By Mary Senior

Women make up only one-third of public appointments, and merely 12.5% of the judiciary at high court judge level or above. More women than men are entering higher education, but only 14% of university vice-chancellors are female, and only 15% of Scottish MPs are female. Despite some significant advances - Elish Angiolini's recent appointment as Lord Advocate, or the fact that nearly 40% of MSPs are female - Scotland's movers and shakers tend to be male and white.

Earlier this month, the STUC women's conference debated why more women are not in key decision-making positions. It heard from women who have made it to the higher echelons of political or public life and called for more action to support women to participate effectively. It also provided networking opportunities and the Scottish Commissioner for Public Appointments encouraged delegates to consider putting themselves forward for public appointments, outlining the transferrable skills required.

Achieving a more gender-balanced representation has the potential to revitalise democracy, improve accountability and enhance decision-making. Women's skills and experiences can inspire policies and decisions that lead to better outcomes for children, women and men, families and communities. But women still face significant barriers to progressing in the workplace, the boardroom and in politics.

Caring responsibilities, employment commitments and financial considerations are all barriers to be addressed to enable women to enter public life on the same terms as men. And we need to be sure that women's skills and expertise - which may be acquired via charity, community or voluntary activities rather than a standard workplace route - will not be undervalued by an appointments panel.

Too many women are stuck in jobs that do not allow them to fulfil their potential, their employment choices restricted by caring responsibilities or outdated attitudes and assumptions on gender roles. The gender pay gap persists, and women can face discrimination and harassment that make their working lives unbearable.

With Scottish parliament and council elections next year, the current levels of women's representation cannot be taken for granted. The changes to the voting system are no guarantee that women's representation will improve. We need to tackle what matters to women: to close the gender pay gap, provide affordable childcare, and end abuse of women. To do this we need to harness the talents of all Scotland's people, to ensure we are taking decisions in the best interests of everyone.