Panel: Economic Growth, Austerity and Crisis: the Impact on Gender Equality

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ECPGAnnual Conference

11-13 June 2015

Panel: Economic Growth, Austerity and Crisis: The Impact on Gender Equality

11 June 2015

Redefining welfare in Scotland - with or without women?

Dr Angela O’Hagan

Glasgow Caledonian University (UK)

DRAFT PAPER

Please do not cite

Abstract

The combination of the impact of welfare reform by the UK government and the opportunity for change presented by the debate on Scottish independence produced a profusion of alternative welfare proposals from scholars, formal political parties, the Scottish Government, and a range of think tanks and civil society organisations. These varied in their support for a social investment approach in a ‘new’Scotland prior to the referendum vote and subsequently in the proposals submitted to the Smith Commission. The extent to which these proposals demonstrated considered gender analysis or specific objective to address economic and social constraints specifically experienced by women or arising from the constraints of gender relations varied even more. This paper offers an analysis of proposals from key policy documents prior to the Referendum and the proposals emerging throughout the post-Referendum process to ascertain the extent to which concerns for welfare alternatives reflect a shared political commitment to women’s economic and social wellbeing in a future Scotland.

Introduction

While visions of what a ‘new Scotland’might look like as an independent country or as a re-visioned member of the United Kingdom crowded the minds and television screens of many in Scotland in 2014, was the possibility of a more gender equal Scotland at the forefront?

In terms of the social security of the citizens of a future Scotland and specifically the social protection, wellbeing, and independence of the women in Scotland; what proposals were forthcoming from the political parties and the plethora of civil society organisations engaged in the debate? To what extent wasthe economic, political and social status of women a central political concern beyond the organised feminist movement?

In answering these questions and considering the evidence from a range of sources, this paper will draw on several concepts from feminist policy change and feminist welfare state literature. The evidence of gender analysis or the absence of such is taken from key policy proposals as proposed by the main formal political parties - Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservative and Unionists, Scottish Green Party, Scottish National Party (SNP), Scottish Liberal Democrats; the ‘think and do tank’Common Weal, the report of the Expert Group on Welfare, and feminist civil society organisations including Engender and the Scottish Women’s Budget Group. Across these policy networks, the debate has been framed around ‘welfare’ and welfare ‘reform’, reflecting the dominant UK government framing that has been consistently challenged by feminist voices including the UK Women’s Budget Group.

The paper will consider the extent to which there was any ‘grand vision for gender equality’as aspired to by Hernes in her influential conceptualisation of ‘the women-friendly welfare state’; (Hernes, 1987). It also discusses the political agency of women as political actors and the possibilities for them to advance propositions for women’s equality and recast gender relations within the political opportunities presented by the independence debate and its subsequent developments.

The policy proposals and critical actors that are the focus in this paper are presented as evidence of agenda-setting around alternatives to the current welfare system and opposition to the nature of the reform led by the UK government. Arguably there is evidence of advocacy coalitions at work, some more loosely formed than others. Core questions arise however as to how gender has been problematised, by whom and with what effect?

Gender Equality in Scotland

Ongoing constitutional change, welfare, tax and public service reforms from the UK government along with cuts in public spending and the withdrawal of public services in the UK and Scotland are happening against a backdrop of women’s pre-existing inequalities.

Women’s current economic, political and social status relative to men’s has been described by Engender, a national feminist campaigning civil society organisation (CSO) as a series of gaps - in care provision, freedom from violence, income and pay, power and representation (Engender, 2014).

In terms of welfare and women’s relationship with social security, during Spring 2015 evidence to the Scottish Parliament Welfare Reform Committee Inquiry on Women and Welfare from a range of sources highlighted a number of core issues.[1]

•Twice the amount of women’s income is derived from the tax credits and benefits system than men’s: 20:10%;

•59% of carers are women and 84% of those caring for children and other family members are women

•Women are more likely to work part-time which along with the persistent gender pay gap result in lower incomes and earnings for women

•92% of single parent households are headed by women

•43% of children in single parent households are poor and 22% in couple households;

•women experiencing domestic abuse are additionally vulnerable as they may lack access to income because of power imbalances within households, reinforcing the need for independent access to social security support to enable them to leave an abusive situation.

Writing a decade before the introduction of the UK Government measures, Lewis (2002) was warning that women were already “being asked to bear the main burden of welfare state restructuring” (2002:333). Five years of punitive reductions in public spending imposed by the UK government have seen Lewis’ prediction unfold with even more severity as 85%, or £22million of the £26 million of the cuts directly affecting women’s income.[2] A series of political choices on public spending have seen cuts in spending and increases in taxation at a level of 82:18%[3] have affected women in general and particularly poor women in more deprived areas, lone parents, and older and/or disabled women who have variously been pushed into poverty, out of the labour market, and back to increased caring roles to compensate for the withdrawal of public services. Women are facing what the London-based feminist campaignorganisation The Fawcett Society has called a ‘triple jeopardy’: the impact of job cuts, spending cuts and service cuts (Fawcett, 2012). Therefore, as Graham and McQuaid (2014) argue, welfare reform must be considered within the context of the existing “disparities [that] arise from the wider political, economic and social context within which women are situated”.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), who have formed the Scottish Government since 2007 has claimed to have focused its efforts on what ministers regularly describe as ‘mitigating the worst excesses of the Westminster government’. Successive Scottish Budgets have introduced a range of ‘anti-austerity’measures such as the Scottish Welfare Fund, providing crisis grant and loan funding to individuals and households. It has also funded£50m in Discretionary Housing Benefit to compensate social housing tenants affected by the UK Government’s ‘spare room subsidy’, known as the “Bedroom Tax”. Rummery considers the Scottish Government’s record in office and manifesto pledges as being a “credible alternative to ‘austerity-driven welfare’”and that they have “balanc[ed] the books whilst continuing to invest in universal services”(2015).

Rummeryalso questions, however, the extent to which perceptions are justified of Scotland as politically and popularly more committed to social justice policy than elsewhere in the UK. While there is little comfort from social attitude polling that this may be the case, the rhetoric is strong, and arguably social justice and equality are becoming increasingly dominant policy frames as evidenced in the recent review of Scotland’s Economic Strategy. While the ‘overarching purpose of government’remains “to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth”(Scottish Government, 2015:1), the strategy is now built upon two key pillars of increasing competitiveness and tackling inequality. The focus on tacking inequality is framed as an economic and social justice imperative: inequality is a drag on growth and on individual wellbeing. A social justice strategy is being developed as a parallel framework to accompany the economic strategy.

Arguably, the developing discourse on tacking inequality and the promotion of equality has not been developed by the Scottish Government or the Scottish National Party in a vacuum. Gender equality advocates have been prominent and persistent since devolution, particularly in the areas of gender based violence, women’s political representation, and gender budgeting. The Scottish Women’s Budget Group has been a member of the Scottish Government’s Equality and Budgets Advisory Group since 2001. It has been an influential voice through the Scottish Parliament committees as members have frequently given evidence to committee inquiries and budget scrutiny processes. Engender have led the debate on women and ‘welfare’throughout the independence referendum and since.

Are these feminist voices making a difference within the wider polity and policy community? What strength and force do feminist voices have within political parties and other policy making venues? Have the calls for gender analysis across public policy domains been accepted and activated within non-feminist policy venues?

Political change as an opportunity for feminist policy change

The potential of promoting feminist policy change by maximising windows of political opportunities such as constitutional change are well established in the literature on advancing gender equality (Banaszack et al. 2003; Beckwith, 2007; Vickers, 2011) and in territorial politics where the creation of political opportunity structures potentially open up the policy space for new actors and arenas (Keating and Wilson, 2009; Vickers, 2013).

In all the ways that Vickers describes, “parties, movements, and women’s policy agencies”(Vickers, 2013), there have been numerous examples in Scotland since devolution of women organising to situate themselves in or in relation to political institutions as part of a dynamic politica process(Chappell, 2010). Throughout the referendum debate and since, women’s organisations have consulted, deliberated and promoted alternative analysis and proposals to address and improve the positive of women and to present the possibility of a more gender equal Scotland.

Annesley (2007) has highlighted historical examples of the impact of women’s organised campaigning on welfare reform, and how that was maximised through opportunities for social change. She confirms that the effectiveness of women’s political agency is not “automatic’, but rather it depends on the combination of three inter-related factors:

•“window of opportunity,

•women as political agents need to be able to shape the terms of reference or discourse of the

reform process and

•women need to have the institutional capacity to get their demands heard and implemented”(Annesley, 2007: 455).

Clearly the debate leading up to the referendum on Scottish independence was a window of opportunity. Over the two years before the vote on 18 September 2014 a series of policy proposals were generated in political parties, in feminist and women’s organisations, in anti-poverty organisations and alliances, and by newly established ‘think tanks’, policy websites and blogs. The possibility to envision a different country, or at least to advance alternative approaches to social and economic wellbeing within the union state, was met with energy and enthusiasm from civic and political Scotland. Women trade unionists, political activists, in organised groups and as public intellectuals were visible even in the largely male-dominated world of political campaigning and blogging. Principal among the initiatives on the wider ‘Yes’side were the blogger website Bella Caledonia; the ‘think and do tank’Common Weal; the establishment of Women for Independence in 2012 and its rise and rise to 10,000 members in 2015 (post Referendum); Radical Independence Campaign; political bloggers like Kate Higgins (@burdseyeview) and author, journalist and campaigner Lesley Riddoch whose volume “Blossom”advocates Nordic-style taxation in support of Scandinavian style welfare state, local governance and childcare/social care regimes.

Women as voters were keenly targeted by the political parties and campaigning organisations on both sides of the question. Social security, pensions, social and health care were among the key topics of significance to women and therefore the focus of campaign materials, including television adverts and printed materials.

A wide range of policy issues acted as pressure points in the referendum debate: currency, economy, welfare and social security, health and education, taxation, environment, transport, defence and international relations/foreign policy, and EU membership. ‘Social justice’became an overarching discursive package and key political battlegrounds on both sides of the independence question. Arguably driven by the wider ‘Yes’campaign as a frame for policy proposals on poverty and inequality (including welfare), participation and inclusion, equality and human rights with the ‘No’or Better Together campaign seeking to make claims on the progressive potential of remaining in the union. Labour party discourse focused on the need to maintain solidarity with people in England and Wales, especially those worst affected by reductions in public spending and changes to the welfare and taxation regimes (Scottish Labour, 2014).

This framing around social justice was not new, but was rather a development of established political discourse in Scotland. However, despite the discursive framing and rhetorical cleavage there is an enduring gap between the reality of attitudes to welfare payments and the perceptions of a higher level of commitment to social justice. Survey data in the lead in to the referendum revealed broadly similar attitudes to welfare provision to the rest of the UK and not the divide that is often presented as the norm. Curtice commented on the disparity in 2013 between the popularity of some forms of welfare and limited support for increased spending on unemployment support, with a preference for it to be reduced (Curtice, 2013).

Increasingly the discourse framing welfare ‘reform’has been one of ‘welfare’as a scourge and the need for policy intervention to curtail ‘scroungers and skivers’and ‘benefit tourism’. Following the financial crisis and recessions of the mid-2000’s onwards there has been a resurgence of the neo-conservative entrenchment (Mishra, 1990) evident in the 1980’s. The prevailing discourse from the UK government, popular press and media, and increasingly the voting public, encouraged by campaign language from the UK Conservative and the United Kingdom Independence Party. In a challenge to the self-perception in Scotland, Curtice reported that “public opinion in Scotland has not been immune from the wider trend evident across the UK as a whole towards a less sympathetic view towards at least some aspects of welfare” (Curtice, 2013:6).

Framing and advocating gender equality: women’s political agency in arguing for social security and protection for women

As for Annesley’s third condition, women’s institutional capacity to present their demands and have them implemented, we start to see conflicts arise between the presence and voices of women, clearly articulated demands and proposals, and a failure of established policy venues and political structures and institutions to reflect these demands or even a gendered analysis of their own proposals.

At the start of the independence referendum campaign, Kenny noted with concern the absence of women’s voices and presence (Kenny, 2013). Arguably that changed over the course of the campaign. Women were prominent in the political parties: Nicola Sturgeon, then Deputy Leader of the SNP, led her party’s independence campaign; her counterparts Ruth Davidson as leader of the Scottish Conservatives and,to a lesser degree, Johan Lamont in the leadership role for Scottish Labour were key figures for the ‘No’campaign, Better Together. Women for Independence (WfI) founders Jeanne Freeman, Carolyn Leckie and Natalie McGarry (among others) became regular contributors to popular and political media and events, and WfI developed a strong grassroots base through local meetings across Scotland. There was less visible activity led by women activists in the‘No’campaign. Unaligned organisations such as Engender and the Scottish Women’s Convention ran workshops and other events in many parts of Scotland and produced reports and briefings on women’s views and analysis of women’s situation in Scotland, building knowledge, capacity and confidence among women about the status of women and the implications for women of the potential constitutional changes.

The main policy document produced by Engender to support engagement with women and the institutional political process, Gender Equality and Scotland’s Constitutional Futures ,presents a

“vision for a Scotland in which women and men have equal opportunities in life, equal access to resources and power, and are equally safe and secure from harm. We wish to live and work in a country in which women and men are represented as equals in the media and in public life and have an equal voice in shaping and making political decisions –where gendered discrimination has been consigned to history”(Engender, 2014a: 3)