The Empowering Women Panel (EWP) was set up in March 2023. In Spring 2024, at the end of the first year, Sleeping Giants carried out an evaluation to learn what had worked well and what could be improved for the next year. This was completed with the help of an independent researcher.

What We Wanted to Achieve
At the start of the project, Sleeping Giants and the Scottish Government agreed Panel members should have a positive experience. Both groups also wanted to make sure they were able to take part in activities and share their views in ways that worked for each individual.   

Sleeping Giants and the Scottish Government also agreed three project outcomes. An outcome is just a different way of identifying what differences were made. These were:

1. Panel members have improved opportunities for accessible and positive participation.
This means individual Panel members have all the information and support they need to share their views, work with others and make decisions for themselves.
You can read more about the Panel’s views on participation in a previous blog here.

2. Panel members have increased capacity.
This means that Panel members have more knowledge and confidence, can take part fully in Panel work, and have their voices heard, so that they could help influence Scottish Government decisions.

3. The National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG) are better able to provide advice and challenge to the First Minister because of the learning from - and partnership - with the Panel.
 
What We Did in Our First Year
The first year of the project has been very busy for everyone. Here are some of the activities that have taken place:

What Went Well
Members of the Empowering Women Panel were asked about their experience of being part of the Panel. This is what they said:

• 93% felt the Panel reflected their own concerns and goals
• 100% enjoyed being part of the Panel
• 100% felt that they were able to take part in a way that suited them

One Panel member said:
“I can’t think of a single thing I would change. The experience so far has been so interesting and has really made me think about the issues and struggles other people face. love the training the meet ups r great love it all🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻”
 
We also gathered information about whether the three project outcomes were achieved and what other differences the group. 

Outcome 1: Panel members have improved opportunities for accessible and positive participation.
At the end of Year One, Panel members felt they had more information and felt more involved than at the start. 

One Panel member said: “I’ve always felt supported, I’ve always felt that my voice has been heard even when I haven’t been about to attend meetings. I’ve still received all the information, emails, all the notes on everything. Everything that I could ever have wanted has been there and more…”

But there was still room for more meaningful participation to take place. The Panel wanted to spend more time with the (NACWG) so they could get to know the council better and strengthen their relationship, balancing the scales of power.
 
Outcome 2: Panel members have increased capacity.
Panel members said that they felt more knowledgeable and had more confidence after a year on the Panel.

One Panel member said: “It’s been wonderful because I’ve got to meet such a diversity of different women and learned about so many different opinions and things that I had never been open to before…”

But the group felt their ability to influence decisions did not change, so this outcome has only been partially achieved and will be something the Panel members work on more in Year Two.
 
Outcome 3: NACWG are better able to provide advice and challenge to the First Minister because of the learning from and partnership with the Panel.

Most NACWG members thought that the Advisory Council and Empowering Women Panel were able to share knowledge and understanding with other. They also thought that, by working together, everyone is able to do their jobs better and therefore make more of a difference.
 
What Could Go Better
Most comments and feedback from the Empowering Women Panel were positive but there is always room for improvement. Here are some of the suggestions they made for making Year Two even better.

1. Learning more about complicated topics, like intersectionality.

• NACWG members will come to our training sessions to help us do this.

2. Making sure younger Panel members have a stronger voice.

• ​We have a new mentor from the Young Women’s Movement who will support young Panel members.

 
3. Helping Panel members with a learning disability to better participate.

• We have a new mentor from People First Scotland who will support members with a learning disability.

 
4. Setting up a buddy system.

• We are setting up an informal system to ensure members of the Panel and NACWG get to know each other better, and that Panel members can support each other more easily.

 
5. Creating space for more discussion of the issues that really matter to members.

• We will have the chance to talk about some of these issues during our work in the second year, including care and childcare.

 
6. Continuing to build the relationship between the National Advisory Council and Panel members.

• We are creating more joint sessions to help build stronger relationships.

 
7. The accessibility of policy discussions.

• We will continue to remind the NACWG and Scottish Government officials that jargon and needlessly complicated language is unhelpful.

 
8. Review the approach to evaluation and monitoring

• Sleeping Giants will ensure that how they ask about progress is as simple and straightforward as possible.

 
9. Identify if and how the Panel is making a difference to decision-making

• It is hard to know for certain how the work of the Panel is influencing decision-making. We will work with the NACWG to find ways to show how lived experience is making a difference.

 

Members of the Panel shared lots of lovely quotes with us when we asked about their experience of being involved. Here are just a couple.

“I’ve really enjoyed being on the panel, it’s been a great experience for me.” 

“It’s wonderful that you’ve got a group of women that are willing to share their lived experience because I feel that is so much more powerful because you’re talking from a place of genuine knowledge and nobody is an expert in your life…”

“I have realised that I have more to say than I thought I did.”
 
If you would like to read the executive summary of the Empowering Women Panel Year One evaluation, you can find it here.

If you would like to view a 12-minute video about our work in Year One, you can find it here.

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.
 

​My experience
 
When people talk about the cost-of-living crisis, you initially think about prices going up in shops, fuel bills rising, people struggling and having to give up a lot of things.  And all that is true.  But for me, because of my ongoing and chronic mental health issues, I’ve been deemed unfit to hold down a job for many years.  So, I’ve had to learn to live frugally within a restricted budget and to eke things out.  That’s just my normal.
 
The biggest impact for me since the cost-of-living crisis began is that I feel more isolated now, because of how it's affected public services. Places like my local Leisure Centre that I used to go to for a bit of social interaction, have closed down now. 
 
So, since the cost-of-living crisis, I have become more reclusive. I’ve lost a feeling of connectedness with my community and even my street.  It continues to have a huge impact on my mental health, and I feel a huge sense of despair.
 
Sometimes I also don't want to leave the house because I don’t feel safe due to escalating levels of violence especially towards women.  It’s not going away. It's escalating, and it's absolutely terrifying.
 
So, when I hear on the news that crime figures have supposedly dropped, but that crimes towards women aren’t even included in these figures, I find it sickening.  It makes me feel like women like me don’t matter.  I might read pretty words in reports, but I don’t seem to ever see any changes.
 
I also struggle every day to be treated with respect and to be understood, especially because you can’t see my disability.  People always ask, “what do you do?” and because I don’t have a job, I often get ‘that look’.  It’s very stigmatizing.  I might not have a job, but I do try my best to live my life as well as I can, and I try to think of others and help them. 
 
However, organisations that are supposed to help me, often don’t, because they have inflexible systems and are not geared up to respond to women’s issues.  For instance, I’ve only just recently been diagnosed with ADHD after being wrongly diagnosed for my whole life.  Just about all the studies on ADHD have been done on men and boys so they don’t recognise it in women.  We are labelled as problematic or hysterical.
 
Similarly, there’s a reluctance to acknowledge that the root cause of my complex PTSD has been gender-based violence which just invalidates the level of violence that I’ve experienced throughout my life and still am continuing to experience.  
 
Trying to keep myself safe is a real worry when you hear about the cuts to the recruitment of police officers across the Country. You worry that if you do phone them if you have an issue, will they come out and will anything be done? 
 
And I'm always scared about getting pulled in by DWP, especially because they are saying they want half a million people up and down the country off disability benefits and into work.  I'm living in fear constantly.
 
What would help?
 
I think that what would help people like me most with the cost-of-living crisis is building up the infrastructure in our communities. Because of the poor public transport, there's communities that are cut off from one another. Social venues are closing.  Everything's on its knees. There’s very little to call a community spirit and people like me are losing hope, feeling isolated, scared, and vulnerable.  Like there’s no safety net. 
 
Although private houses are being built, these are unaffordable for ordinary folk, and they are not building any community hub to bring people together.  This kind of disconnection is dangerous.
 
We also really need spaces for intersectional women from all backgrounds that we can go to feel safe, to support each other to feel like we have self-worth and dignity. 
 
Women only spaces are important, because in my experience of going to groups, it’s often hard to find a voice, and to feel safe in mixed spaces.  Some men feel threatened and get angry when women speak out, or when they hear discussions around women holding power, having money and being seen in society as equal to men.  This leaves women like me feeling intimidated and unsafe, and like we don’t want to go back there, even though we might really need the support on offer.
 
Although the extra money that I’ve received for the cost-of-living crisis has helped, you can’t make everything better with money. 
 
For me what’s more important is a sense of having a place in society, having a place in my community, a feeling that I’m safe, I’m seen and that I matter.
 
It’s more important to know that I will be treated with respect when going to the Health Centre, that I won’t have to fight for the recognition of the issues that I have, and that I won’t be seen as a mad, bad and dangerous person, just because I have struggles with my mental health. 
 
We're all human. We're all trying to get by.  We all matter.  And if we’re going to really help women and girls like us, we should come together and connect.  Not just words, but in a way that makes real changes happen.

​Hello, my name is Deborah, and like many Sri Lankan Tamils who emigrated to different places, I was one of them.
 
I moved to the UK as a child, and Scotland became my home 24 years ago in order to live a better and safer life. I am also disabled, and I am going to share my situation and experiences due to the living cost crisis.
 
Like so many disabled people in the UK, I struggled to find a job that would accommodate my disability for almost 4 years. I need to cut back on many things, such as energy bills and other essentials, and it has affected my mental health. But I believe in my heart that this country could do so much better for intersectional women who are running away to escape their home country, gender-based violence, and many disabled women rely on life-saving equipment, such as electric wheelchairs, mobility devices, and oxygen concentrators, which are no longer possible due to financial limitations. Because if this government does not stand up for them to fight for gender equality, then who will?
 
I am afraid that the Scottish Government has not provided enough support for intersectional and disabled women, acknowledging the diversity of experiences among survivors, especially the intersectional lens, which not only addresses disparities but also promotes empowerment and inclusivity.
 
For women and girls like me, we need better sensibility, and the Scottish Government should advocate for intersectionality to form the foundation.
 

​Community groups and facilities is the glue that keeps so many communities together. To give you the direct quotes of some young people I’ve worked with:
“I don’t know where I’d be without this group”, “I feel like you guys get me, I’ve never felt that before”, “I love coming here, it gets me out the house”.

Whether it’s youth groups, community cafes, adult learning groups or sports clubs, each group has had a role to play during the cost of living crisis. During a time where many people may lack warm spaces, hot meals, company and laughter, community spaces have provided a safe, welcoming, non-judgemental and inclusive space for the most vulnerable to come along and just “be”.

Taking an example from my own work - throughout the cost of living crisis we introduced hot meals for all evening youth work provisions, ensuring all young people could access at least one hot meal a day. As a result, we seen a massive spike in numbers - it wasn’t unprecedented, we knew word was spreading and we were glad to be reaching more and more young people, however the current funding climate means we cannot spread our reach, or even sustain our current programmes.

These groups can provide a lifeline to individuals, they can be the glue holding a person or family together, but as budgets are slashed and resources are pushed to last longer and go further, it’s the people that suffer.

Over the last year - I’ve watched more and more groups, cafes and larders close due to increased costs and lack of funding. It’s not that these groups weren’t busy, weren’t reaching outcomes and weren’t making a difference - but they didn’t have the resources to back this. Even as I write this, my own job is in jeopardy as I struggle to secure more funding.

More funding, and importantly secure, sustainable funding is needed to allow community-based services to continue to deliver vital services to those most in need. I see first-hand each day the benefits on young people and families. At a time with lots of uncertainties and financial pressure, these groups are needed to respond to the needs of the community; develop resilience; build capacity and to empower communities.

My name is Leeanne, and I am a person who has a background in the Care system and has lived experience of a Learning Disability. Over the years I have made a life for myself where I have been involved and worn all different kinds of hats in different parts of my life - to help and encourage other people to get their voices heard in different parts of the world and other organisations to try and make a difference worldwide and beyond! 

I want to tell you a little bit about my experience.  

Our Human Rights are no different to other people. People with a Learning Disability in particular who are also facing a care-experienced background face more barriers than most. More than a few people who have a Learning Disability do not get our Human Rights respected. This needs to be changed by listening to us who have lived experience and what we know. Those barriers are highlighted by services that are meant to be a support system in our lives. The choices, for example, to have a family in the future is another set of hoops to jump through and more.

When I was younger my birth family treated me as an outsider and did not want to see me as part of their family. I always thought I was on my own with this but through the years I came to realise that there are more people that I have met in different places such as people in organisations and friends that I have come to know over the years working alongside them. I tend always to say you never know who has been through the same thing as you until you speak up.

I would like to see the Scottish Government leading the way to educate those needing advice from someone who has firsthand experience of a very challenging childhood. The Scottish Government must work closely with those who have lived experience to do this the right way. 

What we need to say is very important, educational, and inspiring to other people!

I have written a book that combines my lived experience in one giant puzzle. The book is called ‘My Journey Through Life – The Real Me!’  I am also writing my second book which will reference a lot of important learning and lessons to be learned. Yes, the two books will highlight a lot of things. But the important message is that everyone is unique and important, and you need to understand that everyone is different. 

Today I would like to ask one vastly important question. To me, it is very important in today’s society: What do you think you would do to support people with a Learning Disability and care-experienced background to communicate better? For example, I would say communication is first and foremost and that people need to communicate with us to ensure that we get the right help from the right people and services. 

In my time as a trainer, I have always looked at my Learning Disability differently from others or I have questioned myself. Most of the time people have often told me when I was younger that I do have a Learning Disability but to be honest with you I do not see me having a Learning Disability.

I see someone who learns differently and who has a mild difficulty. Being part of the Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence LDAN Bill as one of the Leap members who help and advise the Scottish Government has made me question whether or not I have a Learning Disability. 

While on the Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence LDAN Bill I was allocated by organisations that I have been working with over the years to be on a panel of people with Learning Disabilities to advise what was best for us to the Scottish Government. We worked very hard for over a year and still are to ensure that the voices are heard for people with Learning Disabilities in this bill. 

People with Learning Disabilities must be at the front of the bill instead of the back pages. There was a time during the process when we thought we were losing our voices. It is still a great opportunity for those who were on the Leap panel. People with learning disabilities attended over 56 meetings to ensure that people with Learning Disabilities are more than just heard in any part of the bill and their lives. 

Most people who enter the care system have several issues that are very important and unique. Most of these people do not have a voice or it is hard for them to stand up for themselves. The people with a voice do try their best to stand up for other people and not just themselves. 
 

​Jenny is a working age unpaid carer, living in a rural area. This is her story. 

My wife suffers from severe mental health issues, has attempted suicide on several occasions and cannot be left alone. 

I care full time for my disabled wife, providing full-time personal care, emotional support, finance management, shopping, mobility assistance and help with medication and transportation to and from medical appointments. 

Most unpaid carers are women and the cost of-living-crisis is having a more harmful effect on them due to the persistent inequalities in pay.  

The cost-of-living crisis has meant that household energy costs and transportation costs have risen dramatically. We consume more energy as we are at home most of the time and we live in a rural area where longer journeys are necessary to access services. This means that our household finances are pushed to the limit. 

No particular thought seems to have been given to unpaid carers’ vulnerability to the rising household energy and transportation costs. 

I do not receive any means tested social security payments and thus did not receive any of the £900 payment to help out with rising energy costs, and carer’s allowance was not a qualifying benefit for any additional support in response to the cost-of-living crisis.  

Because of my restricted ability to work - due to my care commitments – I do not have the flexibility to get a job or increase work hours to offset rising costs. In addition, the social security net, on which we rely, has not kept up with inflation in previous years. This means that that even before the start of the cost-of-living crisis, our finances were stretched to say the least.  

The constant money worries and anxiety have resulted in deteriorating mental health, isolation and exhaustion at a time when previously helpful support services are being scaled down or closed. 

We interviewed people in our networks and communities to find out about their experiences of the cost of living crisis. We were also interviewed ourselves as part of the project.

The questions we asked were finalised by a subgroup of the Panel and included the changes women and girls were noticing since the cost of living crisis had started and what was helping.

Why the Peer Research project was important
It was really important to make room to tell more stories, not just those of the Panel members. It was a simple, straightforward way for us to round out the cost of living topic and it would work well for other topics that the Panel will discuss in the future.

It was interesting that there were common themes, even though we spoke to people with vastly different life experiences. One of the main themes was easy access to information and a one stop shop approach to getting all the information you needed.

What we learned
One of the main things we learned was that one size does not fit all. Women and girls are not one big group that is all the same, there are lots of things that make us different from each other. These are things like whether we’re parents, our race, our faith, whether we do paid work, our caring responsibilities and whether we have disabilities or long term health conditions.

It doesn’t work if you try to fit a person into a box; help has to be designed for each person. The women and non-binary people we spoke to wanted to be asked what would help them, not just assumptions made about the best solutions.

We all learned new skills by being involved in the project, too. Some of us had never done an interview before, some learned new IT skills when we recorded our conversations and others read out quotes from real people at our presentation to the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls. Some of us gained a new respect for women and how they just keep going, regardless of what they’re going through. We’re keen that women are not viewed as victims

The real voices we heard were very powerful and led to deep, human connections. They brought the findings from the research to life and showed just how much some people are struggling through the cost of living crisis. It helped us see that everyone’s experiences are valid, including those who have only had to make minor changes to cope with the rise in costs.

Things that would help
Although there were common themes, there were differences in what women thought would help. Some said that direct cash payments would have the biggest impact, whereas others didn’t want to feel that they were relying on handouts. Throwing money at a problem doesn’t always work.

Interviewees came up with some easy, cheap and sometimes free suggestions that could help communities in the cost of living crisis. These included community food dinners, clothes swaps, repair cafes, and school uniform schemes. These could all take place in a warm space with food available so that people felt they weren’t just receiving something for free. They could contribute, too.

Next steps
We learned a lot about how the cost of living crisis is affecting different women across Scotland but there were some things we would have liked to explore more. We would want to know more about women who weren’t able to work because of childcare costs, as well as women taking on more work because of the cost of living.

We would also want to find out more about the intersectionality we talked about. There are layers of barriers for some groups of people that make the cost of living crisis even harder. We would want to know more about the stigma around asking for help in some minority communities and the discrimination ethnic minority women can experience when applying for jobs because of their names.

There are other situations we’d like to know more about, such as the extra costs for some women, like unpaid carers, those with disabilities and women living in more rural areas. There are also many women who don’t access support for a variety of reasons, whether that’s due to transport issues, worries about personal safety or not leaving their homes because of abuse or cultural expectations.
 

We have been using the ladder of participation to think about how the Empowering Women Panel can influence the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG) and the Scottish Government. 
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​What we are learning about participation  
Participation has to be active; passive participation isn’t participation at all. By gathering everyone’s lived experience, we have the best chance of effecting change within the Scottish Government.

We are a diverse group of women and non-binary people. We all have our own unique story to tell and everyone’s experiences are valid. We’re creating a space for everyone to contribute in whatever way people feel most comfortable.
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Some of us are more confident speaking in front of a group, while others prefer time to reflect and feed back in a different way.

We spoke at the beginning of the project about the barriers we experience in different parts of our lives when it comes to participation.

These included things like not knowing where to go for information, such as legal aid entitlement, visa information and gender-based violence support. It really takes its toll as it can be exhausting and frustrating and can affect both physical and mental health.

By hearing each other’s stories, we’re learning about barriers we might never have experienced ourselves and can use that knowledge elsewhere in our lives. We’ve met people we wouldn’t have met without being part of the Panel and learned about life outside our bubble.

We all want our voices to be heard through this project but it’s important for us to know that it will actually make a difference.

As part of establishing an identity for the Panel, we decided to rebrand as the Empowering Women Panel and we worked with a designer on a suite of logos which represent who we are and what we’re about.

Why the Partnership Agreement with the NACWG is important
We were keen to lay out how we would like to work with the NACWG so that our lived experience expertise would be valued.

As we learn more about how government works and the NACWG’s influence, we are realising how we can feed into that and make a real difference to the lives of women and girls in Scotland.

It’s taking time to build relationships with the NACWG and at the beginning it felt like they were mysterious unknown people. We know that, in theory, we are all on an equal footing but we’re not quite there yet. This will improve as we spend more time together. There is learning to be done on all sides so that we all know what each other is working on. It’s quite early doors for the project and more time will help us complete our mission.

What’s important about the Empowering Women Panel
By listening to ordinary women and non-binary people, the NACWG and Scottish Government will hear about life for everyday people living in Scotland today. We’re not afraid of speaking truth to power.

The Panel is full of talent and it’s up to us to harness it and present it to decision makers and those closer to power. It’s up to us to give other people a voice, such as those in our families and communities. Panel members have so many skills that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

We are learning so much from each other, like new ways of thinking about things and we’re having the chance to share personal experiences that might help someone else.

We are giving context to what the NACWG does on a deeper and more diverse level. The NACWG is made up of people who already have a level of prestige and the Panel broadens the experiences that the Advisory Council can draw on.

Key Learning
We are learning a lot by being part of the Panel: about ourselves, each other and about power and participation. It’s been a steep learning curve for some and everyone feels like they have grown by being part of the Panel.

Some of us have been surprised by how much we’ve learned about different topics, like intersectionality and how government works. We’ve been watching and reading the news through a new lens and sharing our thoughts with each other when we come across interesting articles, conferences and events.

We were all nervous at the beginning that we didn’t have anything to contribute or that our voices wouldn’t be heard. But we’re realising that together we have power. As our tag line says, from participation comes empowerment.

What do you get when you bring together 22 women from disparate backgrounds? You get the potential for power and a united purpose that comes from real lived experience.

You create a group of women who are willing to speak for those who do not have opportunities to present their needs themselves to those who can action the changes required to make improvements in their lives. The aim of the project is to tell Scottish Government about the views of women and girls and about their lived life experience in 21st century Scotland.

Earlier this year I was privileged to be asked to join these women and collectively we are now the Empowering Women Panel. We have been tasked to report back to the Scottish Government via the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG). Our current task is to explore then report on the impact the current cost-of-living crisis is having on the lives of women and girls in Scotland.

The project is being facilitated by the Sleeping Giants Team and funded by the Scottish Government.

The Sleeping Giants Team take responsibility for all the administrative aspects of the project, arranging face-to-face and on-line meetings and training sessions. The on-line platform called Basecamp is used to communicate, record and store all Panel activities.

Our first face-to-face meeting was held in Edinburgh where we also met the NACWG members. This was a really successful meeting and the atmosphere of power and determination to work together to attain our stated purpose was palpable within the room. At this meeting we set out the parameters of how the Panel would function, ensuring they were aligned with the work being done by the NACWG. 
 
We put together our Panel Group Agreement 
We agreed to the following statements:

• To value our difference
• To communicate well and help everyone be heard
• To make sure everyone can participate easily and safely
• To not put anyone under pressure
• To be mutually supportive
• To learn along the way
• To embrace humour and celebration

 
This was a very productive meeting and laid the groundwork for what was to come.
The second face-to-face meeting was in Glasgow and it was at this meeting that the Panel really came together and as positive entity.

We created sub-groups according to our individual skill sets and preferences and decided that our first main piece of work would be initiating Peer Research in relation how women and girls are being affected by the cost-of-living crisis. The bulk of this work would be carried forward by the Research and Evaluation sub-group, formulating questions, establishing means of recording feedback from interviews and storing responses.
The other sub-groups – concerned with Events and Planning, and Reporting and Comms - started using Zoom meetings to complete various tasks.
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I believe we have made the Empowering Women Panel to be a safe and inclusive space for all and we will make sure that everyone feels respected, values and heard. No-one’s experience or voice is more important than anyone else’s and we can learn a lot from listening and supporting each other.