Our Learning: Engagement with Scottish Government
During the second year of the Panel, we engaged with Scottish Government officials in different ways. These included:

• taking part in subgroups with National Advisory Council members to discuss gender budgeting and public sector equality duty;
• a learning conversation with School Age Childcare Policy Team followed by a workshop;
• our second Accountability Event in Edinburgh in February 2025;
• following up on pledges made at the first Accountability Event in 2024 (you can read more about the pledges here). 

Subgroups
Our meetings with government officials about gender budgeting and the public sector equality duty often felt less than fruitful. While there was a willingness to hear our lived experience, the tone sometimes reverted to defensiveness and a list of what was in the pipeline, rather than actively listening or answering us truthfully.

It’s true that some of the officials we spoke to felt more comfortable sharing the real issues with us than others. This is what we were always looking for - so we want to shine a light on this good practice and hope that others will follow suit in future interactions with us and other lived experience panels.

There were times when there was an openness about the failures in the system and a recognition of the impacts of that. But at other times, some officials were less open and more defensive and some didn’t engage at all during meetings. This felt tokenistic and like we were excluded from the discussion.

We don’t want to feel that our efforts are a waste of time and that we’re going to keep getting the same answers to the same questions. We want to know how and when things are going to happen, even if it’s baby steps. We appreciate honesty and transparency because then it feels like we’re all on the same page and we can collaborate and move forward.
 
Learning Conversation and Workshop
When we spoke to Government officials as part of a learning conversation it felt a bit different. We led the session and we had worked hard in advance with attendees to create an atmosphere that encouraged open and honest dialogue. In this environment, we found the officials were able to open up and speak to us about what it’s really like to work within the constraints of Government.

They told us that they need access to better information, training and support so that they can carry out their responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty more easily. This included access to high-quality disaggregated equalities data, as well as working more closely with lived experience and other experts – including their own colleagues in Scottish Government – so that they’re not working in a silo. They also told us that more time and capacity is needed to make this work well.

We realised that they were all really passionate and want to do the work to make change but we got the impression that they sometimes feel like they’re playing a giant game of chess. Lived experience is vital for them to make sure that their policies are relevant and they do understand the value of this. However, we heard about some of the barriers that they face within their own system, and we can imagine how that must feel really frustrating at times. 

The pledge made by the School Age Childcare Policy Team was “To better include the voices of marginalised women and girls within our engagement and co-design work of the School Age Childcare Programme”.  This led to a joint workshop which involved Scottish Government officials, Panel members and our peers. 

The workshop was run by arts and theatre company Active Enquiry and included lots of interactive drama exercises.  Lots of us hadn’t met before that day, but the format really helped us to feel comfortable and to talk openly about our experiences and needs in relation to childcare.

Scottish Government officials joined in the exercises with us which meant like we all felt like equals.  We didn’t feel the same imbalance of power that we have felt before when engaging with Government.  Instead, it felt like we were all working together to solve a problem.  This felt positive for us and like our voices might actually make a difference.

We hope to follow up with this team to see how School Age Childcare Programme develops.  We would also like to work more with Scottish Government officials in this way.
 
Accountability Event
We decided not to share the lived experience care stories at the Accountability Event in February 2025.  So far, we have found that sharing our personal experiences of day-to-day life has not led to any real or lasting change. We are more than just stories.

Instead, we shared our learning from our interactions with Government and other professionals.  We wanted to hold up a mirror - not to be negative, but to help decision-makers see themselves and the key issues through our eyes and through the eyes of the professionals we spoke to.  They have the power to make things better for women and girls like us, so it is up to them to lead the change. 

We could tell that what we shared was uncomfortable to hear for some, but in general we found that people responded well and were genuinely interested in hearing our views. 

We often found it easier to connect with officials and share our views during breaks and away from the formality of the round table discussions, where it can be harder for some of us to speak up.  We found most officials to be very approachable and felt that they saw us as human beings and respected us.

Through slowly building these connections and relationships we feel like we are learning to trust each other a little more.  We think that this helped some Scottish Government officials to be more open and honest and admit where things are going wrong.  As a Panel, honesty and openness is what we are looking for. 
 
Reflections
It still isn’t clear to us what changes will be made to gender equality from the work we have done with Government over the last two years. What we need to see now are lessons being learned, which turn into actions that make real and lasting differences to the lives of women and girls like us. 
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We hope that by building a stronger partnership with Government we can try to make a difference together, but we also recognise that responsibility has to lie with those in power.  We want all the officials we have met to become real champions for gender equality - holding themselves to account for successes and failures and not being satisfied until real changes are made.

Leaving a Legacy
In the run up to the Accountability Event in February 2024, we thought about what we wanted Scottish Government officials to take away from the day. We were keen that it wasn’t just a ‘nice day out’, a break from sitting in front of a computer or back-to-back meetings.

Many of us shared personal stories about how the cost-of-living crisis had affected us and our families. It was important to us that the officials in the room didn’t forget what we had told them. We wanted them to think about how they could use what they had heard back at the office.
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One way we tried this was to ask the attendees to make a pledge. This could be a personal pledge – “I will…” or a group pledge – “We will…” We provided a template with our branding in delegate packs.

The Response
After the event, we sent a follow-up email to ask attendees for photos of their completed pledges.  
We had seven responses. They were a mix of personal and departmental pledges and we were heartened by the willingness to make a difference using what had been learned:

• That our housing policy teams and analysts will work together to review available data and insights on gender intersectionality and draw out implications for our housing policy and programmes.
• To better include the voices of marginalised women and girls within our engagement and co-design work of the School Age Childcare Programme.
• To actively participate in the Scottish Government Leadership Equalities Group and ensure that our work is grounded not just in sound policy but also in lived experience of delivery too.
• To share stories to influence faster, bolder, positive change to tackle systemic intersectional inequality in every community across Scotland.

The Follow-Up
A few months later, we got in touch with them again to ask what difference making the pledge had made. Six people responded to us.

Overall, it was a positive experience from the individuals and teams who did this. They said that it helped them think about how to use what they’d heard at the Accountability Event in their day-to-day work and to stay personally involved in the work. The act of making a pledge also helped keep them accountable.

“The pledge process is a good way to challenge senior leadership to think about how we can best ensure women and girls’ considerations are embedded across policy. This public commitment is also helpful in setting the strategic direction, expectation and creating an environment that encourages the exploration of new ideas.”

They reported that progress had been made within their work. It was good for the Panel to hear this that people were working behind the scenes because we usually can’t see the difference our work has made.

Officials said that they were thinking about intersectionality more and about how to include the experiences of marginalised women in the work that they do. And they were including gender and intersectionality in their analysis of policy. This all helped them talk to colleagues about doing the same. They felt that it gave them a broader understanding of barriers experienced by marginalised women better and it encouraged them to work in partnership with colleagues in different areas of government and in different public bodies to make change.

When we asked them about what had got in the way of their progress, they talked about the lack of understanding about intersectionality across policy areas and a lack of a shared definition. They were also aware of some gaps in evidence. Other barriers included competing priorities and crises within government, lack of continuity in leadership and a general lack of resources. They were also aware of the limited capacity of the Empowering Women Panel to do work outside the scope of the existing project.

We asked for examples of what had helped make progress and suggestions for what might help in future.

Engaging with people with lived experience, along with guidance on how to use this in developing policy was mentioned. The importance of working with the organisations that already have trusted relationships with the individuals was also highlighted.

Officials also wanted the opportunity to build their knowledge of intersectionality and, again, sought guidance on how to translate this into building policy.

Partnership working with other areas of government, for example, analytical colleagues had worked well for some and there was an appetite for more of this approach.

It was suggested that strong leadership making it clear that an intersectional approach was a priority was vital.
We asked those who had returned a pledge to tell us what would happen next. It was heartening to hear that people were already considering this.

There was a willingness to work more in partnership, whether that was with other Scottish Government colleagues or other organisations, such as local authorities. They wanted to explore more opportunities to use lived experience to develop policy.

They wanted to build their knowledge of marginalised groups and the barriers they face and to think of other ways of gathering relevant information and evidence, such as seeking out existing data. There was also an acknowledgement of the importance of Equality Impact Assessments earlier in the policy development process.
 
Our Learning
We were disappointed that we didn’t receive more pledges from a conference room full of officials. However, we understand that people were returning to a busy inbox after a day away from their desks.

So, it means we have to think differently about how we cement learning and influence change in the future. At this year’s Accountability event, we reminded officials that we are more than just lived experience stories and reported on the learning conversations we had had with policy makers, delivery organisations and support organisations. We asked them remember that policy work is ultimately about making a difference to people and to keep focused on solutions and supporting colleagues to do the same.

We have a unique part of the jigsaw to help policy makers think about who will be most impacted by the decisions they make. Embedding lived experience into the process will help make policy better for women and girls across Scotland, which can only be a win for everyone involved.

We pledge to keep sharing our stories and expecting change. What about you?

The Importance of Accountability
 
Accountability is a top priority for members of the Empowering Women Panel; we are keen to see how decision makers are taking responsibility for ensuring visible differences are made to the lives of women, girls, and non-binary people in Scotland. A starting point was discussing what accountability means to us in the context of the Scottish Government.    
 
Our understanding of accountability is guaranteeing that people do what they say they’re going to do. Which, in terms of our work on the panel, involves asking questions of the Scottish Government and civil servants about how they are progressing gender equality across Scotland.
 
We’re also interested in the question of who holds other organisations and public bodies to account - like knowing funding is being spent properly and that gender equality is taken into consideration. While we watch as services diminish and waiting lists increase, what does the public actually see in return for the money that is being spent and are women and girls’ lives reflected in decision-making?
 
The Accountability Process
 
The Empowering Women Panel has been part of an accountability process with the Scottish Government and the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG). This has included sharing our lived experience and reporting on the impacts of current policies on our lives and those of women and girls we know.
 
We were invited to ask questions about key areas of importance to us, including intersectionality, mental health, and the value placed on care. We did not feel encouraged after reading responses to our scrutiny questions; the answers we received from civil servants were vague, written in inaccessible language, and showed no signs of change. 
 
The Accountability Event
 
In February, the group attended an Accountability Event with the National Advisory Council, then-Deputy First Minister, and civil servants from across government where we asked attendees to make a pledge about how they will personally and collectively work towards inclusion of the most marginalised women and girls.
 
Panel members were nervous beforehand – not because we are afraid of speaking truth to power, but because we didn’t know if we would be taken seriously, or if anything would happen as a result of us sharing our stories. 
 
A huge amount of work went into preparing for the event: learning to interview our peers to better understand their experiences of the cost-of-living crisis; writing and practising our stories to share during the presentation; spending time in art workshops and at home to produce creative responses; and organising childcare so we could attend these activities. Our session at the Accountability Event was the result of hours of input from panel members and peers.
 
Highlights of the day include the NACWG sharing their power with us and acknowledging our contributions, and policy makers experiencing as they related what we told them to their own work. This human-to-human interaction gave us a glimmer of hope that we have made a difference, and that future policy may reflect that.
 
However, our hope diminished slightly during the afternoon session between the NACWG and the Scottish Government, when civil servants’ inaccessible language and well-worn answers returned, and we were left wondering if there would be any lasting effect from our efforts.
 
We are eager for decision makers to take intersectionality into account when developing and implementing policy. That requires considering the layers of disadvantage facing Scotland’s most marginalised women and girls. These layers are not just about protected characteristics—age, disability, ethnicity, LGBTQIA+ identity, etc.—but also situations such as poverty, low mental health, rural isolation, and digital exclusion.
 
The panel was, however, encouraged by our April meeting with former First Minister Humza Yousaf and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison. We felt listened to and as if our concerns had been heard. We understand that change is a feature of government and hope that the new administration carries on from where the previous one left off. The panel is building momentum that must not be lost if real change is to happen.
 
The Future
 
The Empowering Women Panel is a great resource to those in power and there is a real opportunity to demonstrate that their lived experience is valued and will be learned from. We are passionate about holding the Scottish Government to account, but the process must be accessible, meaningful, and value our participation. 
 
We are looking forward to meeting the new First Minister, John Swinney, and continuing to make an impact, now and in the future.