During Year 1 of the Empowering Women Panel, our focus was on the cost-of-living crisis and how this has impacted on women from marginalised communities.
As part of our work, we did a Peer Research Project, where 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. We wrote this into a report to share what we’d learned.
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.
What we did next
We learned a lot about how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting different women across Scotland which we shared with the former First Minister Humza Yousaf, the former Deputy First Minister Shona Robison, the Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees Emma Roddick, and other senior civil servants and decision makers from the Scottish Government. Some of the Panel also shared their own lived experience stories, which powerfully illustrated the real impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on a wide range of women.
During the project, we also made some art work, both as a group and individually, to express how the cost of living crisis is affecting women and non-binary people like us.
Having heard the views of the Empowering Women Panel members of the Scottish Government made pledges about what they will do differently as a result of what they learned.
As part of our work, we did a Peer Research Project, where 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. We wrote this into a report to share what we’d learned.
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.
What we did next
We learned a lot about how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting different women across Scotland which we shared with the former First Minister Humza Yousaf, the former Deputy First Minister Shona Robison, the Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees Emma Roddick, and other senior civil servants and decision makers from the Scottish Government. Some of the Panel also shared their own lived experience stories, which powerfully illustrated the real impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on a wide range of women.
During the project, we also made some art work, both as a group and individually, to express how the cost of living crisis is affecting women and non-binary people like us.
Having heard the views of the Empowering Women Panel members of the Scottish Government made pledges about what they will do differently as a result of what they learned.
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Finally, you can read more about the Empowering Women Panel’s work on the cost of living crisis, and how it links to the work of the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls by visiting https://www.generationequal.scot/second-focus-of-scrutiny/
Here you can download a report (including an easy read version) which includes more reflections from the National Advisory Council and the Empowering Women Panel on our joint work on the cost of living crisis and our calls to action for the Scottish Government.
Here you can download a report (including an easy read version) which includes more reflections from the National Advisory Council and the Empowering Women Panel on our joint work on the cost of living crisis and our calls to action for the Scottish Government.
