 Ie ddweud i fy nôl gymuned Genedd Ysgrifennu i'r ddechreuch yn Llyfrgelliaethol, Alasson Johnston.Alright victim of the Scottish Parliament, I am glad 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, Felly, we have been delighted to hold this event in your Parliament and we have been honoured to welcome through our doors thousands of women from all parts of Scotland and beyond and from all walks of life. As you will know every year, on and around 8 March, thousands of events are held around the world 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 Tommy, 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're 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. I'd like to ask that you might join me in standing, if you're able, to demonstrate our solidarity with them in the 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 Stewer MSP and Pam Gosel MSP being the first women of colour elected to the Parliament. 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 account 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. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. 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, so hopefully next year we can fill this place like we usually do and I do 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 and 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 that is 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've given 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, it's so-called leaders, and 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, and whilst we came through this pandemic, I was in Washington at the start. After I had done International Women's Day here, I was in Hollywood with a friend and we were in Washington, and the Donald was on television every morning. However, we had a blether the other day. I'm proud of this. We're sitting here having a chat, and we agreed unanimously, and I'm sure there's 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 in 96, thank you, because he got to the pub. But 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're the first country to have a women's health plan, the first country to have a women's health plan. Our Parliament is legislated for free period products that 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 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 think I have to mention Emma Richard of Engender, who passed away during Covid. I 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, Carmen Peartini, actor, she 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. 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 come in the wrong door and down the wrong stairs. Is that correct, Cam? 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. Chilly, South Africa, Yemen, Colombia, Palestine, to name but a few. However, 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 hold of you to come back and help out. However, we are able to have our farewell drinks together, Anne and Caroline, because we haven't managed that during Covid. I just think that I could tell people that 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. Jenny McGee 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 Minister. The Prime Minister and Ms Debbie Roddy, as we call them, but everything is certainly different today. However, 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 is best, we can, cuddle or not. I'm a cuddler, I'm not a Christian, I'm a good cuddler. So 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 is 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 has 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 am 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 have 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 is great and always a privilege for me to share platforms at these events with some inspiring women. I was thinking this morning, actually, just as I was preparing to come here, and I underlined that point that I have just made, that I have spoken to Linda over the past couple of years, probably more than I have spoken to some members of my own family, and I have watched her, as everybody has, give us that calm, authoritative advice on the television that Agnes spoke about. Today is the first time I have ever met Linda in person, which again underlines just how extraordinary the past couple of years have been. It is so amazing and so wonderful to be here in person with all of you. What I am about to say, I say every year at this point. If you have been here before and heard me say this before, my apologies for repeating myself—it is not the first time that 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 am 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. Every year when I stand here and look out at this chamber full of women, I have the same thought, and I am 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. Let us 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 of March, International Women's Day is marked as a public holiday in many countries, not yet in Scotland, and maybe that is something that we should put right in years to come. However, 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, it is likely to become more horrific as the days unfold. However, 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. However, as the Presiding Officer rightly said, our thoughts are with women and girls in the front line of conflicts right across the world. It is 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 cannot remember this absolutely, but I am pretty certain that this is the last in-person event that I did in 2020 before lockdown changed the world as we know it. It is important to say, because if I do not say it, Linda will remind me of it later. We are not out of this pandemic yet. We have to continue to treat it seriously and behave responsibly and cautiously. However, I really do hope and believe that we are on a road now back to living much, much more freely and normally. However, 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 is 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 and the massive contribution that women make to our society each and every single day, any attempt to build a better society out of all that must have gender equality absolutely at its heart. Today, I want to briefly highlight just some of the ways in which the Scottish Government that 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. Having a gender equal parliament or council does not guarantee that we achieve gender equality in our wider society, but I 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 that we are to see the issues that matter to women and tackle that we have more women in decision making positions. 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. We are not going to make strides forward that we might go backwards. 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 on Tuesday last week, in which 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 and powerful presentation to the Cabinet about the pernicious effects of misogyny on the lives of young women today. She spoke passionately about what it was like for young women's scare to go out at night and 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. 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 that are 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 will not pre-empt that report, but I will speak about it when I lead a debate from this chamber on International Women's Day itself. However, 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. Second issue that I want to briefly touch on is equality in the workplace. It is so important as we recover from the pandemic. Any qualities 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 and 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 among 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, 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, women are often in the front line of dealing with the impacts of climate change. When Glasgow hosted COP just a few months ago, I had the privilege of speaking to some really inspiring women. Vanessa Nakati, the young activist, Prime Minister Mia Motley from Barbados, really brought home the impact of climate change on women, but the role we must give women internationally and here at home in finding the solution. 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 of 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. That 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 and 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 of these 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 that 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 and 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 adviser for the Scottish Government and is key to the programme of work that is taking place on Covid recovery, bringing her wealth, experience and 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, and I think that you will probably join me, I think, in an applauding. 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 to 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 is the last international trip that 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 Addis Ababa 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 want to say that this was not and has not been the horrific series of events that people in Ethiopia and 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, and I think that everybody in this room can reflect on how things have changed and how it has been for them. Most of all, we think of the more than 13,000 people in Scotland based on the national records of Scotland records who have died from this disease. Those who have been seriously ill or, indeed, now are 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, of course, have experienced delayed diagnosis or treatment for other equally important conditions. The social and economic harms have been significant. However, 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 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. 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 require people to stay at home, we know, did 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 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 it 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 to 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 that 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 worked 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 know how many briefings she did, but it was a lot of them. Those questions need to be answered. They have been making decisions and guiding us. 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 this 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—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 that we had not adequately addressed have really been made worse by the period that we have gone through over the past two years. As the Presiding Officer says, I am now working within Government, and that is a true privilege. Part of this has been helping with the ongoing Covid response, particularly supporting our education sector to do that. However, it is also working now—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. However, central to that is a deep commitment in this country to address child poverty. Around one in four children in Scotland live in poverty. That is a situation in which, 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. This is just an example that is happening 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 read some really amazing women. They are supported by one parent family Scotland and we talked about how they have coped during the pandemic. More importantly, what else can we 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—this is 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 those things are about child poverty, but they are, because child poverty 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—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. 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. 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 want to say that I 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 overseas. I know that some of you will have suffered abuse, loneliness, depression and anxiety or worse. Most importantly, I know that you have lost education and training, but those are experiences that you share with millions of other women and girls around the world. There are many challenges ahead, but my hope is that the immediate one—the real challenge that we have been dealing with recently—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. Thank you, Professor Bald. 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 past two years and what they would like to see in a greener, fairer Scotland. I am Agnes Tollway and I am chair of the Scottish Women's Convention, and we want 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. 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 judgment 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 shouldn'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. She has brought in other 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 sky is our limiting hold 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. 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 fine 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. 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. The panel will give some introductory marks ahead of the Q&A session, but at this point it gives me great pleasure to introduce Pam Gosall MSP. Pam is a Scottish Conservative MSP for the Glasgow region and is the first Indian Seek 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 Gosall MSP. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Good afternoon. What a great honour it is here to be standing here among such amazing women on international women's day. I have to say that 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've never seen it from this side. 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, obviously, to hear from the presiding officer, from 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 in combat positions. Today, they make up 10 per cent of the Ukrainian military, so to those women, you are strong, you are brave, 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 will be standing here on International Women's Day in the Scottish Parliament addressing all your 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 this 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 arrival. We must not forget how resilient we are as women and pretty much we multitask, we do everything. My own untraditional 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 learned 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. Last but not least, we all have the power and the duty to push for more female representation on boards and 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. Christina McKelvie MSP. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Thank you so much for having me back, Agnes, and 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 this chamber? What a wonderful speech, what an inspiration you are, and I look forward to working with you 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 this place looks radiant. It is just full of life and joy, determination and a wee bit of sass. I love it. Thank you for bringing that joy into this chamber every day. I still, after 14, nearly 15 years, sit in here and look at the fabulous lights and look at it and think, how the heck did a wee lassie festerhose end up here? Much like you, and I still do all these years later, because it is a real privilege. You have got no idea how much of a privilege it is, and we carry that with us. Everything that we do, you might see as Argybargin, 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, 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 motor neurone disease when I was nine, and my mother was one of those carers. We didn't have the support mechanisms that we have now, so we went to school through the day when 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. I never forget that role that women do every single day, but the past two years have 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, right? Who's doing something about it? Everybody steps back, I'm the only one left stepped forward, a bit like Agnes, right? Okay, I better do something about it. You realise some of the issues. Most of the cases I had were people with long-term conditions, people who had acquired a long-term condition, or women who cared in responsibilities, and the employer told them they couldn't have a flexible work. They couldn't have a situation where they could work for home or they could have that flexible working. Oh my God, we changed that overnight, didn't we, in the pandemic? 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. It's some of the things that I bring in my role as a Minister for Equalities, all of these lived experiences, all 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. 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. We had a great debate in international women's day-to-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. 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. Last year, on the 2 March, I had my first surgery and had a second surgery on the 16 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. Here I am. 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 Beatson. I can't praise that place and the staff enough. Lately, the emotional support that I've been getting from the Maggie's Centre, the Beatson charity, McMillan breast cancer now, honestly, is a woman when you're facing that. It's really, really tough. When you know that those people are there for you, you know that you've got a responsibility to celebrate them. My closing remark, Presiding Officer, 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. A young woman came up to me early to apologise for shouting at me a meeting a few years ago. I said, don't ever apologise for shouting at a Government minister. She wants to hear what you've got to say. Don't ever apologise for that. I'll be a lesson. Remember, well-behaved women seldom make history. Thank you to you all for having me here today. A special thanks to Agnes for inviting me, but also for the goodie bag that I got last night because I wasn't able to collect it in person today. I'm really sorry, but I'm not in the chamber today because I would dearly love to be sitting in the chamber to look back at so many or look out at so many women in there. I have FOMO, as I call it, fear of missing out, so I definitely have FOMO. I thank you for having me join you like this. A special thanks to Agnes for mentioning that the goodie bag had some nice food and alcoholic beverages that might have been consumed. 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. 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. I also thank you to Pam for your contribution today in the chamber and for everything that you've been doing to lift women up as well. 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 all-women platform, because we know that we don't often get many of them. Can I also say how excited I am to celebrate women all across the globe? 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. I stand with them. One of the most powerful images that 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. I just think that 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. 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. That 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. After decades of austerity, disabled women have found our rights are often ignored or the first to go. 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 is 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. Where we are in work, of course, the disability gap means that we are paid less than non-disabled women. We work basically for 57 days a year for free because of it. We're more likely to have mental health. We didn't and do not get the social care support that we need. Disabled women don't have a reproductive rights supported either, and there's growing violence against women and disabled women. I could go on, I'm sure you get the picture. A society 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. 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. That's why I'm incredibly proud 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. We know that things can be done differently. We heard a moment ago about how employers used to say before, or you can't have flexible working, you can't work from home, you can't do these things. 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 making sure that they can use their contribution in the workplace and use their rights too. We've proved that we can do things differently, and we know that we have to do things differently for women and disabled women all across the world. A better world lies ahead if we celebrate and reward the efforts of disabled women. I ask everybody across the world not to look on in admiration, although do that too, because disabled women can be pretty spectacular, but put us in the room where things happen. 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 Christina a moment ago. Sisters, let us do everything that we can to put talent in the room where it happens. 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. I believe that together we can do that, because we are women, and together we can all break the bias. Pam, due to unforeseen circumstances, Maggie Chapman MSP has centre apologies, but we are now going to have a question and answer panel. If I can invite Christina McKelvie MSP and 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? If able, please stand and ask the panel your question, please. During the pandemic, which woman inspired you the most? Thank you. I think that I will go from left to right here. Maybe not politically, but we will not get into that, shall we? I will start with Pam Gossel. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, Emily, for your question. I think that, for me, many women inspired me during that time, but I will name a few to start off with the women that worked in the national health service. We mustn't forget that they put themselves at harm in harm's way, so that we could be basically safe. Many of our relatives and friends were in hospitals. They were caring for us. That is the first lot. The second is that 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. I want to give a mention to all the women that gave up their careers, their leisure life to stay home, to look after and be their mother. Last but not least, we have Professor Linda here. We mustn't forget those women, the trailblazers, I would call them right. That gave us so much through the pandemic, but also the scientists, such as Sarah Gilbert. People like that gave us hope and gave us a lot of research behind, and today we are here. We should definitely get out to those women. I am 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. All the people that Pam has just mentioned, I had to have lots of care last year and I needed that care. I am grateful to all the women who were in that front line. I have already mentioned the Hamilton Mamys, who are just formidable. They have a brilliant Facebook page, and I go and look at it every morning because it lifts and inspires me for the work that they do every single day. They have just not stopped. They have just started it and they have just not stopped it. It is wonderful that you see that, but I could not 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 is a woman from Larkhall called Nancy Barr. She is a legend, an absolute legend, and she had a thing called the Larkhall rainbows. All the children had rainbows on the windows and it was just wonderful, but they made sure that people were fed. They made sure that people were cared for. They made sure that prescriptions were picked up. They just done an amazing job and they are 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. I especially mentioned Nancy Barr. We have 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 that there is always just a real humanity to the science behind all of this, to help us to lay people and understand all of that, but I cannot miss out our First Minister who has led from the front. I do not think that we could have asked for a better First Minister to be leading from the front in all of this. We are well respected for it too, but we have also demonstrated how vulnerable she is and how she missed her family. Sometimes we forget when people are in the front line that they are people and they are human, and to see that as well, that person shines through. She missed her mommy and she missed Cuddles v Agnes and so did I. That is the last person that I want to pay tribute to. Agnes has been bringing this event to this Parliament since its inception, I think, decades, and she has lifted up so many women in doing that and carried us through and supported us. Agnes, thank you. I am now going to put that question to Beatrice Wishart, MSP, who has just joined the panel. Beatrice represents Shetland in the Parliament. I am very interested to hear Beatrice who has inspired you throughout the pandemic. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I have to say that I was having a conversation with MSP colleagues before lunch, and we all talked about having the imposter syndrome. I have to say that 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, in response to the question, all the people who have been mentioned by Pam and Christina, I might reflect on some of the women at home in Shetland who have done so much of one person in particular who said that she saw a need and tried to help to fulfil it. It is 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 being able to be picked up, prescriptions to get to those who couldn't get out during lockdown. I think that people like that at home who inspire me and continue to do so. Great question. I will put that question to Pam Duncan Glancy. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, Emily, for that great question, as Patrice has said. It really is and there are so many women who inspire 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. I know that they are really struggling, and I know that we will all want to say thank you to them today. I also found the front-line staff, as we have already heard, in the NHS incredibly inspiring. They turned up, put their life on the line to save ours, and there is nothing more inspiring than that. Some specific people just to name what I think is really important. First of all, my sister, Jen Duncan, the way that she got us through the pandemic as a family was incredible. She was there for us all the time. There were so many moments when Hugh and I, both Hugh and I used to have carers. If we were struggling, or if we were worried, or if people were off, then she stepped in, as she always does. Not just that, she was the one who organised the family. She was the one doing the Zoom stuff, making sure that we all kept in touch. I need to say that. Finally, if you will allow my carers, some of whom you have all met in the chamber, Pamela Clarence, Stephanie Mackintosh, Heather Nancollis, Selena Kearney, Susan Anderson, Iona Gibson and Shana Tickey, who came to work every single day during the pandemic with just as much enthusiasm as they always have. I want to thank them on record too. Thank you, Emily, and thank you to the panellists for your responses. I will now move to Rizwana Said from the Feel Good Women's Group to ask her a question. Rizwana, can you raise your hand? My name is Rizwana. I am the project coordinator from the Feel Good Women's Group. My question is from the panel, what differences and changes have you made in your life since COP26 took place? Thank you, Rizwana, for a brilliant question. It is a great question because when you think about what changes have you made, you start to look at some of the simple actions that you can take just in your household. I have a hungry son who wastes a lot of food, and we have changed that now because there is a lot of food waste in my houses. Anybody who has hungry sons will know that they will eat lots of stuff and then leave things behind. We have stopped that. I was thinking about this this morning about the things that you use about your house. You are looking at the chemical products that you are using and the amount of plastic that you are using. I now do not buy any fruit or vegetables at all if it is in a plastic bag. You think about some of that as well. I look for things that are much more biodegradable or all of that. I also drive a hybrid car. I might make the move next time to an electric car. That is something that I have been doing for a few years now, on top of all that. The biggest thing is how you educate yourself to change the way that the world looks at, the way that it uses, reuses or does not reuse, and it disposes of things as well. There is much more that we can do in that area. There is much, much more that we can do as individuals, but there is much more that we can do as a Government and as a Parliament. I think that we are very lucky across all of our parties. We have a real commitment to reducing our impact on the climate and what that does. I have to say that some of the young women that I know who are equal warriors are just absolutely amazing and I learn from them every single day. Sometimes it is just to be simple things you are changing house, reducing food waste, less plastic and doing things like turning the thermostat down a 1 per cent as well, and, hopefully, turning the world's thermostat down a 1 per cent as we go along too. Can I just take this moment? We are having issues with Pam Duncan-Glancy's feed, unfortunately, so we are going to say goodbye to Pam just now, but I know that you all want to join me in thanking Pam for her contribution for joining us today. Thank you very much. So we will put Rizwana's question now to Beatrice. Another good question. Personal changes. I mean, as Christina says, you look around what you are doing, what you are using yourself. I have 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 am buying more local produce, making sure that my love for avocados does not get out of hand, and I try not to encourage buying those. I still have a petrol car, part of the reason I have not changed is because of the lack of infrastructure, so that is 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. I am doing the job that I do because I am now between two places. I am at home at the weekends and here through the week. It is trying to make sure that I do not overbuy things or end up trying to use ready-made things, trying to be more economical. I do not buy much in the way of make-up and that kind of stuff, as you can probably tell, but those are the choices that you make, cut back on anything that has got natural fibres in them. For example, a Good Shetland jumper will last you a lifetime, so you do not need to buy lots of disposable clothes. It is all that kind of thing, but I learn a lot from my young family. My grandchildren are teenagers and they keep me right on what I should and should not be doing, so I learn from them. One of the things that we really like about these days is that we get to learn more about our colleagues because sometimes in the busyness of the week we miss out and we do not understand that our colleagues are passionate about avocados. I like the way that you got that plug-in for local jumpers there, Beatrice. We will now put that question to Pam Gosall. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I have a very, very relevant question in today's world. I am going to go back to what Beatrice and Christina talked about learning and education, where I got a little bit of education from this. During COP26, I worked with the four temples in Glasgow, and they looked at what they could do, what they were not doing and what they can do. I sat down and got into signs and pledges, but what came out of that was not the fact that their making change happened. They had 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 or four-year-olds nursery, right up to A-levels. They decided to talk about what we can do as grown-ups and other people to make a difference. That is where I learned a lot, I have to be honest. We hear a lot on television, we hear a lot talking to each other, but those are children's voices. It is their tomorrow that we are taking away from them. They talked about turning the lights off, they talked about planting food, they talked about when you go shopping that you have that bag and you do not use the plastic bags, they talked about everything that Christina and Beatrice spoke about, but they spoke about such passion and such detail that I learned so much from them. Little things around the house, whether it is turning the water off when you keep the tap on while you are washing dishes, simple things like turning the lights off. I have to say that I have not had much gas in the house, so I might need your jumpers right since November. Things like that, I am used to now getting used to the climate that is cold, you just put a warm clothes on. One thing I will say, I have not changed my car like Beatrice, but I am looking to, but the only thing is infrastructure. We need to make sure, and that is something that 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. We are trying to learn a little bit every day. I would now like to invite Sarah Cummings, a Scottish Women's Convention's volunteer, to ask a question to Sarah. I am reading the question on behalf of Shona Blakely, who unfortunately cannot be here today. What assurances will you give to women that would ensure proper, flexible working as a right? I will put that question to Beatrice first. I think that the Parliament as a whole is working towards making sure that women have flexible working, but I think that we need to start with some of the bigger companies. I think that we need to look at the bigger companies to make sure that the policies are in place, that they understand, that they get more from their employees if there are flexible working arrangements there, and things like good childcare and support so that women can have flexible working times. I think of people who have, we have spoken about this before, who have had to juggle throughout the pandemic being everything to everybody, so I think that it's important that things like 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. I think that there is just a general feeling that things will change. It's what the First Minister was saying, that 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, 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 that, out of the pandemic, where there was good, there was bad, there was good as well, so we need to take that kind of hybrid model and make sure that 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 that it's all about what do women want and what do they need. Not every woman would like to work flexible, so I think that 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. I will echo Sarah the points that both my colleagues here have made and all of the points they have made there. I spoke about in my remarks about flexible working and the lessons that we've learned during the pandemic and the battles that I fought with employers as a unison, steered all those years ago and really understood and grown 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, the new child payment, some of the work that we've been doing around social security for women with women at the heart of that, the 1140 hours free child care 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 it used to be you got 10 hours a week child care when I went back to work after having my first son who's 30 next month, that's terrifying. Anyway I was 10 when I had him but I'll look it away with that. I had about 10 hours worth of child care at that point, I had to rely on my mummy and it shouldn't have to be that that's the circumstance so that's why 1140 hours is so so important and a couple of other 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 in employment 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 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 would 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 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 I 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 one to the minister in the first instance. Thank you very much Presiding Officer. Carol Ann 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 but there's a few other things that we need to think about as well about how women return to workplaces 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 new skills and how you can use those new skills so the women's return on programme that we do in government helps 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'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 cert which is a 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 conjunction and that's what I do every single day in my job so if a unite women's committee want to come in have a cup of tea and sort out some of these problems and give some of the challenges then that invitation is wide opened carlann thanks thank you so I'll put carlann's question to to Pam now if I may how do you ignite and create economic empowerment of women thank you Presiding Officer and thank you carlann 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 question to beat this now question and I think that both Pam and Christina have covered quite a lot there and I was going to be 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 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 is Donna Rourke thank you so I think we it's fair to say that Covid has impacted us all in some ways and there's a spectrum 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 on 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 there's a quiz so I just want to put it to the panellist 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 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 we speak a lot about books we do mention books but it's usually just a 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 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've 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 in 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 were saying we've got some money you know governance never get any money to just share it but 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 Pam the light in the darkness yeah 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 um 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 I 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 programme 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 thank 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 march 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 theme for this year is gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow with the goal of advance a 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 cope 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 who's opening speech at COP26 in Glasgow made some of the male decision makers from G7 and G20 countries shift in their seats such with 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 cooperation 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 measured gender inequality of a country using something called the gender inequality index which was developed by United Nations development program 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 at the back 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 lead 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 declare 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's 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 Peritini well almost our final speaker um 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 um well hello um hello here I'm 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 um 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 taken aback 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 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 we still work with chas we're still not allowed to go into hospices yet but chas 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 it's really shawing a light on inequality and I think that's the conversation needs to be had a lot more 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 my 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 Winnig 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 Genware 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 like 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 once you do 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 fine so much Carmen Perotini for that excellent almost end to our afternoon I am now delighted to invite Agnes Talmi 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 is that it 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 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 wasn't always 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 is 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 no 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 or been in your company and the fight that you've 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 it 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 well Carmen 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 ones 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've had 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 was the name okay so you've got that SWC staff my new staff Susan, Jenna and Jess thank you stand up newest one Margaret we're going to have to learn you teach you some manners where are you 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 the 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 for these events are about 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 hear today's event I just want to thank everyone again 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 just a short public health message and when you're leaving the chamber can I just remind all delegates that face coverings must be worn unless you're exempt while moving around the 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