Women deserve respect
Thursday was International Women’s Day and Paisley SNP had a celebration on Saturday in our campaigning hub in Wellmeadow Street.
During all the speeches made by my female colleagues in parliament on Thursday, I began thinking how much things have changed in my lifetime.
In my family, as with most in Paisley, there is a line of very strong women.
And it was the women who ruled the roost.
I started to wonder if this was because, in Paisley, many of the women from previous generations in our town earned more money than their husbands?
In my own family’s case, my papa Jimmy Adam, who was a time-served joiner, earned less than my gran Marion because she made up more on the piece work.
They both worked in Ferguslie Mill but she always earned more than him.
This brings us full circle to the 21st century when women are still fighting for equal pay in Scotland.
In our case, the fact that many women earned more money than their husbands did change the power differential in marriage and our community.
So, are we a town that has consistently had generations of strong women off the back of this? I believe so. We are living in a time when we are hearing how some men in positions of power have abused their roles.
I find it heartening that I was brought up in a town where the very thought of that type of behaviour is alien to us.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say that everything is perfect in Paisley regarding these types of issues.
But , in this post-Harvey Weinstein world, we see many public figures being found to be abusive towards our female colleagues.
I thank the strong women in my life including my wife Stacey, my daughter Jessica, my sister Jennifer and my wee granny Marion, from Ferguslie, for being so forthright in their views.
The past couple of months have been quite emotional for me as I’ve heard stories about former colleagues and their behaviour towards women.
It has sickened me beyond belief and shocked me that anyone would even contemplate behaving in that manner.