While we’re still fiddling around with post royal tour silliness, Scotland is getting on with the job. Women have been identified as a key target for the independence referendum in September. The Scottish Social Attitudes survey has consistently shown a gender gap in support for the YES vote of around 7 percent. A disproportionate number of women say that they are currently undecided so there has been a flurry of activity by the YES case aimed at attracting their vote. Jeane Freman, co-founder of Women for Independence and a former political adviser comments, “What is certain is that women are as interested in the debate as men….large numbers of women in halls and cafes….turning out to ask questions. And when women are decided, they are hugely active.” The Better Together movement also has a specific women’s campaign but cautions against viewing all female voters as thinking similarly. Labour MP for Glasgow East, Margaret Curran explains reluctance among female voters, “Women just get the fact that this is for ever. It’s a really significant decision and they want take the time to think it through. Women aren’t swept away by the football/Braveheart momentum.They know that they’ve got five months to go and they want to read the literature”. The gender gap showing up in Scotland is very familiar to Australian republican campaigners so we should pay attention and see what we can learn. [Quotes in this News item are taken from “Scottish independence debate: women hold the key far from Westminster” by Libby Brooks, Scotland reporter, The Guardian online, 2 May 2014 – read her full article below]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
