Welcome, the class of 2021... a vision of the future
WEARING a smile as wide as the Clyde, Pam Gosal, the first Indian Sikh to win a seat in the Scottish parliament, excitedly took to social media over the weekend to express her gratitude.
‘We’ve certainly made history,’ she declared.
Indeed she has. Gosal’s win is just one strand of what has become a historic election for women in Scotland. A whopping 58 female MSPs will take their places in the next Holyrood parliament, up 13 from 2016. Women now make up 45 per cent of seats, a record for a parliament that has broken new ground in its effort to put women front and centre.
It also means Scotland now leads the way when it comes to parliamentary gender equality in the UK. In the Welsh Senedd, 43 per cent of politicians are women – and while the 2019 general election saw a record 220 women elected as MPs, they still represent just 34 per cent of Westminster.
As for the Super 58, the women Scotland has elected to Holyrood are as varied and diverse as the country they will represent.
There is Kaukab Stewart, who took over Glasgow Kelvin from Sandra White for the SNP and is the first Muslim woman to be elected to Holyrood, as well as – along with Gosal – one of its first two women of colour. ‘It has taken too long but to all women and girls of colour, the Scottish parliament belongs to you too,’ she said. ‘So whilst I may be the first I will not be the last.’
Then there is Pam DuncanGlancy, the first permanent wheelchair-user to be elected to the Scottish parliament. A veteran Labour campaigner, she was this time voted in on the Glasgow regional list.
However her triumph was marred when she was initially refused entry to the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on Friday for the count. Speaking the next day she said: ‘What happened yesterday happens to disabled people across Scotland... on a daily basis.
‘And it shouldn’t. That’s one of the reasons why I have always been involved in politics... I will speak up for disabled people’s human rights.’
There is also Emma Roddick, elected on the regional list in the Highlands and Islands for the SNP, who at 23 years old was still a baby when the Holyrood parliament was created, and now becomes its youngest member.
A political veteran despite her age, having been voted a member of Highland Council while still a teenager, she hopes she will be judged on her views rather than her youth.
‘What I would certainly like to do is talk about the policies,’ she said. ‘Because for me it’s about housing, it’s about poverty, it’s not about whose birthday comes first.’
Of course there are still some stalwarts from the original parliamentary intake back in 1999, including Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, and Labour’s Jackie Baillie, who proved her mettle during the recent Alex Salmond inquiry.
It is worth noting that the Scottish parliament has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to gender equality.
It wasn’t long ago that the three biggest parties at Holyrood, the SNP, the Scottish Conservatives and Labour, were all led by women – the jovial and often good-natured triumvirate of Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale providing a welcome relief from the macho parliaments so often seen at Westminster.
With so many women now sitting, it is likely issues of particular concern to women, from childcare to economic inequality, the gender pay gap to women’s safety, will increasingly be on the table.
The class of ‘21 represents something else too: the future. As more women than ever before find their place in Scotland’s political landscape, so too will the next generation, for whom female politicians, whether they be wheelchairusers, women of colour, or women in their early twenties, will only ever seem the norm.
As Gosal told this newspaper last week: ‘I didn’t think people like me could get into politics. It’s important to be that role model to make sure people look like you and think, if she can do it, I can do it.’