It’s time for working mums’ voices to be heard
AYEAR away from Holyrood shutting its doors ahead of the next election, MSPs are making their positions known. So far, we have had announcements from seven members – across four parties – that they are going to leave.
I expect another half-dozen will confirm they are standing down within the next few weeks.
This sort of churn happens at the end of every session and, like any job, the reasons can vary from retirement to ill-health, a change of family circumstances, disillusionment with politics or wanting a new challenge.
Gail Ross, a first-term SNP member, said last week she would not be returning next May.
She is a sparky, talented and passionate young woman who is rated and liked across all parties.
Before being elected to Holyrood, she spent five years as a councillor as well as working for an MSP. When she first arrived at Holyrood she already had the jump on most new members in terms of what the job involves.
But Gail’s reason for standing down is she cannot reconcile the role she enjoys – and spent years working to attain – with her family life and the care of her son.
The member for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross said her decision had been reached ‘due to the demands of travelling to Edinburgh and being away from home for sometimes five days a week, every week’.
She added: ‘I want to be able to spend more time with my family, to watch my son grow up and to be more involved in local issues, things I cannot presently do. I recently asked the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee to ask if there is any possibility that members could video in to meetings and remote vote. If we are to encourage into politics more young people with families who live far away from Edinburgh, this has to be considered.’
GAIL is right. When the Scottish parliament was established 20 years ago it was designed to be the most ‘family friendly’ parliament in the world, largely because it scheduled its votes at 5pm rather than deep into the night like Westminster.
But when I became pregnant with Finn and tried to organise shared parental leave with my partner and her employer, I found Holyrood has no actual maternity policy for MSPs.
Because I was leading a political party when my son was born, I was expected to attend events most evenings and to work almost every weekend. While there were obvious political changes which added to my decision to stand down, the personal ones were every bit as compelling. It’s the guilt that gets you.
I felt hugely guilty that I wasn’t performing to the same level – or giving the same time – to a job that had consumed me for eight years and had come ahead of everything else in my life.
I felt guilty that I wasn’t being the mum I needed to be and spending time with my baby that I knew I could never get back.
It’s time to look again at how ‘family friendly’ Holyrood really is. Labour MSP Jenny Marra – pregnant with her second child – has asked the Presiding Officer to consider proxy votes for those on parental leave.
The partner of my Conservative colleague, Finlay Carson, backed Gail Ross on Twitter: ‘Three nights a week not seeing her dad is a big chunk of our ninemonth-old’s life. Remotely attending meetings and seminars needs to be encouraged more.’
Most people outside politics live close enough to their workplace to be able to commute daily, waking up and going to bed under the same roof as their family.
But politics is about representing a geographical area, while attending a building – often miles away – where laws are made.
Scotland is a world leader in tele medicine, where technology is used to save patients travelling hundreds of miles to see a doctor. Maybe it’s time for parliament to look at other sectors of public life for inspiration.
If we want politics to be representative, we need to make sure the impact on family life isn’t prohibitive. It’s time for Holyrood to think again.