There will be two opportunities to come along and see the work that women have produced as part of our Who Counts project.  On March 1st -  WHAT COUNTS? DAY -  groups will gather at venues in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, Dundee and West Lothian to release balloons and raise awareness of their issue.  All details wil be posted on the Who counts page when confirmed. 

If you can't make it  on the 1st, we are holding an event in the paliament to bring the groups together and Engender members are very welcome.  This event is on 16th March, 6.30 - 8.30.  Please let me know if you are coming along - rsvp karen@engender.org.uk  See invite and full details here

One of our Who Counts groups is women from a residential care home in Perth who are campaigning on disability issues and the governments plans to reduce mobility benefit wil have a huge impact on their quality of life.  Please support the Mencap campaign to protect the mobility element of the Disability Living Allowance -  See here  

Engender have responded to the consultation on theproposed bill to criminalise the purchase of sex put forward by Trish Godman.  The bill would be a significant move in that it targets those purchasing sex and would be a start in challenging the demand side of prostitution.   The consultation ends on Feb 18th - Engender have responded but it would be great if members could put a statement in support in too.  Please feel free to lift sections of either the Engender response or the Zero Tolerance response.  Full consultation details here

Read Engenders Response

Read Zero Tolerance Response 

E ngender are submitting a paralell report to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which meets at the end of this month.  Our report will focus on women's engagement with science, engineering and technology and occupational segregation.  We held a meeting in the parliament on Feb 9th (see photo above) with the Scottish Resource centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology and Close the Gap to discuss the draft report and it turned out to be a really vibrant evening with women sharing their experiences and untimately their frustration at the very slow rate of change in these areas.  If you didn't make the meeting it's not too late to contribute - please read the draft report and send any comments to karen@engender.org.uk  by 20th Feb  

Engender and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are running two training days on how women can engage with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Courses run from 11am - 2pm and are being held in Glasgow on March 11th and Aberdeen on March 17th. See here for full details . To book please contact trina@engender.org.uk