International Women’s Day 2022

Guest blog written by Adele Lidderdale from the Orkney Islands
Climate & Sustainability advocate, Postgraduate Researcher, Business owner, mother and partner.

It took me some time to come up with the hook for this blog piece inspired by international women’s day 2022. I tried to think about what made being a woman on an island unique and what made me unique among it. I spend my evenings as a yoga teacher telling people ‘we are all unique’. It’s true we are, from birth our one of a kind genetics and our own personal experiences shape us into a form that is quite literally like no other. I spend my time as owner of my small eco-business EcoOrkney.com telling my customers (and anyone who will listen) that it’s our common humanity that will help us overcome some of the big questions of our time, like how we can play our part in solving climate change, restore our much loved and absolutely vital local ecology and develop solutions for sustaining our beloved communities where we build our homes. In my studies I am looking at the impact of governance on various outcomes experienced by the Islands. I have just undertaken a study on women’s experiences of employment in green jobs on the Islands and have participated in renewables and climate issues in Orkney as a woman for over 10 years. Sounds like plenty to be getting on with? Trust me when I say it’s very common for people on the islands to wear so many hats!

So, which one is it? Are we unique or do we need to come together for the common good? Well… I’ll try to convince you that it’s both and how supporting women and raising their voices is central to securing sustainability into the future.

Of course, I immediately embarked on searching for inspiration and found articles and blog posts from athletes, television presenters, scientists, journalist, activists, advocates and politicians to name a few. What each one of those accounts had in common was that each had a female role model to look up to and each told of anecdotes of adversities which they had to overcome to be sat in their position today. I realised that that’s where the common themes arrive.

The adversities these women experience are not once in a millennia events, a one off fluke incident that derailed a straight path to achievement. In many cases the adversities these women experienced were every day, almost mundane, occurrences. The obstacles that women felt they had overcome were events like having a baby, talking openly about relationships or money, unwelcome stories about comments questioning their ability to deliver in their chosen field and balancing working life with family life.

Many women, myself included, still face barriers that inhibit the choices they wish to make for themselves. Everyone is gendered and everyone misses out when a large proportion of the population are actively hindered from participating with equity in society.

Without addressing the barriers women face it is impossible to eliminate poverty and this affects women in rural Scotland disproportionately.

In Scotland, annual pay is lowest for females living in remote rural areas (£27,231). Orkney has one of the highest gender pay gaps in Scotland with a 26% gap between males and females in full-time earnings[1] the local authority has the second largest pay gap of all Scotland’s local authorities[2] (see Figure 1). Women in remote rural Scotland (e.g. the Highlands and Islands) are more likely to be employed on a seasonal or part-time basis (46%) and in a study published by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in 2017 found that 43% of women in Orkney, who were not employed, said they were looking after a family.

[1] https://fraserofallanderinstitute.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Orkney-Islands-Economic-Review_.pdf

[2] https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2020/ir_090620_equal_pay_in_councils.pdf

Gender pay gap in Scotland

https://fraserofallander.org/orkney-islands-economic-review/

There has been glimmers of progress though. There are some great examples of how women in positions of leadership can support making differences at the local level too. A number of Orkney Islands Council’s female Councillors have championed more robust equalities policies and implemented improved childcare facilities providing much needed wrap around childcare.

Many local organisations are choosing to publish their gender parity statistics on the islands, and many provide forums to educate their staff on women’s issues, women themselves tend to find their informal networks among peers invaluable for support. We are opening up the conversation wider and making the topic less controversial one conversation at a time.

Global Issues like climate change are complex challenges that require a proactive and holistic response. Empowering women has been shown to improve environmentally friendly decisions at household and national levels, reducing waste and carbon emissions. We have witnessed the impact that women in roles of leadership have performed exceptionally during COVID-19 significantly reducing risk of mortality. Women leaders tend to bring about more transformational change in organisations, which will be essential as we tackle climate change. Research shows time and again that organisations with women at the helm outperform their male counterparts and women self-report better access to flexible working arrangements and reduce levels of stress when led by women. Women in leadership tend to develop more effective teams with the ability to compassionately bring people onboard through cooperation as opposed to authoritarian methods. Simply supporting women entering the workforce could contribute an additional £123bn a year into the UK economy and add additional value to the local economy in rural areas.

It turns out that the ability to wear many hats is an essential life skill very much in demand and our unique perspectives bring much needed diversity to the decision-making table. If you are able to juggle many jobs (inside or outside of work) - chances are you can adjust quickly to change, think on your feet and look for innovative solutions, these are transferable skills that are a core solution in the transition to Net Zero. Supporting women into decision making roles requires better pay, conditions, and access to services (particularly childcare) in rural areas to allow women to participate. So, it’s not just about individual actions. All of society is better off when women have equal access to opportunities.

Let’s give a moment of recognition this international women’s day to all the amazing women around us that contribute to change in their own unique way.