International Women�s Day

Seamus Logan Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)]

It is a true privilege to speak in this year�s debate. I will start by acknowledging just some of the women in Scottish politics who are inspiring and paving the way for future generations of women in Scotland, especially the next generation of female politicians. There is our Chief Whip, my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman), who would have loved to be here today but sadly could not make it; Karen Adam, our MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast; and two�only two�of our local councillors in Aberdeenshire: Gwyneth Petrie, our opposition group leader, and Louise McAllister, our group chair.

I pay tribute to the tireless work done by Sally Donald, a member of staff for my neighbouring MP, my hon. Friend the Member for Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey (Graham Leadbitter). As co-chair of ParliGender, the workplace equality network advocating for gender equality in Parliament, she has introduced a mentorship scheme for female members of staff, which has been very popular, showing the demand for such schemes in this place.

While I stand here and thank the women who have committed their time, energy and lives to the people of Scotland, I want to take a second to note that at our current pace, a girl born today will be nearly 40 years old before women in this place hold as many seats in Parliament as men. That is a devastating statistic in the face of this year�s theme: rights, equality and empowerment. Although we are honoured to be in a Parliament that has the highest number of female MPs in history, let us not forget that women were only able to stand in elections as late as 1918. Up until 1997, women had never held more than 10% of the seats in Parliament.

On this day dedicated to the rights, equality and empowerment of all women, I want to acknowledge the additional challenges that exist for women in today�s society, the obstacles they face to enter the world of politics and those that persist once they are here. I want to acknowledge how much stronger and more diverse this House would be with more female colleagues sitting on these Benches.

I pay tribute to the great women of our independence movement in Scotland. There are too many to mention, but I will name two: the late, great Winnie Ewing, who was an MP here, and the late president of the Fraserburgh SNP branch, Nancy Duffy. I am endlessly inspired by my female colleagues and the female Members on these Benches. I ask the Minister what initiatives the Government are taking to encourage more women and girls to access a career in politics, so that they may follow in the footsteps of all my female colleagues and ensure that the equal rights of all women are at the core of everything this Parliament is working towards.

Finally, I congratulate the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) on securing this debate and on the powerful speech she made. The hon. Member for Bolsover (Natalie Fleet) talked about the need for us to speak out about rape cases. In the debate on SLAPPs�strategic lawsuits against public participation�in November, I brought to the Minister�s notice a rape case. I was promised a ministerial meeting, and I am still waiting on that meeting. That was five months ago, so perhaps the Minister here today could respond to that.