Why women should be voting No

The referendum has sparked political discussion across Scotland. For many it has created the opportunity to consider why politics has previously felt irrelevant to their lives. For me, I want individuals from across Scotland to feel powerful and that they can spark political change. I want them to have a voice that is heard at the Scottish Parliament and in Westminster. And for that voice to push for a progressive, inclusive society for the almost 65m people across the United Kingdom—with Scotland a part of it.

It is this that has pushed me to campaign for a No vote; no to separation, no to the chance to create a UK-wide better society. There are many who say we can have an influence while being independent, that we have partnerships with other countries— why not have the same relationship with the rest of the UK? There is a simple answer to that—we share a political system. This collectivism for me is highlighted by the work I do with women across the UK; whether that is tackling the sexism of The Sun's Page 3 or combatting victim blaming in sexual violence and similar cases across our media.

Together we are fighting against a culture of sexism that we, unfortunately, share—the problems in the main are the same, and the solutions can be too. It is for this reason that campaigning alongside women for a No vote has meant so much to me. From letter writing to canvassing to running stalls, women have become a key vote which both campaigns are eager to win. On one hand this is beneficial as it means that both campaigns have had to work harder to engage female voters. On the other, it has highlighted the tokenism with which women are included in politics. For instance, the SNP has made a rather fickle promise of free childcare in an independent Scotland. This is fickle because childcare is a fully devolved issue, and could be benefitting families in Scotland right now. There is also the pledge to increase the wages of the lowest paid (women making up the majority of these people), an issue that could have been improved by implementing the living wage for government contract workers. A proposal to do just that was rejected by the Scottish Government in May.

Polling data has repeatedly shown that women are more likely to vote No to independence, even if the margin is narrowing. Last month, a Survation poll found that only 37 per cent of women said they would vote Yes. Writing for Prospect in August, Peter Kellner highlighted the seemingly ingrained gender gap on this issue. As a result, the Yes campaign are attempting to identify the root of this gender gap in voting intentions, which I believe underestimates the diversity of opinion that exists among women in Scotland. For some, they are voting No because they understand the economic risks involved in the most likely scenario; a pound with no central bank. For others it is about the one in five jobs that exist in UK-wide companies. For many women it is about the success we have made of devolution and wanting to ensure that continues; one success in particular being the NHS which in a recent poll by the Yes campaign group, Women for Independence, the majority of women believed was safer within a devolved structure. But we should not be complacent about how women are voting; both campaigns should be continuing their efforts to the last minute to engage women—and importantly, regardless of the result, we all need to work to create a politics that is more representative and inclusive of women.

The reality is that representation isn’t about where the politics happens, it’s about how it happens. We talk about the creation of a better politics in Scotland, but why is it that our ambition stops at the Scottish Borders? Can we not be ambitious about change for the UK? Can we not seize this opportunity and the re-politicisation of many in Scotland and beyond to capitalise on the qualities of the United Kingdom and, together, find solutions to the issues we all want to see improved? For this reason and many more I, and I hope the majority, will be voting No.