This week the Scottish Parliament held a debate for International Women’s Day, which happens on Tuesday 8th March.

Beatrice Wishart MSP spoke for the Liberal Democrats:

You can read her speech in full below and the link to the debate is here.

I welcome the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, which is “Break the bias”. The world’s eyes are on Russia’s invasion of and aggression in Ukraine, and I take this opportunity to reiterate Scottish Liberal Democrat solidarity with the people of Ukraine. A million people, mostly women and children, have been displaced in a week, and what comes next is uncertain. Biased views see conflict as a male arena, but women and girls are deeply impacted by war and can play active roles ranging from combatants to journalists and carers. We see in Ukraine how women are being forced to make difficult decisions about whether to fight or flee in order to save their families, their homes, their democracy, their freedoms and their way of life—the things that we take for granted.

Our eyes and attention have understandably been pulled away by other events, but we must not forget what is happening in Afghanistan. Women’s rights are human rights, but the Taliban has no respect for them. Unsurprisingly, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan has been closed, and its Kabul headquarters now host the reinstated Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which monitors residents’ behaviour. In the 1990s, its members beat women who violated Taliban policies, including its strict dress codes and prohibitions on work and education. Taliban rules ban women and girls from secondary and higher education; they dictate what women must wear, how they should travel and what kind of mobile they should have; and they enforce workforce segregation by sex. All of those things are enforced through intimidation and inspections.

Although the biases and stereotypes about women’s roles and abilities are being taken to extremes, some women have pushed back, putting themselves at great risk by standing up for their rights. In Zabul, in south Afghanistan, women went to the education department and demanded to be allowed to continue to teach and learn. After a compromise whereby girls and boys would be taught in separate places, the girls school reopened. However, such successes are sadly the exception. Afghan women report relentless feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, insomnia and loss because of their Government’s actions.

Governments should keep us safe and empower us as individuals, not terrorise and restrict us. Harmful views about what women can and cannot do are limiting the lives of millions of women, and we must continue to demonstrate our support for women in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Let us break the bias so that we see the back of regimes that have no regard for human rights and the rights of women.

In the efforts to end conflict, women are often left out of the peacekeeping process. Between 1992 and 2019, women accounted for just 6 per cent of the signatories in major peace processes, despite research recognising the importance of women’s involvement in peace and security issues to achieve long-lasting stability. UN Security Council resolution 1325 addresses the disproportionate impact of violent conflict on women and girls and recognises women’s critical role in peacebuilding efforts. It shows bias to see women solely as victims of conflict. Women have an important place in rebuilding new societies after conflicts, and rebuilding provides a chance to transform social structures to ensure greater equality and enjoyment of women’s human rights. We must call for women’s inclusion in such processes around the world.

It is a sad state of affairs that we have to do this, but, just to head off the inevitable question, International Men’s Day is on 19th November.