Yes Vote 'Will Improve Childcare'

28 July 2014, 06:42

A higher proportion of people believe childcare and gender equality will improve in an independent Scotland than those who think it will be better in the UK, researchers have found.

Some 29% of people believe childcare will be better with independence, compared with 25% who think it will stay the same and 21% who think it will be worse, the Economic and Social Research Council found.

This compares with 13% who believe it will improve in the UK, 15% who think it will get worse and 52% who think it will say the same, according to the ESRC's Future of UK and Scotland project.

While most people believe gender equality will stay the same regardless of the constitutional outcome, twice as many people think it will improve with independence (24%) compared with remaining the UK (12%),

Stirling University research fellow Craig McAngus analysed data from the ESRC's risk and constitutional change survey.

Natalie McGarry, founding member of Women for Independence, said: "This research shows that women in Scotland know how their lives could be better with independence.

"In independent Scotland, we would have a written constitution that enshrines treating women equally in all spheres of life as a founding principle.

"With a Yes vote, we can improve equality for women in a way Westminster has been fudging for over 40 years.

"Women also know that staying under the Westminster system could result in things getting even worse for them than they are now.

"That's a strong message which Women for Independence will be taking to women all over Scotland in the last few weeks of the campaign.''