SCOTTISH ministers have agreed to draw up plans for increasing the number of women in top jobs after calling for extra powers from Westminster.
The Government has confirmed it has accepted an invitation from Jo Swinson, the UK Government's Minister For Women And Equalities, to present "detailed proposals" for setting a legally binding quota for the number of women on the boards of devolved public bodies.
Details of the continuing talks to devolve the power to set a mandatory quota emerged after Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that increasing the number of women in Scotland's boardrooms would be a "gain of independence".
She told a conference at the weekend that if Scots voted Yes in the referendum, an SNP Government "would take action, backed by legislation if necessary, to ensure that a clear target - I would argue at least 40% - of places on boards were occupied by women".
She made it clear the legislation would apply to private companies as well as public bodies. At present, the Scottish Government is only seeking powers to ensure 40% of appointment to public boards are women.
Scottish Government minister Shona Robison requested a "Section 30 Order" - a mechanism for transferring power from Westminster to Holyrood - last October to allow MSPs to set a quota.
Ms Swinson replied last month, saying she did not feel the case had been made. But she added: "Sight of your detailed, concrete proposals may also help us to consider how it may be possible to work together to achieve those objectives."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The UK Government has confirmed the powers lie with them. However, we intend to continue to make the case and will be putting forward more detailed proposals."
Fewer than one-third of board members on many of Scotland's top public bodies are women, despite the Scottish Government setting a voluntary 40% target five years ago.
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said the pledge was "hot air instead of action".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article