 Mae cymdeithasol yn gweithio'r cyflawn cyffredinol, ond yn gweithio'r cyffredinol, cymdeithasol yn gweithio'r cyffredinol, cyflawn cyffredinol, cyflawn cyffredinol. Felly, mae'r gweithio'r gweithio'r cyffredinol yn ei tynnu mewn cwmysig yn Lothian 3048, yn y cwmysig gennymintol, a o'n ymwyndio gyffredinol yn Ylchydig Llywodraeth Llywodraeth. Mae'r gweithio'r gweithio yn gwleidio i ni gweithio'r cyffredinol. Caen Ceyliadau yn iawn gwneud ydyn nhw gafodd r in women's rights and in humanity. My motion pays tribute to this inspiring woman, surgeon, philanthropist and patriot, but also to the amazing group of women and girls, some of whom joined us this evening in Parliament, who like Elsie did not sit still, but have worked tirelessly to ensure Edinburgh and Scotland does not forget one of its most important women. I would like to thank all of them for the amazing work that they are doing, also those who have provided my colleagues and I with so many Elsie stories to prepare for this debate. I thank you too to my colleagues for supporting my motion and Minister Marie Todd for responding on behalf of the Scottish Government. It may seem odd that I, representing Argyll and Bute, am leading this member's debate to honour and recognise the achievements of Dr Elsie Ingalls with a statue in Edinburgh. Scotland is a village and, as I have said, Elsie's influence reaches far and wide, even to the beaches of Islay. It was a chance meeting with Thea Lorry on Calhomyn beach that I was drawn into this important project to remember Dr Elsie Ingalls. I am very grateful indeed for Jenny Minter who is giving way. Did she recognise that Elsie Ingalls is recognised and commemorated in Serbia and in France, but it is high time that we had her commemorated here in our nation's capital? I absolutely agree with the member and I would like to note that, in St Andrew's, where both he and I were educated, Elsie Ingalls' portrait was etched on the beach as part of Scotland's World War 100 commemorations. In Thea's words, Elsie's inspirational story is not just set on the battlefields of World War 1. Her battles included the fight to become a doctor and surgeon. She fought for votes for women and helped to establish the Scottish suffrage movement. But the philanthropic side of Elsie was her concern for the women and children from the poorest parts of Edinburgh for whom she set up a hospital on the high street. It's now time for Edinburgh to say thank you to Elsie Ingalls. As part of Scotland's World War 100 commemorations, I attended on the 29th of November 2017 a service at St Giles, marking 100 years since Elsie's funeral. It was a celebration of her life. St Giles filled with the joyous halleluia chorus as it had a century previously, a thanksgiving with triumph and hope. To begin at the beginning, Elsie was born in the Himalayas of India in 1994. Her father John Ingalls worked for the East India Company, but when he disagreed with the ruthless way that the company was run, he lost his post and the family returned to Edinburgh. Elsie finished her schooling in the city and then in Paris, all the time determined to become a doctor, supported to achieve her ambition by her progressive father. After qualifying at both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow, she worked in women's hospitals in London and Dublin. When her beloved father was dying, she returned home to Edinburgh to nurse him, later acknowledging that whatever I am, whatever I have done, I owe it all to my father. Her deep concern for the way the medical services treated women led her to establish hospitals and maternity facilities for Edinburgh's poor, but Elsie also recognised that the only way women would gain true equality was through the vote, and tirelessly campaigned for votes for women. Elsie was 50 when World War I broke out. She knew that women could play an important role. She inquired at the War Office if doctors and surgeons would be permitted to serve in the front line hospitals, women doctors. It was then that the infamous words were uttered to her, my good lady, go home and sit still. Elsie went home, but sit still she did not. Instead she offered all female units to the Belgians, the French and the Serbs, who all gladly accepted. Elsie formed the Scottish women's hospitals, along with her friends in the suffrage movement, starting a massive fundraising campaign that was to run throughout the war. Writing to Millicent Fawcett, Elsie said, we get these expert women, doctors, nurses and ambulance workers organised. We send our units wherever they are wanted. Once those units are out, the work is bound to grow. The need is there and too terrible to allow any haggling about who does the work. Elsie finished her letter, and when one hears of the awful need, one can hardly sit still till they are ready. Individuals, communities, companies and countries all contributed beds, blankets, tents, ambulances, surgical equipment and x-ray machines, everything that a field hospital required. When women came back from serving in one of the hospitals on the front, they often went on to help raise more money by giving talks about the important work that they and their fellow women were doing. Women like Mary Struthers Drummond and Miss Lang Anderson from Appen, Nurse Green and Nurse Mary Richie Thompson from Tobermory, just four of the many women from Argyll and Bute. I know members across this chamber will be able to share the names of more of those compassionate and brave women who join the Scottish Women's Hospitals or nurse at the front. Elsie Ingalls was not content to manage the hospitals from afar. She wanted to be in the thick of things. She travelled extensively across Europe from 1914 to 1917 visiting hospitals. It was in Serbia that Elsie extended her main effort and where she served both in the operating theatre and in directing improvements in general treatment. She wrote, The Serbian division is superb. We are proud to be attached to it. I will read from one of Elsie's letters, included in the book Dr Elsie Ingalls by Lady Frances Barber. This letter was written in January 1917 to her niece Amy McLaren. I don't think the children in these parts are doing many lessons during the war, and that will be a great handicap for their countries afterwards. Perhaps, however, they are learning other lessons. We saw the crowds of refugees on their carts and the things they had been able to save and all the little children packed in among the furniture and pots and pans and pigs. This letter was written on an ambulance train near Odessa 105 years ago. Sadly, those words are mirrored by journalists today. On Sunday night, Channel 4 news showed a maternity ward in Kiev in the basement lay a Ukrainian mother with her newborn daughter. The father, like the name Victoria or victory, the mother Nadia Hope. I was struck by the similarity of this scene to those that Elsie and other women must have experienced in Edinburgh and Serbia over 100 years ago. Seeing the horror of war unfolding again, but also the outpouring of aid and support for the people of Ukraine, I found myself thinking, wondering what Elsie would have said. There is a story that, after Elsie Ingalls visited her first field hospital in France, she went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. She suddenly felt as if there was a living presence behind her. She turned and realised that she had been sitting just in front of the statue of Joan of Arc. Afterward, she commented, I should like to know what Joan wanted to say to me. Elsie Ingalls is a living presence who deserves this recognition. Presiding Officer, I will finish by congratulating again the work that the team in the public galleries are doing to ensure that we never forget what Dr Elsie Ingalls achieved. I hope that Elsie will be able to stand beside Elsie's statue, feel her warmth. Feel her warmth and wonder what Elsie should want to say to them. I will sign off with the beautiful words penned by Scottish Poetgarus Stevenson for the Commemoration Service in 2017. Ms Mintle, you really are quite over your time. Can you please conclude? We are in the sun, and we would like to ask for your help, Ms Mintle. I now call Ruth Maguire to be followed by Sue Webber, who will be joining us remotely. Presiding Officer, I congratulate Jenny Mintle on bringing this debate to the chamber to celebrate and reflect on the incredible achievements of Dr Elsie Ingalls. Yesterday, we marked International Women's Day, where we celebrated women's achievements, raised awareness against bias and took action for equality. It is only fitting that today we celebrate Dr Elsie Ingalls by commemorating her achievements to raise awareness against bias and take action for equality. In a period when women were expected to be compliant in a masculine world, she challenged that and became a surgeon, philanthropist, patriot and leader of the movement for the political emancipation of women. From a young age, Elsie showed strength and resilience. Despite fierce prejudice from the medical establishments, she became one of the first women to study medicine in Scotland and, once qualified, devoted herself to improving the medical treatment of women. In 1894, she established aneddum from maternity hospital, staffed entirely by women, and at the outbreak of the First World War, organised all women ambulance units. After being told to go home and sit still by the war office, she refused. Instead, she raised funds and sent a medical team of 100 women to the front line in France to set up a fuelled hospital, followed by 26 hospital units in several countries. She herself travelled to Serbia to set up three hospitals. Today, perhaps because of Dr Elsie Ingalls, women are staple of front line medical roles. Elsie did not, however, confine her activities to medicine. It is no surprise that she became involved in the movement for women's suffrage, taking on the role of honorary secretary of the Edinburgh national society for women's suffrage. She said herself that fate had placed her in the vanguard of a great movement, for which she was described as a keen fighter. Through her involvement, her tenacity and influence continue to affect the lives of all Scottish women today. To echo words once used in describing Elsie by the First Minister, she demonstrated that women were capable of performing roles that they had been denied. In Serbia, she is remembered with respect and affection, where there are ffountains, buildings and memorials celebrating her life and legacy. In Scotland, with the closure of the Elsie Ingalls memorial hospital in 1988, there was a risk that she is consigned to history and almost forgotten. We must not let that happen. On the centenary for death in 2017, a campaign was proposed by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Frank Ross, to erect a statue in her memory. Sadly, while there was a list of very notable supporters, the pandemic ground the campaign to halt. Just like Elsie herself, Fiona Garwood and Thea Lorry decided not to sit still and pursued a pandemic project. Picking up the mantle to fundraise and build a memorial in the name of Dr Elsie Ingalls, I would like to offer my congratulations to them both, as it is mastered support from notable organisations and individuals, including medical and nursing organisations, historians and particularly Edinburgh girl guiding. I would encourage everyone listening to get involved. I understand that there are a number of events on until 13 March, and I have included various afternoon teas across the city and girl guiding sponsored to sit still on the medals. Donations can also be made through the Elsie Ingalls website. Statues create a dialogue between past and present. Elsie's kindness, resilience, strength and determination make her an incredible role model for generations to come. I agree with all those who say that Dr Ingalls is truly a revered and treasured figure, not just for Edinburgh, but for Scotland. She deserves to be honoured. I now call Sue Webber, who is joining us remotely, to be followed by Carol Mawkin. Yes, thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I start by drawing the chamber's attention to my register of interests as a City of Edinburgh councillor? I want to thank Jenny Minto for bringing forward this debate, and I'm delighted to have the chance to speak in recognition of Dr Elsie Ingalls. We've heard a lot about Elsie's life and achievements today, and I'm sure we'll learn more. Born in India, she moved to Edinburgh at age 14 with her family in 1878 and attended the Edinburgh Institute for the Education of Young Ladies until 1882. She knew then that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine, and in 1886 Dr Sophie Jax Blake opened the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women, where Ingalls began her medical training. In 1906, Ingalls launched the Scottish Women's Suffragette Federation, fighting not only for the women's vote but for equal rights in education and the right to her medical career. At nearly 50 in 1914, when war was declared, her patriotism led her to offer her services to the War Office, only to be turned away and denied. Ingalls suggested that the creation of medical units staffed by women, which could provide aid to British forces on the western front. However, she was rejected by the British War Office, Red Cross and the Royal Army Medical Corps, with the reason for rejection being that a women's role was at home. Not deterred, Ingalls fought to form independent hospital units staffed by women and an appeal for funds and support soon attracted more than just suffragette supporters. Funds poured in for the organisation, cottage women's hospitals for foreign service and both the French and Serbs accepted the offer of these all-female medical units. The first unit left for France in November 1914 and the second went to Serbia in January 1915. Ingalls went to Serbia in 1915 as the chief medical officer, but in the autumn, when Serbia was invaded and Ingalls hospital was taken over by the Germans, it was then interned until February 1916 when she was sent home. In April 1916, Ingalls became the first woman to be decorated with the order of the white eagle. Elsie Ingalls maternity hospital was established with surplus funds arising from the disbandment of the Scottish women's hospitals for foreign service, an organisation that had been formed by Elsie Ingalls. The 20-bed hospital opened in July 1925 and closed in 1988. My dad, sister and cousins were all born there, as well as countless other Edinburgh residents. Although it is now closed, it is yet another reason that a statue should be erected in her honour. Considering all those pioneering successes that medical trailblazer Elsie Ingalls had, it seems only fitting that a statue is erected in her honour in Edinburgh. There are, in fact, more animal statues than ones for women in our capital city. A long-awaited celebration in Edinburgh of our life and legacy is now under way to raise funds for a statue after a campaign launched five years ago to coincide with the centenary of our death and the campaign has been spearheaded by an Edinburgh branch of the Girlguiding movement. Tickets are now available for several events, which will kick-start a fundraising drive and it is hoped that 50,000 will be raised to pay for a statue of her, designed and erected on the royal mile. As a councillor for the city, I was delighted to be able to support the motion that was brought to the city chambers by Lord Provost Frank Ross endorsing the campaign for her statue. In conclusion, Dr Elsie Ingalls was a wartime heroine, a leading figure in women's suffrage movement and a founder of the Scottish Women's Hospital Service. I, like everyone in this chamber today, hope that her extraordinary life will be fittingly remembered. I now call Carol Mocken to be followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. I thank Jenny Binto for bringing this debate to the chamber and welcoming those in the gallery. Indeed, it is appropriate that, after marking International Women's Day yesterday, that today we focus on a pioneering woman who has made such an important contribution to Scottish and wider society. Moreover, it is important that I put on record Scottish Labour's support for those across Edinburgh taking part in fundraising events that will hopefully secure funds for a statue for Elsie Ingalls, a fitting tribute indeed in her home city. The efforts of campaigners are wide-ranging, including events held by the Edinburgh branch of Girlguiding Scotland as part of a two-week effort that started at the beginning of this month, such as a sponsored Sit Still event, referring to, as we have heard, the suggestion that Elsie Ingalls should go home and sit still in response to her offer of a female operated hospital unit being opened in the western front. I am pleased that cross-party support for those events was achieved at Edinburgh City Council on October last year, as we heard, which further highlights the wide range of support for tributes to her trailblazing women. As we have heard, the importance of Elsie Ingalls' contribution throughout her lifetime cannot be understated. Although we are well aware of the national influence of Elsie, it is important as we stand at the bottom of the royal mile to recognise the importance of our contributions to this city, establishing medical institutions to educate and to practice. Elsie helped to create opportunities for women and girls across Edinburgh. Indeed, the important work went beyond medicine to being a strong campaigner for women's suffrage, a huge fight in the late 1880s and early 1900s, a fight that women would eventually win thanks to work of those just like her. That significant contribution went further than campaigning for women's right to vote, but, importantly, for equality in education and in the workplace. That shows the vision of Elsie aiming for equality of opportunity for women in politics and education and in whichever career she chose. Yet, who would have thought, Deputy Presiding Officer, that, over 100 years after her death, women across the world would still be fighting for equality in politics and such things? Let us hope that, in the near future, there are no more firsts and no more glass ceilings to break, but it is an afterminder that there is still work to be done. However, Deputy Presiding Officer, I must conclude my remarks without making reference to the international impact that we have heard about. When rejected by the War Office, when offering her services at home, she took them abroad and in the form of the Scottish Women's Hostel for Foreign Service Fighters, where she would assist those wounded by war, most notably in Serbia. In Serbia today, as we have heard, there remain several acts of homage to her, recognising her and those who worked in her hostel. In concluding, Elsie Engels was a pioneering Scottish woman who had significant impact and influence anywhere she went, really. Her contribution to the City of Edinburgh through medicine, Scotland through her contributions to the suffrage movement and internationally setting up hostels in countries impacted by the most awful violence of war. It is right that we commemorate her today and once again offer support to those who are fundraising for a statue in Edinburgh to mark the life and work of Elsie Engels. It is so nice to hear everyone talking in the chamber today. Thank you. I now call Alex Cole-Hamilton to be followed by Foisal Trowder, who will be the last speaker in the open debate. Thank you very much indeed, Deputy Presiding Officer. It gives me great pride to rise to support this motion today, and I congratulate Jenny Minter for bringing it forward. For such an excellent speech, I think that she really captured much of Elsie's life very well. I have been privileged to be involved in this campaign since I was first elected to this place in 2016. I want to recognise, I think, the works of many people that have been mentioned already. I want to say a particular mention to Ian McFarland, who has driven this relentlessly. Student medics, the Edinburgh Girlguiding Movement and many other campaigners who have been fighting to give Dr Elsie Engels her recognition in the capital, and we will support every effort to make this happen going forward. Arguably, as we have heard, the fight goes back to 1988, with the closure of the memorial hospital to her name and which was dedicated, at which point there seems to be any form of physical commemoration of this most important woman in the history of our city. We need to recognise those monumental contributions not just to medicine, not just to science and the suffrage movement but also to Scottish history. We have already heard today that it is difficult to give justice to the profound power that her life and legacy has. Not only was her work as a scientist outstanding, but the enormous obstacles that she had to overcome to carry it out and make her achievements even more so, we have heard already that when she offered her services to the army after war first broke out, she was simply told, my good lady, go home and sit still, which she rightly ignored and instead went on to provide desperately needed medical care for those on the front line. In the autumn of 1917, she became aware that she herself had cancer, which was sadly what she later succumbed to. At the time, political stability was collapsing around her in Serbia, hence she was advised by those close to her to go back to Scotland immediately, but she insisted on staying until enough civilians were evacuating, putting it herself in grave jeopardy by so doing. The story is particularly pertinent today because it resembles the reality of the hundreds of thousands of women in Ukraine doing exactly the same thing, fighting for the greater good in the face of danger. Most of us will never be lucky enough to face. Not only would her medical contributions have saved countless lives, she is also a pioneering figure in the suffrage movement, as we have also heard. She is described by her contemporaries as the Scottish groups what Mrs Fawr is saying is to the English. As we all know, the statue to Millicent Fawr calls to courage everywhere was erected just over four years ago today, so it feels fitting that a statue should be put up to join her Scottish feminist compatriot and a great shame that one has not been already erected. Here in Edinburgh, our statues are seriously lacking in female representation. Not only do male statues outnumber female statues by 12 to 1, there are also as many statues to giraffes in the capital as there are to women. That is preposterous to even to say out loud. That is not a phenomenon restricted to our city alone, in fact far from it. In the UK, there are more statues to individuals named John than there are to women. As laughable as that seems, there may be some that ask, why does that matter? It matters because a statue is not just a decorative object, but it defines the city in which it is placed. It inspires the people who inhabit those cities. It seeks to commemorate those who have given and sacrificed for the history of the towns in which they are located. The fact that we have so few statues to women is emblematic of the fact that, as a society, we do not value women's achievements nearly as remotely highly as we do men. The fact that we do not also has detrimental consequences. Studies have shown that when children are asked to draw a picture of a scientist, only 28 per cent of children will draw a female scientist. If children cannot even picture the concept of a female scientist, how is a little girl supposed to feel about becoming one? There are so many girls passionate about science, justice and the environment that is still not enough encouragement in our society to nurture that passion. I want to finish by saying that, as has been made abundantly clear already, we still have so much further to go in achieving equality, but erecting a long overdue statue to one of the most remarkable women in the history of our city in our country is a good start. Thank you. I now call Poitol Charger, who, as I said, is the last speaker in the open debate. It's up to four minutes, please, Mr Charger. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Jenny Minto for bringing this debate to the chamber. It is a pleasure to speak in honour and recognition of Dr Elsie Ingalls, who was a true pioneer of women's rights and medical service in this city, this country and across Europe. It is a fighting that we mark her life and work in the same way as International Women's Day, where we celebrate the role of women across the world. Dr Ingalls certainly made a difference to more of the world than many people of her era got the chance to. Much has already been said of her domestic activities and her work for the rights of women across Britain, both in terms of their ability to participate in society and their right to quality and dignity in their medical treatment. It is remarkable that Dr Ingalls was able to achieve so much when the odds of society were stacked against her. It speaks to her determination to do what was right. This is also notable in her service during the First World War, where the hospitals and medical teams set up aided elite groups in the most appealing condition. Her work in Serbia through war captivity and a typos epidemic has made her national hero there. As Dennis Keffy, former UK ambassador to Serbia noted, in Scotland she became a doctor, in Serbia she became a saint. I was particularly struck in light of recent events that one of Dr Ingalls' final journey was to Odessa, then part of the Russian Empire, to aid suffering soldiers there. It is a sobering thought that we are once again sending aid to allies fighting in the same region. Dr Ingalls died a day after she returned to Britain and she never got to see the legacy that she had created for Omen in Britain and for medicine abroad. It is fitting therefore that we are finally discussing how best to celebrate that legacy. I pay tribute to those including One City Trust and Girlguiding Scotland who have been campaigning tirelessly for a status Dr Ingalls and to the Lord Provost, Frank Ross, who has personally campaigned this cause. I also pay tribute to the fundraising work of Fiona Garwood and Three Lowry, I think both are whom I believe are in the parliament today. Whatever the final form, I agree that it is time, Edinburgh recognized Dr Ingalls' life and work with permanent memorial. I also would like to note the initiative this month at Edinburgh Central Library, inspired by the LC Ingalls campaign to create a mural to highlight the Edinburgh's unsung Omen. I hope that through this efforts we'll soon be able to further the work of LC Ingalls and her fellow campaigners for equality and see that the Omen who have shaped our city and our nation are remembered at least as much as they are male counterparts. I was welcoming very much indeed our friends in the gallery today and it is indeed fantastic to see people back in the gallery after all this time. In terms of the rules, I would ask that you don't clap. I now call Minister Marie Todd to respond to the debate up to seven minutes, please minister. I want to thank my colleague Jenny Minto for lodging the motion and for bringing the pioneering work of LC Ingalls to the attention of this Parliament. I commend you for your excellent speech and, of course, for inviting us to celebrate the work of this remarkable woman. LC was practising medicine in a time when death and childbirth was one of the biggest risks that women faced. She saw that women's health, particularly in maternity care, needed specific focus and resource and the services that she set up in Edinburgh for women, particularly for poor women, were absolutely trailblazing in their time. After her death, the hospital bearing her name and recognising her deeds, the LC Ingalls memorial hospital was set up and many of our current Edinburgh residents were brought into the world in that very hospital until it closed its doors for the last time as a maternity hospital in 1988. As we know, it was during World War I that LC Ingalls came to real prominence. She was determined to prove that women could be equal to men in providing medical services to the armed forces. As we have heard, when she was told by the War Office, my good lady, go home and sit still, she did exactly the opposite. I would like to think that that spirit lives on in Scottish Women today. The Scottish Women's Hospital service that she established providing medical services right across Europe treating casualties in Serbia, in Belgium, in France and Romania and Russia, saved the lives of countless thousands of men and women who were caught up in the battles of the First World War and are still remembered in those countries today. Over 100 years ago, women nurses and doctors from all over Scotland packed their bags, boarded trains and went to work in these field hospitals following LC Ingalls to the front line. Their numbers included Louisa Jordan, who died in a field hospital in Serbia and whose memory we named our Glasgow coronavirus hospital in 2020 after. Many of those women would never have left their town before let alone leave Scotland and travel to the furthest reaches of Europe. We should continue to remember and celebrate their bravery and their success to this day. We have come so far since the days when LC Ingalls was practising medicine in Edinburgh. Healthcare has transformed in our country since those days, and next year we will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of our NHS, the first universal healthcare system anywhere in the world free at the point of need for all. The NHS made huge strides to eliminate inequalities in health, but there is still so much more to do, and we know that we still face the challenge of unequal health outcomes. As we recognise LC Ingalls' life and work and celebrate the creation of our NHS, it is only fitting that last year Scotland became the first country in the UK to publish a women's health plan, which aims to address some of those inequalities. The plan set out 66 actions to ensure that all women enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives. Actions include in providing a platform for women's health information and NHS inform and appointing a national women's health champion and a women's health lead in every NHS board. We have already started to implement some of those actions, including work to develop a women's health platform and NHS inform. In October last year, we launched the NHS inform menopause information platform. Through that resource we are busting menopause myths, highlighting menopause symptoms, options for care, treatment, support, mental health and much more. That is the first stage in the development of a women's health information platform, providing women with easy access to accurate and reliable information on women's health and services. We are also making pioneering changes in Scotland through the implementation of our best start programme, which is driving improvements in our maternity and neonatal services through the introduction of continuity of care in maternity and a new model of neonatal care. That best start programme has already delivered new maternity care facilities that provide midwife-led care and seen more women receive continuity of care in the introduction of more home birth services. It has also seen a move to delivering care closer to home through the development of community hubs and better use of technology and maternity care. Best start has also initiated changes to allow mothers and babies to stay together through creation of a transitional care wards through our neonatal expenses fund and through creation of community support for discharged babies. The work of the best start programmes aimed at improving safety and experience of maternity care for pregnant women and their babies, continuing the work that Elsie and Gils is so famed for in Edinburgh and throughout the world. I am reminded that last week in this Parliament Michelle Thompson led an incredibly strong and moving member's debate on international women's day, which recognised the achievements of women through history in Scotland, around the world and highlighted the impact of bias in women and girls the need to work together to achieve gender parity in society. Elsie and Gils was a woman's health pioneer. She was a pioneer for women's rights, but she stood up for suffering and injustice wherever she was and is credited with saving the lives of over 8,000 Serbian soldiers who were stranded in Russia in the complexities of the Russian revolution. As others have said, this is so relevant today in the face of the horrors that we are seeing in Europe where women in Ukraine are taking up weapons to fight for their freedom. I wonder how Elsie and Gils would respond to the injustice and suffering that are being inflicted on the people of Ukraine. I would like to think that she would have fought to make a difference in a war that will have a devastating and lasting impact on the men, women and children of Ukraine. I welcome the efforts of the fundraising campaign to honour her life, including the girl guiding sponsored sits still in the medals and support the combined efforts in the city of Edinburgh to commemorate her life with a statue. Elsie and Gils, what she stood for and the work that she did should continue to be remembered and celebrated and I commend this campaign and everyone who is involved. I will finish my contribution this evening with the lines of poetry that Jenny Minto mentioned. Where in sun and moonlight, flash of gunfire, my women's saving lives proved what's plain as day that we are equals, daughters, sons, husbands, wives.