Kenneth Roy Eck’s literary luvvies Jim Swire An…

20.03.12
No. 528

The Cafe

‘Get real’ Kenneth Roy writes in his SR article (15 March

     If the honour were to be given to ‘a town less pleased with itself’, I wonder what criteria would he see as significant under the less pleased category? He comments critically on what he sees as Perth’s approach to homelessness some years ago yet fails to acknowledge Perth and Kinross Council’s commitment and success in this hugely problematical area as illustrated in the recent Care Inspectorate report (November 2011).
     Perth, like every other town and city up and down the land, has huge challenges to face across a whole raft of social and business development issues. The award of city status won’t change that at a stroke. But its councillors work away at the challenges and constraints and deserve recognition for what they have managed to achieve and for the vision they offer of how things might be in and around Perth.
     His article hides behind a claim to offer some insightful social commentary on Perth, its people and its failures wrapped-up as he sees it in ‘self-complacent congratulation’. Sadly it comes across as mean-spirited, patronising and lacking balance – traits which a confident Scotland does not need, least of all from its journalists.

David Johnstone

I agree totally with what Kenneth Roy opined about Perth as being ‘so pleased with itself’.
     I lived and worked for 23 years in Dundee, most definitely a local rival, made all the fiercer by the absurdity of Perth District Council invading land stretching through Dundee’s close neighbour, Invergowrie.      Angus Council grabs its share as well, taking in Birkhill, Muirhead and Liff as well as Monifieth, all of whom depend on the city of Dundee for so much. All four of the major Scottish cities have experienced the same hemming-in syndrome.

Ian Petrie

Unlike many publications SR doesn’t have an online comment facility – we prefer a more considered approach. The Cafe is our readers’ forum. If you would like to contribute to it, please email islay@scottishreview.net

Today’s banner

Spring lambs, Ayrshire
Photograph by
Islay McLeod

Scotland’s gender scandal: Part I

Tokenism

at the

top

Kenneth Roy

Many of Scotland’s major public bodies fail a gender equality target officially recommended for UK boardrooms by the coalition government. The results of a Scottish Review survey demonstrate that Scotland is a long way from shattering the ‘glass ceiling’ which prevents gifted women from getting to the top and that our reputation as a male-dominated culture is shifting painfully slowly.

     The pressures for reform are considerable – and growing. Earlier this month, EU justice commissioner Vivien Redding launched a three-month consultation on how to redress the gender imbalance in Europe’s boardrooms. Ms Redding says she is ‘not a great fan of quotas, but likes the results they bring’. In non-EU Norway, companies are legally obliged to appoint women to 40% of places; in Finland, where there is no statutory requirement, women make up 27% of boards of leading companies. At least two EU member states are said to be moving towards a legally binding quota, while Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has called her country’s overwhelmingly male boardrooms ‘scandalous’.
     Meanwhile, in this country, the Davies inquiry ruled out the setting of quotas to force companies to hire female directors, but proposed that FTSE 100 companies should aim for a minimum of 25% female board representation by 2015. Lord Davies, who led the review, said that ‘radical change is needed to ensure that more top jobs are open to talented women’.
     Both these initiatives – in the EU and the UK – are aimed at the private sector. We argue that the public sector should be setting an example and that, unless it does, the private sector is entitled to respond that it is being unfairly singled out.
     So we applied the Davies test to Scotland’s public bodies. We discovered not only that many of them are missing the 25% target but that some are missing it shockingly badly.
     
Quality Meat Scotland

The
Lands Tribunal of Scotland

The Water Industry Commission

The Scottish Police Services Authority

Other lone females include Dr Isobel Macphail at the Crofters’ Commission,
VisitScotland
MacBraynes
Scottish Law Commission
Local Goverment Boundary Commission
Highlands and Islands Airports
Children’s Hearing Scotland
Scottish Local Authority Remuneration Committee

Architecture and Design Scotland

one woman (Branka Dimitrijevic). Its environmental companion, Scottish Natural Heritage

It’s an unimpressive one out of eight at Scottish Water
Scottish Enterprise

     Some others do a little better, but still fail to meet target. Christine May and Linda Pollock are the only women on the 12-strong board of the Accounts Commission for Scotland
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Scottish Qualifications Authority

     
The arts and sport perform just as badly. Sir Angus Grossart, chair of the National Museums of Scotland
Creative Scotland
Sportscotland

This is a terrible record. It invites accusations of tokenism and suggests that the SNP goverment has much to do before it can claim to have redressed the balance and emulated the achievements in gender equality of our Scandinavian neighbours.
     Tomorrow, in the second part of this survey, we will look at how the private sector in Scotland compares.

Kenneth Roy is editor of the Scottish Review