Chamber and committees

Does Pam Duncan-Glancy want to come in now?

Do you want to direct that question at somebody?

The next agenda item is to continue taking evidence on women’s unfair responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work. This virtual round-table session will have an intersectional focus on race. I welcome to the meeting Farah Farzana, race equality mainstreaming officer at CEMVO Scotland; Mariam Ahmed, chief executive officer at Amina—the Muslim Women’s Resource Centre; Trishna Singh OBE, director of Sikh Sanjog; Joy Lewis, chief executive officer at AAI EmployAbility; and Sara Medel Jiménez, a member of the NASUWT equality advisory group. I refer members to papers 1 and 2.

As we have a number of witnesses, I ask members to indicate which witness they are initially directing their question to and then to open the floor to other witnesses for comments. I am keen for the session to be as free flowing as is possible in this virtual format so, if other witnesses wish to respond to a question or to follow up on a point made by another witness, they should please indicate that by typing R in the chat function on BlueJeans, and I will bring them in if time permits. If you are merely agreeing with what other members say, there is no need to intervene to say so. Members can also use the chat function on BlueJeans if they wish to intervene.

At the end of the session, if any of the witnesses feels that there are outstanding points that they wish to address, please follow that up in writing—the committee will take that evidence into account.

I invite each of our witnesses to make a short opening statement.

I am just trying to keep some time for after each committee member has asked their questions, so—[Inaudible.]

I will come back to you. We will hear from Pam Gosal next.

Thank you. I call Pam Gosal.

Men in particular always need to be mindful of the last point that Sara Medel Jiménez made, because sometimes discrimination is not conscious, but that does not make it okay.

I hugely thank everyone for coming to the meeting and giving us a little bit more of your time than you had agreed to. The session has been really helpful.

We will now move into private session.

A few other folk have indicated that they want to contribute. I will take Megan Farr first.

Thank you. I will bring in our remote witnesses, starting with Judith Higson.

Item 2 is a round-table evidence session on family law disputes between parents about the care of their children. I welcome Judith Higson, from the child and family law sub-committee at the Law Society of Scotland; Lesley Anderson, chair of the Family Law Association of Scotland; and Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive officer of Scottish Women’s Aid. They are all joining us remotely. I also welcome Ruth Innes QC of the Faculty of Advocates; Megan Farr, policy officer with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland; Ian Maxwell, national manager of Shared Parenting Scotland; and Rosanne Cubitt, head of practice for family mediation and relationship counselling at Relationships Scotland. They are joining us in person.

I refer members to papers 1, 2 and 3, and I invite each of the witnesses, starting with those who are in the room, to make a brief opening statement. I ask Ruth Innes to start.