukraine was a group of disabled women sitting in the wheelchairs making ammunition and getting involved in their fight back for their country and I just think it reminds us that disabled women and women all across the globe will do all that they can to step up when they need to and if you'll allow me Presiding Officer I'd like to talk a little bit about the impacts of the past few years on disabled women in particular and why we must break the bias to address that for so many disabled people life has been characterised by broken systems and endless misunderstandings about our experience and worth for years. This means that so many of us don't get to live up to our full potential. Bias against our worth, our capability, our contribution, our hopes and dreams, our bodies has held us back for too long and after decades of austerity disabled women have found our rights are often ignored or the first to go and before Covid hit disabled women were already some of the most disadvantaged people in the country, less likely to be in employment. When the going gets tough, it's usually disabled people who have to get going and it's going to be women and disabled women and women that I see there today and all across our country that will fight back against that and where we are in work of course the disability gap means that we are paid less than non-disabled women 57. We work basically for 57 days a year for free because of it and we're more likely to have mental ill health. We didn't and do not get the social care support that we need and disabled women don't have our reproductive rights supported either and there's throwing violence against women and disabled women. I could go on I'm sure you get the picture a society has been largely designed that has been largely designed without us has not served as well but friends, women, I have hope because I know that we can change that. I gave a presentation a couple of years back before I was a parliamentarian too. I'm a group of MSPs and one of them said things are really bad for disabled women and disabled people. Why is nobody beating down my door? I said because it's hard to beat down your door if you can't get out your own door or you can't get the care that you need to get there. It is so incredibly important that as women we do everything we possibly can to empower disabled women to be in the room and that's why I think it's incredibly important that today as we celebrate for international women's day on Tuesday and to break the bias we have to make sure that the way that we do that carries all women with us. That's LGBT women, that's black minority ethnic women, that's disabled women because all of us in all of our extraordinary shapes, sizes and beauty have a part to play in our society and that's why I'm incredibly proud to him to be in Parliament alongside such other strong women. We shouldn't just celebrate the innovation and strength of disabled women, we should crave it from the high street to the boardroom and from the boardroom all the way to Parliament because we need those disabled women if we're to face the challenges of today and create the world of tomorrow and we know that things can be done differently and we heard a moment ago about how employers used to say before, oh you can't have flexible working, you can't work from home, you can't do these things, but I look forward to seeing what they consider when people say a reasonable adjustment for me now is that I need some time to work at home. I look forward to women standing up and using that and making sure that they can use their contribution in the workplace and use their rights too. We've proved we can do things differently and we know we have to do things differently for women and disabled women all across the world and a better world does lie ahead if we celebrate and reward the efforts of disabled women. I ask everybody across the world to do not just look on in admiration, although do that too because disabled women can be pretty spectacular, but put us in the room where things happen and that's why we absolutely have to have more disabled people in positions of authority. We have to lift other disabled people and disabled women up too and I love the contributions about that that came from Pam and Christina a moment ago. Sisters, let us do everything that we can to put talent in the room where it happens and that I believe is how we build the world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination, a world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive, a world where difference is valued and celebrated and I believe that together we can do this because we are women and together we can all break the bias. Thank you Pam. Due to unforeseen circumstances Maggie Chapman MSP has centre apologies but we're now going to have a question and answer panel and if I can invite Christina McKelvie MSP and also Beatrice Wishart MSP to join us at the front and Pam is going to remain online to answer questions. I already have a number of questions that have been submitted in advance so I will start first with a question from Emily Kearns from our ladies high school in Cumbernauld. Emily, can you raise your hand so that we know where you are and if able please stand and ask the panel your question please. During the pandemic which women inspired you the most? Okay thank you so I think I'll go from left to right here maybe not politically but we'll not get into that shall we and I'll start with Pam Gossel. Thank you Presiding Officer and thank you Emily for your question. I think for me many women inspired me during that time but I'll name a few to start off with the women that worked in the national health service. We mustn't forget they put theirself at harm in harm's way so that we could be basically safe and many of our relatives friends were in hospitals they were caring for us that's a first lot. The second is we mustn't forget our front line and essential workers people seem to forget the essential workers they were providing services when we were in the lockdown for us and I want to give a mention to that I did say in my speech to all the women that basically gave up their careers their leisure life to stay home to look after and be that mother but last but not least we have Professor Linda here we mustn't forget those women those trailblazers I would call them right that gave us so much to the pandemic but also the scientists like Sarah Gilbert people like that you know gave us hope and gave us basically a lot of research behind and today we are here so yeah so definitely out to those women thank you Emily. Minister in response to Emily's question. Thanks for your question Emily it's a great question I'm racking my brains about so many people that I know who inspired and supported me in my constituency and the work that they do there but all of the people that Pam's just mentioned I had to have lots of care last year and I needed that care so I'm grateful thanks to all of the women that were in that front line I think I've already mentioned the Hamilton Mamys who are just formidable and I mean they've got a brilliant facebook page I go and look at it every morning because it lifts and inspires me for the work that they do every single day they've just not stopped they just started it and they're just not stopped it so it's wonderful to see that but I couldn't come along with our official opening for parliament last year because I was so ill but I was able to send along my local hero who's a woman from Larkall called Nancy Barr she is a legend an absolute legend and they had a thing called the Larkall rainbows and all the children had rainbows on the windows and it was just wonderful but they made sure people were fed they made sure people were cared for they made sure prescriptions were picked up they just done an amazing job and they're still doing it because they have not stopped either and she will just continue to lead that whole community in the work that she does so I special mention Nancy Barr but you know we've already heard from Linda today what an awe-inspiring speech that was in the work that she does Debbie Shreed is another one that I follow as well because she thought there's always just a real humanity to the science behind all of this to help us you know lay people understand all of that but I can't miss out our First Minister who has led from the front you know we couldn't you know I don't think we could have asked for a better First Minister to be leading from the front and all of this well respected for it too but also demonstrated how vulnerable she is and how she missed her family and sometimes we forget when people are in the front line that they're people and they're human and to see that as well that that person shine through she missed her mommy and she missed cuddlesby agnes and so did I and that's the last person I want to pay tribute to she's sitting there agnes has been bringing this event to this parliament since its inception I think decades and she's lifted up so many women and doing that and carried us through and supported us so agnes thank you and I'm now going to put that question to Beatrice Wishart MSP who's just joined the panel Beatrice represents Shetland in the parliament and very interested to hear Beatrice who has inspired you throughout the pandemic thank you Presiding Officer and I have to say I was having a conversation with MSP colleagues before lunch and we all talked about having the imposter syndrome and I have to say I have that here this afternoon sitting on the panel because there are so many inspiring women in this chamber I feel quite in awe of all of you in terms of the women who I mean in response to the to the question all the people who have been who have been mentioned by Pam and by Christina and I think I might reflect on some of the women at home in Shetland who have done so much who saw I think of one person in particular who who said she saw a need and and tried to help fulfill it and it's something that she has done in all her adult life and she has gone out of her way to do whatever was needed in the community to make sure that people were supported that people had food that supplies were able to get to families that medicines were out be you know being able to be picked up prescriptions to get to those who couldn't get out during lockdown so I think of the people people like that at home who they inspire me and continue to do so great question and I'll put that question to Pam Duncan-Glancy. Thank you Presiding Officer and thank you Emily for that great question as Beatrice has said it really is and there are so many women inspired me every day but in particular during the pandemic I have to pay tribute to unpaid carers who literally stopped everything in some cases and had to provide and step up unpaid care and I know that they're really struggling and so I know that we'll all want to say thank you to them today. I also find the front line staff as we've already heard in the NHS incredibly inspired and they turned up put their life on the line to save ours and there's nothing more inspiring than that and some specific names people just to name which I think is really important first of all my sister Jen Duncan and the way that the way that she got us through the pandemic as a family was was incredible she was there for us all the time there was so many moments when Hugh and I both Hugh and I used to have carers and if we were if we were struggling or if we were worried or if people were off then then she stepped in and as she always does but not just that she was the one organising the family. Lizzie she was the one doing the zoom stuff making sure we all kept in touch so I need to I need to say and then finally if you'll allow my carers our own carers some of whom you'll have all met in the chamber Pamela Clarence, Stephanie Mackintosh, Heather Nancollis, Selena Kearney, Susan Anderson, Iona Gibson and Sheenae Tickey who came to work every single day during the pandemic with just as much enthusiasm as they always have and I want to thank them on record too. Thank you Emily and thank you to the panellists for your for your responses I'll now move to Rizwana Said from the Feel Good Women's group to ask her question. Rizwana can you raise your hand smashing? My name is Rizwana I'm the project coordinator from the Feel Good Women's group and my question is from the panel what differences and changes have you made in your life since COP26 took place thank you. Thank you very much Rizwana and I'm going to put that question first of all to Christina. Thank you very much. Thank you Rizwana for a brilliant question it's a great question because when you think about well what changes have you made you know you start to look at some of the simple actions that you can take just in your household I've got a really hungry son who wastes a lot of food and we've changed that now because of the lot of food waste in my houses anybody that's got hungry sons will know that they'll eat lots of stuff and then leave things behind and so we've stopped that and I was thinking about this this morning about the things that you use about your house you're looking at the chemical products you're using you're looking at the amount of plastic that you're using I now don't buy any fruit or vegetables at all if it's in a plastic bag just don't buy it and that makes you you just think about some of that as well and I look for things you know that are much more biodegradable or all of that I also drive a hybrid car I might make the move the next time to an electric car you know so that's something that I've been doing for a few years now on top of all of that but I think the biggest thing is how you educate yourself to change the way the world looks at the way it uses reuses or doesn't reuse and it disposes of things as well and there's there's much more we can do in that area and there's much much more you know we can do as individuals but there's much more we can do as a government and as a parliament and I think we're very lucky across all of our parties we've got a real commitment to reducing our impact on the climate and what that does and I have to say some of the young women that I know who are equal warriors are just absolutely amazing and I learn from them every single day and as I say sometimes it's just to be simple things you change in house reducing food waste less plastic you know and then doing things like turning the firm a stat down a 1% as well hopefully turning the world seven stat down 1% as we go along to thank you can I just take this moment we're having issues with Pam Duncan Glancy's feed unfortunately so we are going to say goodbye to Pam just now but I know you'll all want to join me in thanking Pam for her contribution for joining us today thank you very much so we'll put Rizwanis question now to Beatrice another good question personal changes I mean as Christina says you look around what you're doing what you're using yourself I've stopped using things like cling film I cut back on some of the foods that I would have bought that had come from further afield I'm buying more local produce making sure that my love for avocados doesn't get out of hand and I don't encourage try not to encourage buying buying those I have I still have a petrol car part of the reason I haven't changed is because of the lack of infrastructure so that's something that has to be addressed at a national level what else have I done I think just generally looking at the way you lead your household and doing the job that I do because I'm being now between between two places I'm at home at the weekends and here through the week then it's trying to make sure that I don't overbuy things or end up trying to to use sort of ready-made things trying to be more economical I don't buy much in the way of makeup and that kind of stuff as you can probably tell but that's you know those the choices that you make cut back on anything that's got you know things that have got natural fibres in them like for example a good shetland jumper will last your lifetime so you don't you don't need to you don't need to buy lots of lots of disposable clothes it's all that kind of thing but actually I learn a lot from my young my young family my grandchildren are teenagers and they keep me right on what I should and shouldn't be doing so I learn from them one of the things I really like about these days is we get to learn more about our colleagues because sometimes in the busyness of the week we miss out and we don't understand that our colleagues are passionate about avocados and I like the way you got that plug-in for local jumpers there Beatrice yes and we will now put that question to Pam Gosall thank you presiding officer and Rizwanna a very very relevant question in today's world I'm going to go back to what Beatrice and Christina talked about learning and education where I got a little bit of education from this was during cop 26 I worked with the four temples in Scotland in rendering Glasgow and they looked at what they could do what they weren't doing and what they can do so sat down and gotten to sign some pledges but what came out of that was not the fact that they're making change happen they have 250 children in the Punjabi school and those children decided to do an exhibition and then do a presentation right from little girls and boys at three four-year-olds nursery right up to A levels and they decided to talk about what we can do as grown-ups and other people to make a difference and that's where I learned a lot I have to be honest you know we yes we hear a lot on television we hear a lot talking to each other but these are children's voices it's there tomorrow we're taking away from them and they talked about turning the lights off they talked about planting food they talked about you know when you go shopping that you have that bag and you don't use the plastic bags they talked about you know everything Christina and Beatrice spoke about but they spoke about the such passion and such detail that I actually learned so much from them and just little things around the house whether it's you know turning the water off where you keep the tap on while you're kind of washing dishes you know simple things like turning lights off and I have to say I haven't had much gas in the house so I might need your jumpers right okay since November so you know things like that I'm used to now getting used to the climate it's cold you just put a warm clothes on so things like that and one thing I will say I haven't changed my car like Beatrice but I am looking to but the only thing is it's infrastructure we need to make sure and that's something this parliament will make sure as well working with the providers that we have the right infrastructure in place so that we can all go electric or whatever way the energy goes so yeah trying to learn a little bit every day thank you thank you very much Rizwana for that very personant question I'd now like to invite Sarah Cummings a Scottish women conventions volunteer to ask a question Sarah I'm reading the question on behalf of Shona Blakely who unfortunately can't be here today I'd like to ask the panel what assurances will you give to women that would ensure proper flexible working as a right? Thank you I think I'll put that question to Beatrice first I think that the parliament as a whole is working towards making sure that women have flexible have flexible working but I think we need to start with some of the some of the bigger companies and I think that where am I trying to say here I think we need to look at the bigger companies to make sure that their policies are in place that they understand that they get more from their employees if there is flexible working arrangements there and things like good childcare and support so that women can have flexible working times I think of of people who have we've spoken about this before who have had to juggle throughout the pandemic being everything to everybody so I think it's important that things like you know childcare making sure that it's available to cover the times when women are working it's not good for women who are working shifts for example so there's so much more we could be doing in that regard and I think there is just a general feeling that things will change it's what the First Minister was saying that you're not we're not going to go back to what we were before we will make it better and making sure that flexible working is at the root of employment will certainly help the future generations would you like to address that question thank you Presiding Officer Sarah yeah good question through the pandemic I did mention in my speech that many women went without certain careers leisure and certain things and I have to say out the pandemic where there was good there was where there was bad there was good as well so we need to take that kind of hybrid model and make sure where it works for women to use that just like Beatrice said not to lose the fact that women can be more productive even from home in different places but what I would like to add is I think it's all about what do women want and what do they need so not every woman would like to basically work flexible so I think women need choice and it's important that they have choice but also where businesses will work with women is sometimes some jobs you will actually have to be there in person to do the job so actually it's all about transferable skills and maybe women want to change that job into a job that suits them best and that's where education whether it's from colleges universities is great when you go back as a mature student like I did and that you can change over so I think it's choice we need women need and women need opportunities minister thanks very much president officer I would just echo Sarah the points that both my colleagues here have made and all of the points have made there I spoke about in my remarks about flexible working and the lessons we've learned during the pandemic and the the battles that I fought with employers as a unison steared all those years ago and you know really understood growing up in a household where we were all carers how important flexible working was for our family as well there's a few things that government is doing you know the the new child payment some of the the work that we've been doing around about social security for women with women at the heart of that the 1140 hours free childcare and how that's rolling out in different places in different ways and Beatrice is absolutely right we need some flexibility around that as well but you know it used to be you got you got 10 hours a week childcare when I went back to work after having my first son who's 30 next month that's terrifying anyway I was 10 when and obviously 10 when I had him but I don't get away with that but you know I had about 10 hours worth of childcare at that point I had to rely on my mommy you know and it shouldn't have to be that that's the circumstances that's why 1140 hours is so so important and a couple of the things that we're doing in government we're doing something called flexibility works fund and another one called time-wise fund as well and that is part of our fairer Scotland unemployment work that we're doing already so that's projects we were already working on but the lessons that we've learned from the pandemic is how we can scale that up and scale it out to meet the needs of women to be you know in the workplace to be on the boards to be in this parliament but also to be who they want to be as well and that's a you know contributing to our society and the way that they see best and that goes back to the very important point that Pam made choice and flexibility is incredibly important. Yeah thanks very much for that question Sarah I think parliament at the moment the we have a committee undertaking an inquiry into how the parliament does its business because none of us here would have imagined a couple of years ago that we'd be able to vote remotely or take part in business online so there's a discussion going on at the moment about how much of that will continue so we await the outcome with interest but it's sure we've you know we've all been awakened to the fact that there is a different way of doing things and I think you know credit to the parliament's staff team who've enabled us to to be able to continue working throughout this period and I have a question now thank you so thanks Sarah for that question have a question now from Carol Ann Watson from Unite Scotland's Women's Committee hi thanks Presiding Officer with the recovery under way of health and social care which has disproportionately affected women how do we ignite and create economic empowerment of women I'll put that on to the minister in the first instance thank you very much Presiding Officer Carlan what a great question and what a really good time to ask that question as well because we are all learning the lessons from coming out of the pandemic and what recovery looks like I mean I'm with many of the women that I speak to actually the normal before was no good enough for all of us and we should not go back into some of that but what the pandemic did expose with those deep inequalities that women face in many many circumstances you know the carers the essential workers all of that the front line health care staff demonstrated all of that and our minister cabinet secretary of finance she gave a statement the other day and brought forward the our plans we've got for economic revival and renewal and the opportunities within that and I don't know whether it was coincidence being a woman expecting her first baby in the middle of that but I could see women stamped all over it which was maybe you know something that we always strived for but we didn't see it as as obvious so it's great to see that piece of work it's a new piece of work I would say get involved in it if you've got comments if you've got you know ideas if you've got resolutions to problems you've got challenges bring them all please and I know Unite and Unite's women's committee are excellent at doing that and I look forward to it there's a few other things that we need to think about as well about how women return to work places that have changed that's flexible working but actually having the ability to change you know what you've been doing before because you've learned the new skills and how you can use those new skills so the women's returner programme that we do in government helped support that work as well and there's a number of things that I'm doing in my portfolio around about violence against women and girls misogyny you know the intersectionality that women face because we're we're not just one characteristic you know we're a myriad of characteristics it's taking me a wee while to understand that my new characteristic is the issue about illness and that that's taking me a wee while which helps me understand how I address that when I am hoping to support other women you know but another piece of work that I'm doing in government is around about human rights and how we protect and advance our human rights in Scotland I had an interest in meeting with Dominic Rab the other week he might not explain it is that but it's interesting for me anyway our human rights are under attack right now but this parliament and this government want to expand those human rights sitting right at the heart of that as women it's incorporating CEDA into scots law at last you know it's bringing forward pieces of legislation that incorporate our UN treaties to our rights the UNCRPD you know that's that's for persons with disabilities those intersections that women face CERD which is the commission to end racial discrimination that intersection for our women of colour in different cultures in Scotland as well all of them need to be empowered we need to we need to be at the heart of that and until that empowerment happens we won't see the economic advances for women the first minister mentioned if women are more productive have more opportunities and get all of the things that we want you to have we make our nation a better place we lift everyone and I think that's what's incredibly important this parliament rarely does in anything on our own we do it in collaboration and in conjunction and that's what I do every single day in my job so if a unite women's committee want to come in and have a cup of tea and sort out some of these problems and give some of the challenges then that invitation is wide open caroline thanks thank you so I'll put carlines question to to Pam now if I may how do you ignite and create economic empowerment of women thank you presiding off that and thank you carline for a very relevant another relevant question there I think him I'd have to talk about because if you heard my quote from malava it was basically about education being the shadow minister for further and higher education going through that experience myself as well I would have to say that empower economic empowerment would have to come from education but I have to be probably clear on not one size fits all not everybody here will go to university not everybody here will go to college not everybody here will be apprenticeship we get apprenticeship week next week you know and not everybody sometimes even educates you know I didn't educate I had no qualifications but I ran a very successful business and today I've turned it into a portfolio property so it's very successful so I learned from my dad right and I learned from my mother that hard work ethics and looking at it it was a kind of apprenticeship if you think about it without the qualification that I learned now I did say not one size fits all so it's important as a parliament that you know just like christina said we work together we need to make sure that there is every pathway out there for a woman to choose her destiny and also to fit in with the life that we've spoken about earlier on about flexible working so when one has education one has a voice not just because you are a doctor or you are a nurse or you're a teacher but because you have confidence you're assertive and you will say no to the things that you do not want you will have a voice with education. I think that both Pam and Christina have covered quite a lot there and I was going to major on education because I do think that that is that is absolutely vital whatever form that education takes and I mean I think of people sitting open university courses at the minute to try and improve their situation in terms of getting you know better paid jobs so I think education skills transferable skills all those things are are important one thing that we could do is we could look at what councillors are actually paid because how can we encourage more young women and women with commitments to come into council with the salary that's on offer at the moment so I think there's a lot around that and obviously encouraging more women to come into this place. Thank you now I know we're over time but I cannot resist the temptation to ask if anyone would like to put a question to our panellists yes if you just want to wait till your microphone till the red light flashes if you're able to please stand up and introduce yourself and then put your question to the panel. I think that's me now yes hello my name's Donna Orr again thank you. So I think we it's fair to say that Covid has impacted us all in some ways and as I spec from in terms of those impacts but I think we talk about kind of the challenges of Covid we talk about the kind of the bad things around Covid but there has been a lot of light and amongst the shade for me personally that was the Thursday night family quizzes that we had in zoom that we still continue to have even though we can meet each other in person I mean did you know that postman Pat's surname was actually Clifton well I do now after that Thursday night quiz so I just want to put it to the panellists where has the light come from you for you sorry and amongst some of the shade through the past two years thank you very much for that excellent question I'll go to to Beatrice yeah well I think family zooms have been a great thing but if probably the other thing is that I'm a member of a book group now it may sound like we speak a lot about books we do mention books but we it's usually just the time for a good gossip when I get together that women like but we moved on to zoom as well which was somewhat hilarious so I think that those occasional meetings and I have to say we had a book group meeting we've now moved to having them on Sunday afternoons with the hope of having Sunday afternoon tea and a discussion about books so I think the book group is for me has been a it's been the thing that's kind of lightened my days and Christina I think I mean you're right about where there's light and where I seen light was just ordinary people supporting each other you know my my son chopping the neighbour next door saying I'm going to the shops do you need anything you know and you do you seen that in every community across the land and it was like and I remember our final few debates in here before we went into lockdown and that real sense of you know fear and foreboding and what was coming we were all looking at media coverage in Italy and other places but you know when you had opera singers singing from the balconies and we had people doing the slosh in their streets and you know and you just that that real community participation and for me and my role one of the responsibilities I've got is to tackle social isolation and loneliness in Scotland and one of the things that we realised because we had a pretty good strategy that was starting to do pretty good work we realised a whole new group of people were going to be facing that for the first time and how could we make a difference here and all the stakeholders we're saying we've got some money you know governance never get any money to just share it that that was one of the days of light where I was able to go to women's aid rape crisis the networks of befriending people that we know and the networks of people who were doing all of those community activism you know responses prescriptions and messages and just supporting fun and joy for people that was where the real light came from and we met just last just last week the week before with our stakeholders in the social isolation and loneliness strategy I don't do anything alone I always my stakeholders at the table with me and the first thing we said is right how can we keep that going because that brought light real light in a time of darkness well we should keep it going and keep shining that light so it's a brilliant question there's so many examples but that that's just a few thank you and the light in the darkness I'd have to say in the 13th of march 2020 I caught Covid I was in england at an event I caught Covid it was very serious it was bad and my light I have to say at that time was definitely my husband he works away a lot and I work all the time we're both workaholics we've never given each other even a probably a full day you could say right what the light brought was that we gave each other so much time that we even installed vegetable patches we grew our own vegetables salads and every day popping out getting our own salads and you know because we had nowhere to go so it was that time that we spent together and you know making salads and everything now when I say salad he tells me am I a rabbit you know so he's changed on it but yeah definitely family and my mother I think even my sisters you know even on zoom that we couldn't see each other because I was stuck in england but the fact that family brought so close all my life since my father passed away all I've done is a lot of work work work I don't have that balance I'm going to be honest and I don't regret it either but that was a time for light in my family I think just not for me but for my whole family and my boys and everybody that she's giving us time and what they didn't know was that they were my light at that time thank you in the interests of time sadly we have to bring this session to a close I think we need to make sure we have more time for more of this the next time just putting that out there to those who organise but can I just ask that you thank our fabulous panellists and all of those who put such great questions to the panel thank you once again I would now like to invite brenda king mbe to speak brenda is a program manager at london medical associates as part of the leadership team overseeing the vaccine rollout in west minister council and the royal borough of kensington and chelsea brenda was also a member of the european economic and social committee writing a number of key papers on sustainable development she's also been widely recognised for her years of pioneering work with british young people of african and caribbean heritage brenda king mbe good afternoon everyone thank you very much to the presiding officer and a big thanks to you agnith and the scottish women's convention for inviting me here it's been a real real pleasure now as people had said earlier tuesday moth international women's day and as the first minister said countries from all over the world unite to celebrate women's achievement so it's really an honour for me to be here to celebrate women in scotland you know women not women just from the present but women from the past and as i can see up there women um from future generations who will or have been champion for change in gender equality socially economically culturally and politically the scene for this year is gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow with the goal of advancing gender equality in the time of climate crisis through women's leadership now the hashtag for this year is break the bias and it's the focal point of the campaign to raise awareness and rally for gender equality so i've trust that young people who knew social media will really make this hashtag and this hashtag for this event trend on social media now we know climate change has had an impact on all countries and its people but its effects are being framed and it's been mentioned by so many speakers by the persistent and entrenched gender inequality whether it's extreme storms drought heat waves or rising sea levels women are disproportionately affected why and i think some of the questions this afternoon showed why that is it's because women are more likely to live in poverty or have less wealth than men think pensions they're more likely to have caring responsibility this has been mentioned time and time again and just cast your mind back to when storm unis closed schools across scotland which gender do you think was more likely to have to make those difficult decisions even if it had a negative personal career or job impact and finally as the professor mentioned that women are more likely to experience violence and the data has revealed that this escalates during periods of instability and we've read those stories during the Covid lockdown so these factors and many more means that as climate change intensify women will struggle the most in fact the Paris climate agreement acknowledges this and includes specific provisions to ensure women receive support to court with the hazards of climate change now you will think that this inequality will hamper women's capacity and potential to be actors of climate action however as you have seen in this room this is not the case women are showing remarkable resilience around the world whether it's women in local communities many people mention what's happening in in in Ukraine and other countries where there's conflict but we have the Greta Thunberg from Sweden we have Vanessa Nakate from Uganda and of course my family hill from Barbados we have Mia Motley the prime minister of Barbados whose opening speech at COP26 in Glasgow made some of the male decision makers from G7 and G20 countries shift in their seats such was their discomfort so these women whether at local national or global level are leading climate change movement champion the cause of the voiceless or the hardly heard and building alternative models of community that focus on sustainability and co-operation so women are not allowing themselves to be victims when it comes to climate change their resilience means that their participation and leadership is having transformative effects in their countries and communities so why is this so important when new research published last December shows that empowering women through improved healthcare education and representation in government goes a long way in helping societies adapt more quickly and easily to the impacts of climate change of a change in climate the research highlights that countries with higher levels of gender equality usually take more action on climate change and are less vulnerable to its negative impacts therefore improvements in gender equality contributes to climate resilience meaning that gender equality is not only crucial for women but for society as a whole so and the first minister mentioned this morning when she said I think that's what she meant when she says gender inequality holds us all back so this study measured gender inequality of a country using something called the gender inequality index which was developed by united nations development programme UNDP so the index is made up of three parts the first part measures health using a combination of maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rate so the lower the level of maternal mortality and adolescent birth rate indicates better healthcare for women which is a sign of better gender equality so Agnes when you mentioned the women's health plan here in Scotland I congratulate you the next index measures the levels of female employment the more equality there is in the workplace so I love the question there that the more equality there in the workplace the stronger is the indication the stronger gender equality now the final part is about education and political employment by comparing the percentage of males and females in parliamentary seats and with a secondary education so the research found that a greater representation of women in government drives climate policies so female representation in national parliament not only empowers women it also leads countries to adopt more stringent climate change policies so there's a direct correlation between female representation and the implementation of policies which can lead to lower co2 emissions and when this health plan you mentioned this health plan it probably explains I saw in 2019 the times declared Scotland the best country in the UK for gender equality I know we have a long way to go but so and this is why I say it is a real pleasure to be here with you today to celebrate and um Scottish women and to mark international women's day thank you Agnes for the invite thank you all for listening thank you very much indeed Brenda thank you I would now like to introduce our final speaker today Carmen Pericini well almost our final speaker Carmen is a well-known Scottish actor particularly for her appearances on the tv soap river city and comedy programme scott squad I'm such a fan however Carmen has also trained and worked as a specialist clown doctor in hospitals hospices and schools right across Scotland working for the arts and health organisation hearts and minds and I also understand that Carmen has embraced a sustainable living in a very proactive way as a gardener growing fruit and vegetables in a small holding to feed her young family Carmen hello hello here I am yes this has been really interesting I hope you've all been inspired by everything that has been said today all the speakers have been utterly amazing and I found it really inspiring and part of me is thinking why am I here what what can I offer but I guess we're all we all have our own stories we all have our own talents we all have our own values and we can all share from each other so and I hope after today as well everything that you've heard that you take with you you bring it back to women in your lives to back to your groups and chat about it more debate it more because it's so important to keep communicating in these times yes so what I have found utterly amazing about the whole pandemic is people's ability to adapt how quickly people had to just change their lifestyle to adapt to Covid my own experience with that was with working with hearts and minds we would go into hospitals and hospices and schools s a n schools all over scotland to interact with children to empower them through laughter and obviously that all stopped when the pandemic hit but we quickly went online and I was really taking a back about how amazing my colleagues were at hearts and minds to adapt to that clowning online so all of a sudden I'm dressed up as my clown doctor which is called dr squeegee the weegee I'm not really a weegee I was born in paisley but yes I would dress up as my clown doctor jumping about my living room on a zoom call with a kid in hospital so people looking in must have been like what is she doing but yeah it was quite amazing and I one of the positives from that and I think that's that was a really good question about the positives that have come out this and from the video that we watched was all those connections that were made online that weren't there before and we still work with chaz we're still not allowed to go into hospices yet but chaz are keeping us online because we're able to connect with families that maybe couldn't access their services so we're reaching families up in Aberdeen and Vernest that couldn't actually come into the hospice so yeah online has been really a massive positive thing coming out of this and also the connections what I'd like to do is what the First Minister was saying was reflecting on the pandemic you know through all the loss and the heartache and the fear I think it's really important now to look to the positives that have came from the pandemic because when the pandemic happened it basically caused us to stop to like really stop and look at what is going on and question more what is going on I mean we have come a long way listening to everything up here about the amount of women in parliament it's fantastic but as Linda says we're still in a position where one in four children are living in poverty so we need to start asking questions why is that and what the First Minister said as well about it's really shown a light on inequality and I think that this conversation needs to be had a lot more and one of the things that happened obviously in the pandemic was our time is limited outside so when we were allowed to go outside we appreciated it more and I think from that our connection to nature has probably built up more as well but also from a point of view you know I felt very privileged to be able to walk out and to walk near a lock you know I'd stay in a wee village in Loch Winnach I felt very privileged because my mind was also going what would be the people stuck in a high-rise flat what about the people who are isolated who can't leave what about the people stuck in an abusive relationship stuck inside and my heart bled for them all you know and I think a positive from that is having that thought of yeah let's look at our privileges and let's think of others more on a bigger scale and in terms of inequality I think we have come a long way and an ability to the ability to relook at things and to question is a really positive quality to move forward and another positive is about reaching out and reconnecting whether it was online or just building up those connections again with people and making them stronger because it did it connected communities in a way that I hadn't really done before and then not just in Scotland but also on a global scale here was a thing that was happening not just to us but to everybody around the world and it's and I would also like to say yes I totally give my heart out to every all the women and children in Ukraine at this moment but also all the women in Syria and Kurdistan and Iraq any women in a warnton country that's been going on I would like to recognise today as well what I find interesting with this pandemic is that need for change and that stopping and really thinking and reflecting how we got to where we are and I think what's interesting is we can look across we're very you know we live in a western society we can look at different parts of the world and maybe take some of their models as an example of moving forward one of the ones that I started studying into was Jinnwar in Kurdistan the Kurdish women's movement have been building a society which starts at the very essence of it with complete full equality for women and they're creating a society that has direct democracy and ecology at its heart now we can look at different models and maybe take them into our models here in Scotland and work with that and keep building and evolving because I think with war everything that's happening it seems to be that we're going backwards but I know that women can think forward and we can evolve to move forward so instead of going back to the way things were I think we can take what we've learned about ourselves what we've learned about each other over the pandemic and building that we can strengthen our connections and make new ones and come together to create real change so I'm going to end with a quote from an amazing woman who sadly passed away last year the very inspiring bell hooks one should away with the idea of people as fixed static entities then you see that people can change and there is hope so I would like to share that with you and I'd like to thank you all for being here I've never been so nervous in my life but anyway I've drank two bottles of water and my mouth is dry but yeah it's a real honour to be with all you women and yeah the fight continues and yeah let's keep fighting so much Herman Herman Perotini for that excellent almost end to our afternoon I am now delighted to invite Agnes Tollmi to give her closing remarks and we'll be really quick because I don't want to be the one that holds you back for the drink but is that finished right okay thank you Presiding Officer I know this is the first time that you've spent time whereas at this event and we hope that we haven't put you off and you'll come back next year and I thank you for the way you've conducted this event it's been absolutely fantastic and you've been very measured and nice because Linda Fabiani was no was nice was she she used to talk behind my back while I was talking here by the way anyway I hope to see Linda back here again the First Minister as usual a class act Linda Bald you most certainly certainly certainly have the Attenborough stack hall everybody just was drawn in did you know you must not so now but this is your just your own live now aren't you but anyway thank you for coming along you've spoke at other events for us and I do hope we can invite you back because you're absolutely fabulous and we love you we absolutely love you friend I what can I say oh you're just an absolute star every time I've seen you speak I've been in your company and the fight that you have done for equality full stop has been utterly amazing and I'm so glad you came to my country you brought your husband with you now there was one of the african sisters asked me if I would introduce her to him but she didn't have any duality exchange with me so I said no so she can make her own way over MSPs Beatrice Pam Pam Duncan Glancy who we lost through technology and our very own wonderful Christina McKelvie there's no many countries sisters where politicians will sit like that and take questions and have no idea what's coming at them so I think they get 10 out of 10 for bravery welcome and this is the first time you've been with us and I hope you enjoyed the experience but from now on you squeegee the weegee it's done it's dusted you are I want to thank the parliament staff from the ones that let us in the door to give us our lanyards and saw us all through top to bottom thank you all some of you at the back absolutely brilliant it's working under extraordinary circumstances and you've done a fantastic job and catering one's better beyond guard because I've said the drinks down there and I wouldn't get in the way of any of these women on their way to it but a special thank you to Anne and Alice and you're here with Alice we put some very interesting zoom meetings over the months with these two women it's been hysterical I have to say and it always hasn't been me that's been nuts but anyway supporters on the back of your programme there's a list of people in organisations who helped us donate to your goodie bags and as ever your caramel wafer is there if anybody's not got one it wasn't me okay so you've got that SWC staff my new staff Susan, Jenna and Jess thank you stand up here is Suzanne and the newest one Margaret we're going to have to learn you teach you some manners you hiding yeah you you yeah you you didn't have a necklace to give me so you'll have to find your own way to that man okay thank you Margaret okay the best women Maggie and Vi thank you buses are a tradition now at these events and we know these events don't happen by themselves so a shout out to all our volunteers thank you thanks for a bit you it's all about you so a shout out to yourselves hello yeah sisters we are the daughters of the witches they didn't burn take care and enjoy your swarie thank you thank you Agnes and I feel exceptionally concerned that I'm following that human dynamo and comedy acts um thanks so much for your fulsome thanks you've really you know you've really highlighted how many people are involved in putting this event on and what a pleasure and privilege it's been to be involved I had previously taken part as a panelist it's been a great privilege for me today I do have two very able deputy presiding officers but they ain't getting their hands on this gig so I will be back um and I should say as well you have been very well behaved there are several msp colleagues in the chamber and they will attest to that so it's been a pleasure and a privilege to to hear today's event I just want to thank everyone again our speakers those who've put questions those who've contributed and taken part in any way and I'd like to thank you for your attendance today for helping us mark international women's day in the Scottish Parliament um just a short public health message um when you're leaving the chamber can I just remind all delegates that face coverings must be worn um unless you're exempt while moving around the building um you can of course remove them when you're eating or drinking um and event staff will help you to get to the main hall and the garden lobby and I look forward to meeting you at the reception. Thank you all once again. Stay safe.