 I will now call the chamber to order again. Can I ask the members who wish to speak on the debate on 100 years of women and leadership enforces to press the request to speak buttons? I will now call on Maurice Corry to open the debate. Mr Corry, seven minutes are there abouts, please. Deputy Presiding Officer, thank you very much indeed, and thank you for the adjournment to allow my guests to take their seats. It's an honour to begin this debate today. First I'd like to thank the members who support for my motion to allow this debate I'm also delighted to welcome to the chamber female representatives, the Royal Navy, the Royal Military Police and a number of female veterans and women from the forces. Between them they have decades of service and dedication to our country and I'm sure that the whole chamber would want to join me in thanking them for their service. It's great to see you all here today and thank you for attending and I'd like to welcome members of St Michael and all angels church in Helensburg towards the back there who amongst them have several serving members, the armed forces in their parish and also veterans. Now being in Helensburg of course they cover Her Majesty's naval base Clyde, Fastlane and Coolport and of course the parish extends to cover a very large number of people in the population there. I'm very appreciative of their presence here today and welcome them. Members know the phrase those magnificent men and their flying machines but I'd like to put forward the phrase those wonderful women and their flying machines. Following on, members recall documentaries on the BBC television over recent years about the incredibly brave work members of the women's auxiliary air force undertook. The work was to deliver new aircraft to operational airfield bases from the manufacturers. This involved flying, often solo fighter aircraft and light and heavy bombers with very limited navigational aids and in extreme weathers of all sorts. By their bravery and superb skills our front line RAF squadrons both fighter and bomber squadrons were able to achieve success on air operations in the second world war. No more was this demonstrated than in the battle of Britain's victory with replacement Spitfires and Hurricanes being brought forward to squadrons by these wonderful women in the women's auxiliary air force. Today women are involved in most areas of the British Armed Forces many of you will have seen news reports and documentaries of our era med teams and our era evac teams operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. These teams contain many female doctors, nurses and medics and interestingly many of these women were recruited for the were joined up as a reservist from the NHS and in particular I'm glad to say NHS Tayside and Ninewells hospital to name but a few amongst others in the UK hospitals. Here we see women stepping forward to serve their country in the time of need. It is not well known enough but women being able to serve in the armed forces was actually driven forward by a Scotswoman Mona Chalmers Watson. During the first world war she served as the first controller of the women's army auxiliary corps or the WAC. She led a force that would have been more than 57,000 women strong serving from July 1917 to 1921 including 10,000 women in France itself. Mona Chalmers Watson is a fascinating individual not only was she one of the founders and main drivers behind the WAC but she was also the first woman to obtain her MD in medicine from the University of Edinburgh's medical college. She also edited the encyclopedia Medica, a 15 volume work the first edition which appeared in 1900 and was also published two books Food and Feeding in Health and Disease in 1910 and The Book of Diet in 1913. She was also a noted suffragette herself before the establishment of the WAC. She had concentrated on improving the levels of pay offered to the women taking over men's jobs and she served as a doctor to the suffragette prisoners in Perth. Mona Chalmers Watson regarded the creation of the women's arm auxiliary corps as an advance of the women's movement and a national advance and noted that for the first time women had a direct and officially recognised share in the task of our armies both at home and overseas. In a recruiting pamphlet she wrote that and I quote, this is the great opportunity for every strong healthy and active woman not already employed and work or national importance to offer her service to her country. I go on and I can go on more but I am sure that everyone has got the flavour of just how impressive a woman Mona Chalmers Watson was in every aspect including here in her military career. The impact of these changes of course not only affected the outcome of the First World War but the impact has felt in every conflict since. During the Second World War for example women played a vital role in securing victory against Nazism and more than 80,000 women in the women's land army at its height. Memberships of the women's auxiliary air force speak at over 180,000 representing over 48 nationalities and we are lucky enough to be joined today by Georgina Archibald in the gallery who was a member of the WAF and I believe post the Second World War. She's here today with her daughter Fiona who was a member of the women's royal naval service and also granddaughter Lilias who is currently an applicant to become a royal naval pilot. Welcome to you all. That's three generations of women serving our country and testament to the vital role that women have and will continue to play in our armed forces. It certainly makes me feel very humble indeed and I'm sure to us members here as well today. In conclusion Deputy Presiding Officer, I believe that everyone should have the opportunity if able to serve our country in any way they can and see fit which is why the Royal Air Force has been having every role available to everyone able to meet the criteria whatever gender is so welcome and welcome to join. Since 1917 women have played a vital and important role in our country's defence and I'm sure in the next hundred years they will continue to play that vital role. Thank you. Thank you Mr Corey. I request members in the gallery, public in the gallery, not to applaud tempting though it is to understand why but it's not permitted. I now go to the open debate speeches of four minutes. I call Gordon MacDonald to be forward by Edward Mountain. Mr MacDonald please. Thank you Presiding Officer and I thank Maurice Corry for bringing the motion to the chamber for debate. The women's army auxiliary corps was created during 1917 and became the army's first all-female unit fulfilling essential medical and clerical roles both in the UK and in France. In marking this centenary of the women's army auxiliary corps we have to recognise why it was established. When war broke out in 1914 women queued alongside men to volunteer for whatever roles were available. However, the military view was that nursing was the only suitable role for women. During the course of the war 19,000 women served as nurses and up to 100,000 as part of voluntary aid detachments. Female medics such as Dr Elsie Ingalls who graduated from the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women in 1892 offered their services to the Royal Army Medical Corps but was told, my good lady, go home and sit still. Supported by the suffragette societies she set up her own female staffed hospital units and made her own way overseas where their help was quickly accepted by the Belgians, the French and the Serbs. The attitude of the British military changed in 1916 when Britain faced a major manpower shortage due to mounting casualties and especially the slaughter on the Somme where on the first day British forces suffered 37,000 wounded and 19,000 fatalities for just three square miles of territory. Lieutenant-General Lawson was asked to review the role of women in the military in early 1917. He examined how women were taken on men's jobs on the home front and, as a result, the idea of women performing basic military jobs no longer seemed ridiculous. His report found that supporting women to enter military service would release men for front-line duty. As the history press website explains, the corps was established in such a rush that the chief controllers were still negotiating details of pay and accommodation for months after the first draft arrived in France and the corps was not officially instituted until 7 July 1917. It was clarified that the women had enrolled as civilians and would not be enlisted in the army. That was only a temporary force that was created out of necessity. By 1918, over 57,000 women had served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps with 9,000 serving overseas. Five members are awarded the military medal and 83 members died in service. Despite proving their worth, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was disbanded in 1920. It was nearly 20 years later on the outbreak of World War II that the Auxiliary Territorial Service was formed as a women's branch of the British Army. Finally, in 1948, the Women's Service Act was passed, allowing for a permanent peacetime role for women and British armed services. Today, the MOD of a crisis in recruitment and, as a result, will lift the ban on women and combat roles by the end of 2018. That is despite the size of our armed forces nearly halfing since 1980, yet there is still a shortfall in recruits. The Filling the ranks report states that the Royal Navy and the RAF are now running at 10 per cent short of their annual recruitment target, while the Army's shortfall is over 30 per cent. I welcome the fact that, finally, women are to be treated equally for all roles in our armed forces. However, that should not be about filling the gaps in the ranks. If the MOD really wants to address the recruitment crisis, then it should set pay a level that attracts the best recruits instead of the paltry £14,931 per annum, which is less than the real living wage. Our armed forces personnel, men and women, deserve better. The next soldier is a pleasure to take part in this debate today. I thank Maurice Corry for bringing the motion forward so that the Parliament can celebrate the vital contribution made by women as part of the British armed forces. It is hard to believe that, just over 100 years ago, at the outbreak of the First World War, the idea of women serving in our armed forces was considered to be ridiculous. As Gordon MacDonald has said, a famous Scott, Elsie Inglis, a suffragette and a doctor offered her medical services to the War Office only to be flatly refused. I think that the words that she was told was, my good lady, go home and sit still. A dangerous comment I fear in those days, and one I repeat now as a quote, and I do so with caution. Because Elsie went on to establish the Scottish Women's Hospital, which saw the 1500 women's support, our European allies, with the ambulance and drivers and orderly and cooks that they needed. By 1917, our armed forces changed their minds, and the first all-women unit in the British Army was officially instituted as the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. The creation of this unit heralded a start of a century of progress, as far as women in our armed forces are concerned, and the unit was quickly joined by the Women's Royal Navy Service, formed in 1917, and the Women's Royal Air Force, formed in 1918. When the women were called upon to serve their country in the Second World War, again, they supported the campaigns on land, on the sea, and in the air. We should not forget that in World War II, even our Queen donned the uniform to serve her country and our country. We should not forget also that there were women who served as part of the Special Operations Executive, or the Baker Street Irregulars, as they were known. We still do not know all the stories involving ordinary women with extraordinary courage who served behind the lines. The last surviving female spy from World War II, Sonia Butt, or Agent Blanche, passed away in 2014. The fact that she had an MBE and mentioned in dispatches by the age of 20 gives an indication of her actions. Sonia Butt would use her beauty to tease out information from German soldiers, but she was also deadly wreaking havoc on the Nazis by blowing up bridges, rail lines, and ambushing German convoys, helping to turn the tide of the war in the Allies' favour. Her example has been replicated in many conflicts since the Second World War, and I would like to pay tribute to those women who have served as part of our armed forces across the globe. We have seen women deployed on operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and a growing recognition of their importance to our armed services. I know soldiers such as my son who served in the conflict zones see women as a critical part of our armed services. In this debate, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Women's Royal, sorry, Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, and it is their dedication that has led to Women's Service Act 50 years ago, which Mr McDonald mentioned, which finally allowed a permanent peacetime role for women in our armed services. Ever since that point, the will of progress has continued to turn, and in recent years the intake of female personnel has risen. 30 per cent of our army cadets are indeed girls, and women have risen to the top ranks, with Major General Susan Ridge becoming the first-ever general to serve in the British Army. Presiding officers, it is right that we pay tribute today to those women who served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in World War 1. We are conscious that, not only did they gain the gratitude of the men and women in the generation for their contribution, but they have blazed a trail for future generations of women to do the very same in every conflict thereafter. Thank you, Mr Mountain. I call Kezia Dugdale to be followed by Michelle Ballantyne. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I pay tribute to Maurice Corry for securing this debate this afternoon? It is, of course, a fantastic opportunity to pay tribute to all of the women who directly or indirectly fought for our country, and I am grateful to him for that. I would also like to pay a personal tribute to the women who are currently serving in our armed forces. I am aware of some uniforms in the gallery. It is all too rare that we have the opportunity to say thank you and to share our gratitude for the work that they do every day to keep us safe. I thank you for that, and I had the great privilege of thanking some of them in person when I last visited Redford Barracks at this time last year. I would also like to thank Maurice Corry for bringing Mona Geddes into my world. He referred to her as Mona Wilson. I know that she also has another persona as Dr Alexandra Mary Tarmers-Watson. She has had a number of names over the years, and I will not repeat much of her fantastic life, because Maurice Corry did that for us in his opening remarks. However, he mentioned that she was a suffragette who fought for equal pay for women who were doing the jobs of men over 100 years ago, and we fight for that today 100 years on. Equally, he marked the fact that she was the first woman to graduate from Edinburgh University with a medicine degree in 1898, having completed a chemistry degree two years previous to that. However, what he did not mention was that she postponed her engagement and her marriage to her husband at the time, because she refused to marry him until she had those letters after her name—what a lovely feminist adage to have on the memory books and to recollect just how important that was to her. He also mentioned the connection to Elsie Ingalls, and of course they were friends and together established the Scottish Women's Hospital, which Edward Mountain also went on to recognise. We talk a lot about how we fail to put on record the role that women played in the army or, indeed, in conflicts over the years, and there are constant reminders to do so with official statues. I am sure that the member will be aware that there is an on-going campaign to have Elsie Ingalls remembered in Edinburgh in particular. There are more statues for dogs in Edinburgh than there are for women. As a friend of the canine, that might not be an issue to you, but it is to many people across the constituency who would like to see a formal recognition of Elsie Ingalls' work. What is interesting to note is that, when Elsie Ingalls Memorial Hospital was here in Edinburgh, it named a wing of that hospital after Mona Gettys. When the hospital closed, we lost the one living memory to Mona Gettys that we have, and perhaps there is more that we can do to recognise the role that women played over the past 100 years. Many of the ways in which we do this in societal terms are done through popular culture. If you think of the countless TV programmes that feature the women in the First or Second World War rather than the men, my favourite book, The Night Watch, is focused entirely on the role of female ambulance drivers in the Second World War. I encourage colleagues to read that. It is a cracking read, but the only statue that I can actually think of that has a female recognised in it for paying a role in the Second World War and the First World War is outside what is now a community centre in Gretna. I visited that as party leader this time last year, and that is outside what used to be her Majesty's munitions factory in Gretna set up by David Lloyd George to provide the munitions for the First World War. It is generally recognised that, without that factory, it would not have had the necessary material to provide the soldiers on the front line with, and the war would not have been won without those women's work. The women who worked in those munitions factories were commonly referred to as the Canary girls because the nature of the chemicals that they were using died their skin yellow, and they lived with that throughout their whole lives. I was so pleased to see Russell Brown, back in 2015, when he was the MP for Gretna, bringing together all of the surviving women who had worked in that munitions factory. Back in 2015, there were 11 living women who had worked in that factory, and seven of them came together to mark what they had done during that time. That leaves me with the thought, Presiding Officer, which I will close on. I wonder whether the minister might be able to reflect on that and think about what the Scottish Government could do in this and teeny year to bring together any of the surviving women who had a role, either in the auxiliary corps or indeed in that munitions factory, to properly commemorate them and perhaps have some sort of lasting tribute to the women who served. I thank Maurice Corry for that opportunity and once again pay my tribute to all the women who have served and continue to serve. Thank you. I call Michelle Ballantyne, the last speaker in the open debate. First of all, I would also like to add my thanks to my colleague Maurice Corry for bringing this debate to the chamber. Like my colleagues before me, I am honoured to be able to recognise the contribution of women and the contribution that they have made to the armed services and to recognise the centenary of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. 100 years ago, the war to end all wars introduces us to the concept of total war, where an entire economy shifts itself on to a war footing. Everyone's lives changed, and history did start a new era for women. With men away fighting, women found themselves fulfilling every role in the factories on the land and in the forces. During that time, the suffragettes used a slogan in the argument for women to have the vote. Men may bear arms, but women bear armies. I have no doubt that our Scottish suffragettes, if they were here today, would be joining us with pride, despite some of their reservations about women's serving, because women now not only have the vote, but as a woman, I am also able to stand here as a member of Parliament, as the wife of an ex-army officer and the mother of sons who served on the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, I have also been able to serve in my own right as a commissioned officer in the RAFERT. In the early noughties, I received a message from a friend. He was a tornado pilot stationed in the Falklands, and the message went something like this. The world has turned on its axis. I am standing here in an apron with all my male colleagues preparing afternoon tea for the local people while the skies are being patrolled by an all-female aircrew. I think that was the first at the time, and it certainly changed the perspective of my male friends in the RAF. However, I want to take you back, and I want to finish up what I am going to say today with a thought. A lady came forward and put a message on a bottle recently, and it said, some serve and some give all. As a young girl, I was incredibly moved by a poem that was written by a gentleman called Marx, and it was given to a lady called Violetta Sabbo. She served as a spy in France, and she got, I suppose, persuaded, or she volunteered after her husband was killed at El Alamein. She had a very young daughter, and the story was made into a film. Albeit the film is not entirely accurate, but it told the story of how Violetta worked behind the lines and was eventually captured, tortured and executed by the Germans in 1945, just before the end of the war. However, the poem was what really struck me at the time, and I want to read the poem today and leave it with you all with the thought that, for me and for many of the people I speak to, when you decide to serve in the armed forces and when you decide that you are willing to take the risks that you give everything, it is those memories and those thoughts that I think we should always keep dear to ourselves when we celebrate the nature of not only women in the armed forces, but men in the armed forces too, and the poem goes like this. The life that I have is all that I have, and the life that I have is yours. The love that I have of the life that I have is yours, and yours, and yours. A sleep I shall have, a rest I shall have, yet death will be but a pause. For the peace of my years in the long green grass will be yours, and yours, and yours. Lest we forget. Thank you very much. I now call on the minister, Jamie Hepburn, to close the debate for the Government, seven minutes that there are about minister. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I join with others in thanking Maurice Corry for bringing this very important and interesting debate to the chamber, which has allowed us the chance to acknowledge the significant contribution that women have made to our armed forces past and given the nature of the centenary. I think that there has been a lot of focus in the past, but of course it is very correct that we recognise and acknowledge the on-going current contribution that women make to the armed forces today. We have had the opportunity to have a number of debates in the past to mark the contribution of our service personnel. If any of the members of this panel will not have a family connection to the armed forces, many members will have a direct connection having served themselves. I think that it is very correct that we have had the opportunity to join Mr Corry in welcoming those who have been invited to the public gallery to witness the debate. I think that it was very correct that we had that short suspension and delay to allow them to witness the debate. I think that it was very absolute that Mr Corry requested such and very generous of you to grant that short suspension. I suppose that it allows me to thank those here today for their service past and present. We have seen in many recent years significant milestones, Presiding Officer, in 2014, on the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War this year, 2018. We will, of course, see the centenary of the end of the great war, the war that was supposed to end all wars, which, of course, sadly has not been the case. There will be many events held over this year to acknowledge and recognise this centenary in this debate. It provides us an opportunity to do so early in this year. We no longer have any living veterans from the First World War male or female. Indeed, even the Second World War, which has been mentioned, we see veterans rapidly, we see the living memory of that time rapidly passing from living memory. As the years passed by so, that lived memory will pass from even those generations who had a connection to those who lived in those times. I was, as a child and a young man, able to speak to my grandfather about his experience, or at least the experience that he was willing or wanted to talk about. I am sure that most of it he did not want to talk about. My grandmother mentioned the land army, and she was able to tell me about her experience, providing me with at least a direct connection to that generation. They were cherished family members for me, for my children's generation. They will never meet them, so they will be more distant ancestors. It is vitally important that we do all that we can to listen and value the memories of those who remain and can recall that time when we still have the chance to do so. Today's debate has focused on women who have served in the armed forces over the past 100 years. There are additional notable centenaries to honour alongside that of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. The Women's Royal Naval Service was also formed in 2017. Keith Brown is looking forward to a meeting with the Association of Wrens later this month. This year, we also marked 100 years of the Royal Air Force and the formation at that time of the Women's Royal Air Force in 1918. The First World War saw women serving formally in the armed forces for the first time. The roles were numerous and varied, including wireless telegraphists, electrician, printing duties, motor vehicles, maintenance, tinsmiths, fitters and welders. Of course, as is more often spoken of, women made a massive contribution on the home front. We should also remember the women who were nurses and doctors in all three services. The Navy and Army Nursing Services were formalised in 1902 with the RAF following, as I said, in 1918. Those women worked in difficult and challenging conditions, tending those with dreadful injuries, appalling and having to imagine or conceive for many most of us in the chamber. Dr Elsie Inglis has been mentioned by many understandably. She worked against the convention of her day and against the advice of the War Office to go forth and set up the Scottish women's hospitals. The First Minister attended an event in St Giles Cathedral in November last year to observe the centenary of Dr Inglis funeral. That debate allows me the chance to place on record my thanks to one of my constituents, a man called Alan Cumming, who has done a significant amount of work to help to raise awareness of Scottish women's hospitals. His own story is quite an interesting one in that he would ride and go to Serbia because a football fan used to watch red star Belgrade and was encountered a Serbian friend who told him, that he was from Scotland, that he must know about the Scottish women's hospitals. He was very embarrassed that he had never heard of them and sparked an interest in the area. He has taken for a significant amount of work publishing books, getting TV documentaries made and establishing a website to commemorate and ensure that people remember the contribution of those brave women who set up the Scottish women's hospitals. In the Second World War, women again served with distinction, as has been mentioned, paying the ultimate sacrifice in many cases, in occupied territory, with organisations such as the Spoilership Operations Executive. Of course, there were also women involved at Bletchley Park, who made such a significant contribution to the defeat of Nazism and Fascism in Europe. Other essential roles were carried out, as we have mentioned, by the Women in the Land Army and other services. Kezia Dugdale's point, I will be very happy for us to consider what we can do to better and deny that we can better recognise the efforts that women made in that war. I will be happy to hear from any member who thinks that they have a particular suggestion as to how we can better go about that. As I said earlier, Presiding Officer, it is understandable, given that this is a debate about the centenary of particular events that we have focused on, the history of matters somewhat, but we should place on record that women continue to serve. They have served in active combat roles in Iraq, Afghanistan and women have been working alongside their male counterparts in the armed services, providing humanitarian support, including disaster relief, a role that we should remind ourselves as an essential part of the work of the armed services as is their role in keeping us safe. As Mr Corry's motion sets out, the Royal Air Force has now opened all roles to women in the first of the three services to do so. The Army has lifted the ban on women serving in close combat roles. Consideration has now been given to whether women should serve as Royal Marine Commandos. It is right that all branches of the armed services look to follow the RAF's example and ensure that all military roles are open and available for women. We have heard much about the vital roles that women have played in the armed forces over the past 100 years. Let me assure all members of the chamber that the Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting all those who serve in the armed forces and all those who have served in the armed forces in Scotland. Men and women will continue to work collaboratively with our partners in the public, private and third sectors to deliver support that we can to those who serve and who have served. That is a commitment that we take seriously, and it is one that I reiterate now to the chamber. Once again, I thank Mr Corry for bringing this debate today. I thank all members for their very interesting contributions and I suspend this meeting until 2.30.