Nicola Sturgeon

FIRST MINISTER

In a revealing profile of the First Minister, Holyrood editor and Sunday Post columnist Mandy Rhodes tackled the challenges still facing women, particularly balancing the need to protect their private life with the demands of a high-profile public role. She revealed how Nicola Sturgeon had spoken of the heartbreak of miscarrying after years of speculation that her decision not to have children was deliberate. Mandy said: “It is important because it says something about the pressures on and the conjectures made about women in leadership positions. Crucially, it also says something about the impact that all of that scrutiny and speculation has had on her and how she manages it... “In accepting the role of First Minister, Sturgeon, a workingclass woman from Ayrshire, referred to her eight-year-old niece, Harriet, and said she hoped her appointment sent a strong message. ‘If you are good enough and if you work hard enough,’ she said, ‘No glass ceiling should ever stop you from achieving your dreams’.”