Employability in Scotland

To see the reports produced on the day, please click here.

The Scottish Government and STUC will jointly host Scotland’s first Women’s Employment Summit at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh on Wednesday 12 September 2012. We will also be linking with two rural areas, Inverness and Dumfries & Galloway.

Unemployment rates among women have been rising since the start of the recession, but much more markedly over the last 2 years.  At 66.4%, the female employment rate is at its lowest since 2002.  There are a range of contributing factors, but the recent drop in levels of public sector employment and in particular sectors such as retail, have had a greater effect on women than men.

Against this backdrop, the First Minister announced at the STUC Congress in April that the Scottish Government would hold a Women’s Employment Summit to:-“focus all of our efforts on helping create more jobs and helping more women find jobs.  I am committed to doing what we can to help families through tough economic times and this is an important step towards that.”

Delegates at the Summit will be from a wide variety of organisations including the private, public and third sector and will be asked to contribute their views and expertise across a range of areas.

The Summit in Edinburgh will include 6 discussion groups (commissions) covering the topics of Childcare; Occupational Segregation; Workforce Issues; Multiple Obstacles to Employment; Research and Analysis; and Women in Enterprise.

To ensure a wide range of views are taken into account there will be satellite discussions by video conferencing from 2 rural locations,  Dumfries & Galloway and Inverness.

Delegates will also have a chance to ask questions on the day from a panel with a variety of expertise.

Agnes Tolmie, President of STUC will chair the Summit in Edinburgh which will be attended by the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and Minister for Youth Employment.

This Summit is seen as a starting point for future developments and will give delegates the chance to contribute ideas and expertise as well as network and make connections to develop ideas. It will be focused on setting short, medium and long term proposals/ challenges for Scottish Government, other public bodies, employers and for women themselves.

Venue Address – Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh

You can view a map of the venue, parking facilities and further travel information here.

Registration opens at 09.30 with the event starting at 10.00. Please can you ensure you arrive promptly.

The agenda for the day can be found here.

Biographies of the speakers can be found here.