Just a third of Scotland’s positions of power are held by women, according to the feminist advocacy organisation Engender.

The group say that 474 women are “missing” from key positions in public life, including in Bute House. 

While there was praise for First Minister Humza Yousaf for appointing a cabinet that was more than 50% women, two-thirds of the Scottish Government's Special Adviser positions are held by men.

In their report, Sex and Power in Scotland 2023, Engender warns that the “sustained over-representation of men in these advisory roles reflects the need for a systematic approach to ensuring gender balance at all levels of government.”

The organisation has identified 3,381 positions of power in areas including politics, health, sport and media.  Only 1219 of these are held by women.

Men continue to hold two-thirds of positions of power in Scotland and were significantly over-represented in 33 of the 38 areas of public life examined.

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Just five areas had at least 50% of women in leadership positions, this is despite women making up 51% of Scotland’s population, 49% of its labour market, and girls routinely leaving school with higher levels of educational attainment on average. 

It is the third report from the group, following on from similar papers in 2017 and 2020.

While there has been “some improvement in areas including political institutions, within the health sector and limited areas across media and culture,” the rate of change remains “disappointingly slow.” 

Women still account for only 27% of council leaders, 22% of sheriffs, 26% of university principals, 18% of major newspaper editors and just 7% of CEO’s of Scotland’s top businesses. 

The organisation notes that women make up 45.7% of Scotland’s MSPs, which would place Scotland fifteenth in the current global rankings of gender balance in national parliaments, up from thirtieth place in 2020. 

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Engender also points out that the number of women leading Scottish political parties has “dropped substantially” in recent years.

“In 2017, four of the five political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament were led or co-led by women.

"Now the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, secured by gender balancing mechanisms within the party, is the only woman represented at this level in Scotland.” the report notes.  

Catherine Murphy, Executive Director of Engender said: “These positions of power hold huge sway in determining what our society and culture look like.

"They dictate who gets heard and who has a seat at the table when key decisions are made. 

“These figures clearly show that how the world is shaped around us in Scotland- how resources are distributed, services designed and priorities identified- is still disproportionately decided upon by men. 

“The fact that so many women are ‘missing’ from these positions of power means that major decision-making is taking place without women’s leadership and high-level input. The exclusion is even more pronounced for women from minority groups including women of colour and disabled women. 

“Tracking who sits in positions of power is vital to shine a light on the extent of these inequalities and helps us better understand where priority action is needed.” 

“We urgently need a major increase in diverse women leading our institutions in Scotland. Government, Public Sector, Business and our Media and Culture sectors need to step up their efforts if we are to make meaningful progress, or we risk failing another generation of women.”