The right person for the role
People from protected groups tend to take on certain roles when they work or volunteer. For example, women are much more likely to take on secretarial, tidying, cleaning and caring roles which tend to be undervalued and have limited prospects for progression. Men are more likely to hold more senior or leadership roles even in female dominated sectors. LGBTI people, ethnic minorities and disabled people experience similar barriers to involvement.
There are many reasons for the undervaluing and segregation of roles, including negative stereotyping about the capabilities of people from these four groups, access to training and the culture associated with different types of roles in politics. You should not assume that people from these groups choose to do roles which are undervalued.
Role segregation restricts people’s choices, it also limits the available pool of talent for political parties. Role segregation means that people from protected groups are less likely to gain the experiences deemed necessary to advance into more influential or more political roles within the party including becoming: candidates, campaign organisers, staff and spokespeople. This ultimately it results in parties which do not reflect the diverse population of Scotland.
There are a number of actions that your party can take to ensure assumptions and unconscious bias don’t limit opportunities for people with protected characteristics including:
- Running an education session about privilege and unconscious bias at your local party meeting
- Taking positive action around recruitment of volunteers and staff. For example: creating specific roles on committees or reserved places on training courses for people from under represented groups
- Creating fixed terms for length of service in influential roles and/or rotating roles on committees
- Creating taster and shadowing opportunities for people to try a new role
- Widely advertising roles for which you need volunteers in newsletters, websites, social media etc
- Running a survey with members to ask why they chose their particular role and if there are other roles they would like to take on in the future
- Running training sessions to help members develop new skills and feel confident taking on more prominent roles
