By Lynn Bennie
This blog is based on an article first published in the Scottish Election Analysis Report.
All six political parties now represented in the Scottish Parliament are led or co-led by men (a Green co-leader being a woman). The lack of gender balance was starkly displayed in the televised leaders’ debates during the Holyrood election campaign. The first of these was the BBC’s Debate Night on 12th April. Seven men on stage including the moderator created powerful symbolic images of patriarchy amongst a political class which has little in common with the electorate. Compare this to ten years ago when four of the five main parties in Scotland had women leaders.
The question explored here is whether Scotland’s parliamentarians – the 129 MSPs – are becoming more (or less) diverse, and the consequences for representation. Academic research connects descriptive representation (whether the characteristics of representatives reflect society) to substantive representation (representatives acting in the interests of societal groups). It assumes that the quality of representation is enriched when elected members can relate to those they represent (and vice versa), while recognising intersectionality of power structures and inequalities. Representation is indirect, not based on delegation, but good representation involves the presence of different voices. There is a link between who decides and what is decided.
The run-up to the election suggested opportunity for change, with a record number of 42 MSPs standing down. However, a disproportionate number were women (57%). Research by Engender suggested that many women experience the Scottish Parliament as gendered and discriminatory, with hostility and abuse (especially on social media) a common occurrence. This did not bode well. We also know that parties’ candidate selection procedures are critical in determining diversity outcomes, and the SNP as the largest party did not use strong gender equality mechanisms for this election. Women made up 36% of all candidates, compared with 38% for the Welsh Senedd. Half of Green and Labour candidates were women, but other parties fell short of gender parity, including the SNP (on 45%). One in four Reform UK candidates were women.
The class of 2026 is made up of 64 new MSPs, an unprecedented number of fresh recruits. Some are not, in fact, new to politics. They include two current MPs and former MPs and MEPs. Many have been local government councillors. Reform’s MSPs are least likely to have political experience, and candidates attempted to make a virtue of this during the campaign.
Across the new Parliament, 56 MSPs (43.4%) are women (including one trans woman) and there is one non-binary MSP, meaning that 44.2% of all MSPs are not men. There is a slight decline in women’s representation, as a record 58 women made up 45% of MSPs in 2021. This is viewed by campaigners as a worrying halt in progress, explained by ineffective party selection procedures and an increasingly hostile politics which makes standing for election less attractive to women. There are notable differences between parties: the Conservatives have two women MSPs (17%) and the Liberal Democrats three (30%). The proportion of women MSPs in Labour and Reform is identical (7/17=41%), and the SNP is approaching gender equality (27/58=47%). It is the Greens, though, who display a large degree of diversity. Their 15 MSPs include 10 women (67%), one non-binary person, and four men. The Greens include a woman (Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill) who is a full-time wheelchair user (the second in the parliament’s history), a trans woman (Iris Duane) and the non-binary Q Manivannan. The latter two represent the parliament’s first two openly trans MSPs, on this measure making the legislature more diverse.
In 2021, the first women of colour were elected and six MSPs were classified as minority ethnic. Two of the six did not stand again, and three lost their seats. New MSPs from minority ethnic backgrounds include Duane, Manivannan, and Simita Kumar of the SNP (previously the first minority ethnic party group leader on Edinburgh Council). The proportion of minority ethnic MSPs is very similar to 2021. Compared with the Scottish population, minority ethnic groups are underrepresented. The new MSPs are younger than their predecessors, as would be expected, but in other ways they are typical politicians, skewed towards being university-educated, professional and middle class. Many MSPs speak openly of a range of conditions and disabilities, but according to the Census a quarter of Scots describe themselves as disabled, meaning that disability is also likely to be under-represented.
There is a familiarity to this profile, with relatively little evidence of change. Barriers to participation in politics are pervasive and difficult to surmount for less-privileged groups. The Scottish Parliament is not immune to these forces. A key question for political parties and the parliament is whether this matters for representation. Academic research suggests that it does, emphasising the need to integrate the perspectives and experiences of women and minority groups. Women, for example, prioritise issues differently, achieve policy change, such as progressive domestic violence legislation, and influence parliamentary practices. There can be little doubt that who represents matters, and that patterns of representation shape public policy.
About the author
Bennie is a Reader in Politics in the School of Social Science at the University of Aberdeen. Her research and teaching interests span the areas of elections and political parties, political participation and climate politics.