 The fine light of a business is a member's business debate on motion 15427 in the name of Gail Ross on Equally Safe at Work. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put. Can I ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons now? I call on Gail Ross to open the debate. Ms Ross, please. I am delighted to open this evening's debate on the Equally Safe at Work accreditation scheme. I am particularly pleased to see so many members attending on the day that marks the official launch of the scheme, and I would like to thank those who signed the motion and those who intend to speak in the debate. I would also like to welcome Ruth Celsay from Close the Gap to the visitor gallery and thank them for hosting a drop-in for MSPs in the Parliament today. Scotland's Equally Safe strategy is a fantastic example of the partnership working between the Scottish Government and COSLA in association with a wide range of partners from the public and third sector. That partnership recognises the importance of working together to tackle and ultimately eradicate violence against women and girls. First published in 2014, the Equally Safe strategy was revised in 2016, and in November 2017, the Equally Safe delivery plan was launched to promote collaboration. In November 2018, a report was produced to measure the significant activity and progress that was made on the delivery plan. As part of the overall strategy, the Equally Safe at Work accreditation programme was formally launched earlier today by Close the Gap. It aims to address the causes of the gender pay gap and to better support employees who have experienced gender-based violence. Close the Gap or Scotland's expert policy and advocacy organisation working on women's labour market participation. As part of their work to support the Equally Safe strategy, Close the Gap reviewed international practice and found no existing employer accreditation programme with a focus on violence against women, gender inequality and the workplace. Poverty in Scotland is gendered. The gender pay gap is the difference between men and women's early pay and can be caused by a range of factors, including lack of flexible working opportunities, perceptions of gender-appropriate jobs and grading structures. Women's inequality at work is a key contributor to women's higher rates of poverty. They are twice as dependent on social security than men and therefore have been disproportionately affected by welfare reform. Women's economic inequality reduces their financial dependence, restricts their choices in employment and in life, and can create an environment that can make violence against women more likely. The world-leading programme is pioneering by making that link and focusing on the employer's role in preventing violence against women. The pilot programme provides employers with a framework to support their own work, along with a detailed handbook to provide evidence-based advice and best practice to those participating in the scheme. For too long, violence against women, domestic violence and gender inequality have been seen by some employers as issues for others to deal with and that somehow such things do not need to be tackled in the workplace. The programme seeks to change those attitudes by providing the support and guidance to ensure that employers are in a position to support the implementation of the equally safe strategy. It is critical that employers recognise their role in tackling inequality and gender violence. Having taken the decision to establish the accreditation scheme, Scotland's councils were asked to express an interest in participating in a pilot programme. I was satisfied to hear that all 32 of our councils responded positively. A clear demonstration of the commitment from local government of their ambition to eradicate violence against women. Initially, councils were asked to complete a self-assessment of their own existing equality measures, and from this, seven were selected for the pilot scheme. That recognises the different stages that councils are at and to ensure a geographical spread across the country. The Highland Council, Aberdeen City, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Perthen Cynros, Shetland and South Lanarkshire councils will, over the course of 2019, work towards achieving accreditation by taking the necessary steps to address the cause of their gender pay gaps and to better support employees who have experienced gender-based violence. Alongside the pilot group, a shadow group has also been established, including those councils who had completed a self-assessment, but were not selected for the pilot scheme. That group will hopefully be amongst the next phase of the accreditation scheme. Having been selected, each council will, from February, undertake an employee survey. That exercise will be repeated towards the end of the pilot year in order to measure the change in attitudes and awareness and to demonstrate an improved understanding of gender violence and their role as employers. I am sure that people are wondering why we need an accreditation scheme. More than 3 million women in the UK experience violence each year, with many more living with experiences of abuse. That abuse will affect all aspects of a woman's life, and the workplace is no exception. In many ways, employers are uniquely placed and better able to support women to find the help that they need and to stay in work. Sometimes perpetrators of domestic abuse and stalking often use workplace resources such as phone and email to threaten, harass or abuse. Those tactics, such as sabotage, stalking and harassment at work, affect women's productivity, absenteeism and job retention. Sexual harassment in the workplace is now a high-profile issue, and there is increasing pressure for employers to take action. Women report sexual harassment as having a negative impact on their mental health, and it can cause some women to avoid certain work situations in order to avoid the perpetrator. All of those effects and responses are also likely to diminish their performance, confidence and likelihood to apply for promoted posts. In the Highland Council area alone, 2,336 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded by the police in the year 2017-18. Those are the only cases that have been reported, and we know that there will be many others that are never reported. Our local councils are the largest employers, and that places them in a unique position to make a real change to attitudes. The launch of the Equally Safe at Work accreditation scheme yet again places Scotland at the forefront of actions to tackle violence against women and girls. I very much look forward to hearing the outcomes from the pilot programme at the end of the year and seeing the first councils being awarded their accreditations. I thank the minister in advance of her closing statement, because I know that this is a subject that she has worked on very closely. I thank Gail Ross for bringing this important debate to the chamber. It is one that is important to all of us as we strive to make equality and protection for women and girls absolutely mandatory. I can also close the gap for his comprehensive briefing. Gail Ross explained that Equally Safe at Work is a world-leading employer accreditation programme that has been piloted in seven councils throughout 2019. The programme has been developed by closed the gap and supports the implementation of Equally Safe Scotland's strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls. The strategy recognises that violence against women and girls is a cause and consequence of gender inequality. As co-convener of the cross-party group on violence against women and children, the reality of gender violence is shocking. The programme focuses on women in the workplace, which is a fundamental step in addressing gender-based violence more generally in society. As Gail Ross outlined with her statistics, violence against women is perpetrated at epidemic levels. Three million women each year in the UK experience violence and many more live with past experiences of abuse. It is a violation of women's human rights and it is an enduring social problem that should not exist in 2019. It affects all aspects of women's lives and the workplace is no exception. It is vital that employers understand the impact of gender-based violence on women so that they can support women better at work and help them to access the support services that they need. The economic cost of violence against women in the UK is estimated to be £40 billion and that includes the cost to public services and the lost economic output of affected women. Domestic abuse is estimated to cost the UK £16 billion, which includes an estimated £1.9 billion loss due to decreased productivity, administrative difficulties from unplanned time off and lost wages, etc. For me, it is about much more than money, it is about the degradation of women and the abuse of their human rights to be treated with respect. One in five women in Scotland experience domestic abuse in their lifetime and three quarters of women are targeted at work. That is shocking, but perpetrators of domestic abuse and stalking often use workplace resources such as phones and emails to threaten and harass and abuse their current or former partners or even strangers. Studies have shown that the emerging practice of co-working or hot-desking leaves women with no protection against predators, and that is something that must be addressed urgently with clear guidelines applying to those using and those renting the workspace. Research on experiences of sexual harassment at work is likely to be affected by under-reporting, because most women do not report it because of a fear of being blamed and possibly a lack of confidence in the complaints procedure. As Gail Ross said, women's report on sexual harassment is having a hugely negative impact on their mental health, making them less confident at work and inducing them to avoid certain situations so that they do not come into contact with the perpetrator. That severely affects women's chances for progression at work. The gender pay gap is exacerbated by that, not to mention their own financial situation and confidence. Equally safe at work will support councils to develop an increased capacity for addressing inequalities and better support for female employees who have experienced gender-based violence. As Gail Ross said, it provides employers with a framework that provides evidence-based advice, guidance and best practice. I believe that that is a good initiative and will play a vital part in protecting women in the workplace. I also hope that it can be rolled out to as many workplaces as possible so that they can learn from good practice, because women must be protected in the workplace. I gently remind members to use full names when referring to colleagues in the chamber, chatty though this is a friendly debate, although it is. I now call Annie Wells to follow by Jackie Baillie, Ms Wells. I thank Gail Ross for bringing this extremely important topic to the chamber today. Last November, I participated in a debate on ending violence against women and girls. During that debate, we acknowledged the importance of tackling sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, an issue that has garnered a lot of attention due to the me too and the times up campaigns. Too many women in this country remain subject to sexual harassment and assault in their everyday employment. Following the widespread sharing of stories in the wake of the Weinstein scandal, we began to understand the extent of the problem. A poll showed that half of British women and a fifth of men had been sexually harassed at work or a place of study. Of those people, 63 per cent and 79 per cent of the victims respectively kept it to themselves. In the wake of that, it is encouraging to see pressure for change. In the Scottish Parliament, we have seen the running of the culture of respect workshops open to all staff, including MSPs. Out with this place, I am encouraged to see the setting up of the new employer accreditation programme pilot, and I thank Close the Gap for its efforts in developing it. I will be very interested to hear how the pilot develops over the course of the year and how best practices can be encouraged in the private as well as the public sector. At the very least, it could be clear in every workplace in Scotland who employees can make their complaints to and how they will be handled. It should also be clear what constitutes sexual harassment at work. Despite the impact of the Me Too and the times up campaigns, I feel that there is still a lot of confusion around what exactly it is, something that needs to be clarified in the mind of the public going forward. I would be interested to look into that further. Employers absolutely have a vital role to play in advancing gender equality and creating a safe environment for women. As Close the Gap points out, not only will that involve preventing violence against women at work, it will involve employers considering women's different experiences in all aspects of the workplace. Women are concentrated in undervalued, low-paid jobs such as admin and cleaning, and they are vastly underrepresented when it comes to management and senior positions. By creating greater economic equality between men and women and increasing women's choices and employment, the risk factors to a women's resilience being diminished and the workplace can be reduced. That is a hugely important topic in itself and one that, unfortunately, we do not have time to debate today. However, at present, women are estimated to earn £70,000 less over their lifetime than men because of the gender pay gap. That labour inequality costs the Scottish economy £17 billion a year. Those figures are stark, and it is time that we had a frank discussion on bold measures surrounding childcare, flexible working and inspiring young women through education reform. Only through societal change will women be able to reach their full potential. To finish today, I would like to again express my support for the pilot and for all efforts in eradicating gender-based violence in the workplace. No woman or man should be subject to that kind of behaviour, and it is vital that we stand shoulder to shoulder in condemning it. I hope, through societal discussion and initiatives, that embedded good ethos in our workplaces and that there is real progress made. I would also like to thank Gail Ross for bringing such an important issue to the chamber and for the content of her speech, and of course to close the gap for providing such a useful briefing. This is not the first time that I have stood up in this chamber and spoken about why gender inequality has no place in any aspect of our society and violence against women and girls simply cannot go on any longer. As the minister with responsibility for equalities and tackling domestic abuse in the very first Parliament, many of those issues are not new. Progress has been made across Governments of different political hues, but there is still much to be done. I wholeheartedly support the work that is being carried out by closed the gap in their fight to eradicate gender-based inequalities from our workplace. Their work is integral to understanding the embedded societal reasons for why women are all too often coming second to men in the workplace. More importantly, they understand how in-depth legislative changes and a revaluation of the labour market as a whole must occur if we hope to even make a step in the right direction towards ending workplace gender discrimination. The fight is clearly far bigger than just trying to change the stubborn attitudes of a select few. The equally safe at work strategy is a pioneering programme in incorporating the role and duty of care of the employer as a way to preventing and ending domestic violence. I am encouraged to learn, as others have already referenced, seven Scottish local authorities piloting the strategy this year. I know that far more have expressed an interest, including the councils in my area of Western Bartonshire and Argyll and Bute. In fact, as Gail Ross said earlier, every local authority responded to the request for an expression of interest. There is a shadow group of early adopters for when the programme is rolled out after the pilot, and that is encouraging. However, it is the case that women who are suffering from domestic abuse often do not know where to turn to for support. They do not know who they can trust and, all too often, they do not know who will believe them. The workplace should and must be a safe haven for women who are being abused. Employers must be properly trained and equipped to support their employees who come to them seeking support and advice. However, we need to ask ourselves wider questions. How can a woman feel confident that their employer will support them when they see how embedded gender discrimination still is in workplaces across the country? How can women hope to feel financially independent enough to leave an abusive relationship when the gender pay gap is all too rife in our society? When 52 per cent of women in the UK have admitted to experiencing sexual harassment at work, the importance of the work carried out by the equally safe at work strategy cannot be underestimated. For decades, women have been pigeonholed into gender-appropriate jobs whilst keeping quiet and shrugging off sexual harassment for fear of being further discriminated against. Through evidence-based advice and guidance, employers will, for the first time, be adequately equipped to support their female employees who are suffering from abuse, harassment and discrimination. I think that that is a significant breakthrough in how we deal with gender inequality and sexual harassment in a professional setting, and I hope that that will spread throughout every aspect of society. In closing, I take a moment to appeal to my colleagues, both here in the chamber and those who are unable to join us this evening, to follow that groundbreaking work of Close the Gap. The Scottish Parliament is a large workplace, and each and every one of us are employers to a number of staff, both in this building and across Scotland. We have a duty of care to protect our employees, and it should be a priority not to discriminate against them based on our gender. Our staff have the right to come to work without fear of sexual harassment. In the unfortunate cases where our staff may be victims of domestic abuse, it is vital that, as employers, there is support in place for them so that they can be made to feel safe and protected. I hope that, Presiding Officer, we will lead by example to ensure that workers across Scotland are truly equally safe. Thank you very much. I call John Finnie, to call by Liam McArthur, Mr Finnie, please. Thank you very much indeed, Presiding Officer. I start by congratulating Gail Rawson on bringing in this very important issue here. I welcome the launch of the equally safe at work strategy and commend the work of Close the Gap. I should declare I am a co-convener with my colleague Rona Mackayn and others of the cross-party group in men's violence against women and girls. There is undoubtedly the case that we face significant challenges. The equally safe that Scotland strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls is hugely important. That strategy and it does require that cohesion is to address gender-based violence. That requires to be addressed very robustly. I welcome Close the Gap and its participation in the labour market. It is going to be a very valuable contribution. I noted that they work with policy makers and that would include people in here, employers and employees to influence and enable action to address the causes of women's inequality at work. My colleague Gail Rawson outlined a number of those issues. I will not repeat them. Others have talked about the leadership role that this building and its member should be playing. I think that that is pivotal. That is a cross-party issue. There should not be any divergence on that. I think that there is an important role for men to call out the great challenges that remain. I commend the work of the White Ribbon and on Friday I am joining with other male politicians to promote their initiative of working within betting shops to make it very clear that violence against women is unacceptable. I think that partnership working is the key. I was delighted to hear, of course, about the involvement and, indeed, the response from Scotland local authorities, and, like Jackie Baillie, I am pleased to note that Highland and Shetland are involved from my particular area. 70 per cent of women in Scotland have reported experiencing or witness sexual harassment in the workplace. That is a damning indictment. That is someone's mother, grandmother, daughter and niece. They are our fellow citizens. There are obligations placed on employers to ensure that work is a place of safety. As Jackie Baillie said, a duty of care is also a role for trade unions and staff associations that play in that. There is a role for workers, customers and bystanders. There is a role for all of us. There is a key word in the motion that I was drawn to, and that is the word challenge. It is not always going to be the case that that is going to be a direct intervention. I know that there will be concerns on some that that will escalate problems, but it is to share, to act and to never ignore with one-in-five experience in domestic abuse at some point in their life. That is a statistic that shames not just the perpetrators but all of us. We know how pernicious and far-reaching it is that domestic abuse is a piece of legislation that examined coercive and controlling behaviour and the reach that it has. The workplace is not beyond that reach. Indeed, the workplace is somewhere where people are known to be at and can often feel trapped. The hierarchy that is reflected in pay grading and access to training is something that has also been alluded to by the patriarchate work. I recognise that I am not an optimist. I am an optimist. I am not pessimistic about this. I think that there has been great progress made over the years. Clearly, clearly, clearly there is a way to go. The workplace is no different from anywhere else. To my mind, education is absolutely the key. I wish to close the gap well, I wish to participate in authority as well and to know that there will be continued interest from within the building. Once again, I congratulate my colleague Gail Ross on bringing this important issue to us. We are very pleased to learn that you are an optimist, after all. I thank my good friend Gail Ross for bringing this debate to Parliament. It is an important debate. The Equally Safe Work Initiative is one that, as John Finnie suggested, is one that should and does command cross-party support. I also acknowledge and thank Close the Gap for the contribution that they have made and are going forward. Obviously, it is part of the wider Equally Safe strategy. Gail Ross was right to remind us of the collaborative approach that underlies that. It is the only way of ensuring that that strategy enjoys the success that we all wish it to see. Annie Wells pointed to the debate that we had previously in November on violence against women and girls. That was an excellent debate. We were right at that stage to acknowledge the progress that has been made in a number of areas. At the time, the Domestic Abuse Act was fresh in our minds. The approach that Police Scotland and Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service are taking was commended, but, at the same time, I think that it acknowledged across the chamber the fact that we have got some way to go in terms of addressing the concerns that sexual crimes—I think that the latest figures—had shown a worrying increase. I think that what was also accepted is that, although men and boys can and are affected by violence, a cursory glance at the statistics demonstrates beyond any contradiction at all the gendered nature of violence. The reasons for that are perhaps more complex than I will be able to articulate in four minutes. Gail Ross was absolutely right in opening the debate to draw the link between violence against women and inequality. Inequality in society more generally, but inequality specifically in the workplace that I was looking at. Some of the figures that exist suggest that the gender pay gap on average sees women in Scotland earn around £183 per week less than men and that, over the course of their working life, that can result in anything up to around £0.5 million of disparity. That is a colossal divergence in terms of the financial independence of women as compared to men. The Equality and Human Rights Commission reports also estimated that 54 per cent of women a year lose their jobs as a result of becoming pregnant or going on maternity leave. A shocking statistic that Jackie Baillie and John Finnie referred to in terms of the levels of sexual harassment at work seems to beg a belief that any business that fails to treat its employees equally and fairly that takes an absolutely zero tolerance approach to harassment in any form in the workplace is a business that will attract the best and the brightest that has any hope of realising its own potential as an organisation. I think that there are probably very many self-surfing reasons why businesses need to take this more seriously. I am delighted to see that a number of the local authorities have taken up this initiative. The response across the board has been so positive. Hopefully, through debates like this and our continued interest in this issue, we can encourage others to do so, but for the time being, again, I wish to close the gap well and thank Gail Ross again for allowing this Parliament to have this debate this afternoon. Thank you very much to Gail Ross and close the gap for bringing this important topic forward for us to debate in chamber here. It must be said that employers have every reason to take on the task of tackling violence against women. For a victim of domestic abuse, their place of work may be one of the only spaces, sadly the only space where they can seek help as normally the perpetrator is not there. Establishing safe mechanisms for those individuals to approach a trustworthy coleg could make all the difference. Local authorities, which employ 245,000 people in Scotland, are a good example of a group of employing organisations well placed to champion this change, and it is my hope that there will be a shift in perceptions, encouraging victims of domestic abuse to seek help and making safeguarding of women a norm in HR policies. In my contribution to this debate, I want to make two things very clear. Firstly, abuse is never acceptable. We inherently deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and love. If anyone listening to this thinks that this does not apply to them, then they need to hear that they are wrong. There is nothing in this world that strips this birthright away from you. If you are in an abusive relationship or situation, then you are not being treated the right way. You deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and love, and no one is an exception to this rule. Secondly, help is available for women, Scottish women's aid are a good first point of call if you are a victim of domestic abuse and men who are victims of domestic abuse can go to survivors UK or the men's advice line for help. Those organisations can help you to safely leave a partner providing support all along the way. There is a clear moral imperative for employers to provide support for victims of domestic abuse and ensuring that the pay gap is closed. Through equal pay, women can become financially independent, it has been said earlier, more than once, and the control exerted by an abusive partner is lessened. That task is relevant to employers because in all likelihood there will be people in your workforce who are victims of domestic abuse. Moreover, any employee experiencing domestic violence will be affected whilst at their work. In the UK, as a whole, violence against women is estimated to cost £1.9 billion to the economy. Significantly and specifically, that is due to increased productivity, administration difficulties due to unplanned time of work, lost wages and sick pay. Three quarters of women who are experiencing domestic abuse will, whilst at work, be harassed, threatened or abused by their current or former partner. That, of course, has an impact on the victim's ability to work as normal, particularly as work phones and emails are often the way in which the perpetrator continues to make contact. One in five women in Scotland experienced domestic abuse in their lifetime, directly affecting 553,300 women in Scotland. That means that for every five women working in a company, statistically speaking, one of those employees will have experienced domestic abuse. That is a devastating statistic. We owe it to those women to take our collective responsibilities in tackling domestic violence seriously. Local authorities will make a significant impact by championing the equally safe at work accreditation programme. I urge all employers listening to this debate to seriously consider what steps you can take to tackle domestic violence among your workforce. For every woman who has moved into safety, those steps are unequivocally worth it. Thank you very much. I call Rachael Hamilton. We have followed by Gillian Martin and Ms Martin will be the last speaker in the open debate. First, I would like to thank Gail Ross for bringing this debate to the chamber today and closing the gap for their briefing. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the very important issue of equality in the workplace. No matter what age, race, background or gender, everyone should feel safe or comfortable in their workplace. Everyone has a job to do, and no one should ever be held back from achieving or striving to do the very best that they can. Even though attitudes are improving and awareness around harassment in the workplace is increasing, sadly, behaviour and attitudes derived from gender equality perpetuate. The figures around sexual harassment in the workplace make for grim reading, with almost three quarters of women in Scotland witnessing or experiencing sexual harassment at work. There is so much more that has to be done to tackle this scourge in our society. When I learned of the Equally Safe at Work programme through Gail Ross's motion, I decided that it was such an important endeavour that I wanted to support it. The programme aims to eradicate violence against women and girls, and it is the only one of its kind. As Jackie Baillie said, it is pioneering. Although Equally Safe at Work is not currently being rolled out as a pilot in my area of the Scottish Borders, I want to wish all those involved in the other pilots across the parts of Scotland and hope that it creates a long-term lasting impact on workplaces. I hope that it builds the foundation for change to embed a strong culture of gender equality within those organisations and organisations that will take it up in the future. I hope that it proves to be effective so that we can see it across Scotland, not just with local government employers, but also in other sectors. There is no doubt of the negative impact of domestic abuse in the workplace. The programme aims to highlight the effects that domestic abuse has on productivity in the workplace, and many of us take for granted just turning up for work to face the day, getting on with tasks, meeting paperwork and email. However, for domestic abuse victims, the days are long and productivity is lost. That is often a hidden issue that must be addressed. Closer to home in the Borders, I am really proud of some excellent work that is going on to help with this, namely the CEDA project and Victim Support Scottish Borders. We want more women who are victims of domestic abuse to come forward, and we have seen evidence of that with the increase in the number of reported incidents. However, we cannot be soft on those abusers. I hope that, with the support of those organisations, women can be helped back into the workplace and assistance will be given to them in time of their need. In closing, the Equally Safe at Work programme aims to be a successful step forward in tackling workplace harassment and violence against women. I really look forward to seeing the positive change that the programme will bring. I hope that Closer Gap will explore the larger roll-out and perhaps the Scottish Borders will join in as a pilot, too. We have come a long way, but there is even further to go. If we are to have a true equality in the workplace, let us just keep up the momentum. I thank Gail Ross once again, and I thank Closer Gap for their involvement in this very important project. Riding society of gender-based violence sexual harassment and sexual discrimination starts with advancing gender equality. A specific accreditation scheme to tackle gender equality is long overdue. I thank Gail Ross for bringing the debate to the chamber and for eloquently drawing the link between workplace discrimination and economic insecurity as a cause behind or an exacerbator of gender-based violence. I am glad that Closer Gap is the leader in this initiative for that reason. I want to look at some of that inequality. We are just at the pilot stage of the Equally Safe at Work, but I am really hoping that, beyond that point, the scheme can be rolled out to the private sector for them to take up on a voluntary basis, where it has been my experience that the greatest change has to happen. The precarious work that can leave a woman unable to leave a violent partner because of economic insecurity largely exists in the private sector. That inequality is apparent in the gender pay gap. That pay gap is a symptom of a workplace culture, born out of stubborn gender stereotypes and systematic inequality. Career progression should not be dependent on whether a woman has caring responsibilities. I have heard plenty of women being asked by employers if there are plans to start a family, but never men. I have told the story before of telling a former boss that I was expecting my first child. His knee-jerk reaction was to say this, I thought that you were interested in your career. Every time I tell this story, I have other women telling me similar stories or worse, women being quietly dropped from management training programmes, projects being given to someone else, opportunities melting away like snow off a dike, never blatantly, of course. After asking for a pay rise many years ago, the same boss likened me to his wife, who told me, and I quote, also liked a bit of extra pin money. I was a producer in a corporate video production. I was not asking my man for money for a quote, as seen in the co-operative, like a 1950s housewife. The boss probably meant no harm by those comments, but I felt angry and humiliated. Those comments are reflective of a wider culture that diminishes female employees' status. Both those instances were over 20 years ago, but I have seen plenty of women sidelined since. Discrimination and offence in the workplace in regard to pregnant workers and mothers is just one part of a suite of harassment and discrimination. It is a problem that is particularly acute in the private sector. Constructive dismissal of pregnant women is rife. I once witnessed a colleague of mine have our duties and responsibilities reshaped and reassigned to other people as part of a so-called restructure after a company takeover, and she resigned due to the upset and stress that left her with no maternity benefits. It is estimated that 54,000 women lose their job as a result of becoming pregnant, but the full picture may be masked by the widespread abuse in the private sector of non-disclosure agreements. Additionally, zero-hours contracts allow employers to simply reject any work regardless of circumstances. As we know, women are more likely to have a zero-hours situation. In those cases, if you fall pregnant, you could often fall off the rotor. Losing your job is perhaps the extreme of discrimination, but being pregnant at work can often lead to comments that the perpetrator thinks that they are innocent, even friendly, but they diminish disrespect and embarrass the women on the receiving end. In appropriate comments about whether or not you will be coming back to work or what arrangements you will be making on your return to work or assumptions that you will not be able to continue at the level that you are currently at or do as much work are bandied about pretty much every day. No one ever comments on those things when you are an expectant father. All those things might sound harmless, but they are not. They contribute to a view that mothers are not good promotion prospects and are of less value than their male counterparts. In gender, I have stated that, despite political leadership on women's equality at the Scotland level, there is widespread and systematic failure to grasp the challenge of mainstreaming across public authorities. Women's equality within the public sector has largely stalled as a result. In closing, the public sector is just the start. The private sector must be fully involved, too, if we are to make universal systematic change, and I hope that we get to that point soon. Thank you very much. I call on Christina McKelvie to close with the Government Minister, please. I thank Gail Ross for bringing this very important debate to the chamber on the day that we launched the pilot. I thank all the colleagues across the chamber for their very important contributions. I will touch on what everybody had to say today. We know that violence against women and girls cannot and must not be allowed. We have already said that. That violence pervades every aspect of a woman's life, and the workplace is not section. We have heard very clear examples of that. That violence, as we know, comes at huge costs to inhibit women and girls from realising their true potential, requires the diversion of resources for crisis and immediate intervention, and has a toxic impact on our wider society. John Finnie rightly commended the work of White Ribbon, while reminding us that men have a key role to play here, and none of us should be by standards. The Government, this Parliament and society as a whole have a responsibility to take action to end violence against women and girls. To achieve success, we must work together and leave no one behind. Rona Mackay and John Finnie talked about the cross-party group, a perfect example of politicians across parties working with stakeholders to advance and progress the policies of this place in ending that inequality. Jackie Baillie reminded us very clearly that the progress has been over the 20 years of this Parliament, and we should all be proud that we have worked together to achieve that. Our Equally Saved Strategy has been described as the best violence against women strategy in Europe. It has a decisive focus on prevention, seeks to strengthen national and local collaborative working to ensure effective interventions for victims and those at risk, and contains a clear ambition to strengthen the justice response to victims and perpetrators. Our strategy prioritises primary prevention, and we have already made progress to taking forward many of the actions in our associated delivery plan, particularly in our approach to ensuring that our children have an understanding of important issues, like consent and healthy relationships. Like Rachael Hamilton, I, too, hope that what has been launched today builds that foundation for change. We are already on that road, but I have no doubt that it will, so I share those same ambitions as Rachael Hamilton. However, although raising awareness and embedding understanding of gender-based violence across our schools, institutions and indeed wider societies is undoubtedly hugely important, perhaps the bigger challenge is delivering a societal shift where women no longer occupy a subordinate position to men. Gail Ross and Liam McArthur spoke in their contribution about the gendered nature of violence against women and girls and how that is born out by the statistics that we have already heard. That is why the work to close the gap or undertaking is so important and will play a vital part in our goal of advancing women's equality in the workplace. Jackie Baillie also said in her contribution that the workplace should be a safe haven for women who are being abused. It should also be a place where you feel supported and understood and, as John Finnie said, that trust in relationship where you can actually get some support with the situation that you are faced with in your life. Our Government in this Parliament has a strong track record in this area. We have a gender-balanced cabinet, the establishment of the advisory council on women and girls, which I believe met this morning was incredibly lively, and the introduction of the legislation to lock in the gains of ensuring equality representation on public boards are just a few of the important steps that we have taken. However, we have all recognised in the chamber today every single speaker that there is still much to be done to ensure that women are properly represented in our political and public institutions and more widely in senior and decision-making positions. Of course, we know that in terms of equal representation. We are not even there yet, and the imperative of the private sector to adopt this accreditation was passionately articulated by Gillian Martin, but we have got some work to do here as well as the work with the private sector, because just over 36 per cent of members of this place and 32 per cent of MPs at Westminster are women. At the current pace of change, it will take another 25 years before we reach 50-50 women and local government, we have work to do. The fact that we still have a gender pay gap is also unacceptable. Women in our society also continue to be underrepresented in boardrooms, senior management roles and are concentrated in low-paid and undervalued positions, as are articulated by many speakers today. Annie Wells made clear links to the economic impact of equal pay, and she is absolutely right to do that. Gillian Martin told us about how inappropriate comments and the loss of opportunity have a huge impact on women's ability to advance in the workplace. That lack of representation is precisely why women are often disproportionately affected by benefit cuts. They unjustly bear the brunt of austerity and can become cemented in a lifetime of low earnings and underutilised qualifications. If you are in an abusive relationship, that is another way that you are cemented into that. If women are not in the room when that policy is being made, it means that we get further entrenched in equality. Gail Ross reminded us that women are twice as likely to be dependent on social security, so a piece of work to be done there. This economic inequality serves to reinforce gender inequality across society, as often a lack of financial independence can limit women's freedom and restrict their choices. That is why I support—and I believe that many in this place support changes to the universal credit system—to enable split payments to households to maintain financial independence for women who are in domestic abuse or coercive controlling situations. It is also important to stress at this juncture the wider impact of violence has and can be felt across our society. Violence against women caused the economy an estimated £40 billion each year, so it makes good business sense that employers realise the part that they have to play and not only design policies that help to overcome the barriers that women face at work, but the key role that they also have to play in supporting women who experience gender-based violence either within the workplace or in their homes. The use of workplace resources that we have heard today to continue abuse, to continue stalking, to create an atmosphere of fear, discussed by Rona Mackay and Bill Kidd, is an area where employers can take clear action and make progress on immediately. That is why we are proud to support close the gaps, pioneering equally safe at work accreditation programme, which we believe will have the potential to create a real step change for women working in local government. I know that, in the public gallery, when I met Ruth and Kelsey today, they were absolutely full of enthusiasm and really looking forward to the pilots concluding and rolling out the work that they are doing. Those local authority areas who are taking part in the pilot have the opportunity to lead the way in tackling gender inequality across local government, instituting appropriate measures to support and ensure the safety of employees who are experiencing gender-based violence and creating genuinely inclusive work cultures that play a crucial role in preventing such violence. I have already heard from councillor Mary Donnelly at South Lanarkshire Council. She and her team and a cross-party group of councillors were very keen to do this work, and she has had a life dedicated to women's equality. However, I therefore take this opportunity to wish to close the gap. Every success is that it takes forward this project into the next phase, and I look forward to watching how the pilot develops over the coming months. Bill Kidd said to us in this debate that this is a moral imperative for employers. He is absolutely right. Achieving gender equality and ending violence against women and girls once and for all is a shared responsibility of all of us. I hope that we continue to work together to build on the success that we have already enjoyed to create a Scotland where everyone feels equally safe. Thank you very much. That concludes the debate, and I close this meeting of Parliament.