The Conference, themed ‘Inspired by our Past; Building for the Future’, was attended by over 140 delegates.
Camila Gonzalez Velez, MPharm Student Rep and Maxine Flynn, a primary care pharmacist, found the Women’s Conference to be superbly informative and a great introduction to the inner workings of trade union activities for women.
The conference was a congregation of 28 trade unions discussing and voting on more than 30 motions in the aspirations of bettering the working conditions of women across different sectors of employment in Scotland.
Motions ranged from wide topics such as the gender impact of the cost of living crisis, breast cancer awareness, and period poverty. The women-centred approach of the conference allowed for in-depth discussion around topics such as the gender pay gap, sexual harassment in the workplace, and unsafe abortion practices, from a place of shared personal experiences and those of their members. Many delegates have been in or witnessed their fellow women members being disadvantaged by situations like these, and their personal experiences provided thought-provoking support for the motions.
Motions were presented to the conference by delegates via speeches, covering a range of issues universal to a woman’s experience, and the diversity of trade unions present provided context on how these issues were uniquely manifested in each field.
Camila said, “By representing the PDA, we were able to share with the conference how these issues were currently impacting the care of women’s health and how they are being experienced by the women providing this care to patients in pharmacies.
Together my PDA colleague Maxine and I reflected on our positions as pharmacist and pharmacy student, and what our role experiences are with these issues and others such as menopause and menstruation which affect virtually all women in the workforce.
We asked ourselves questions such as – do we feel like we have the appropriate education and resources to help women with these issues to our best ability?
We also considered current working conditions in some pharmacies and how this might affect menopausal and menstruating women in the workplace. Access to proper bathroom facilities, proper breaks, time off and managerial support should be accessible to all working women, but often these essentials are not adequately provided by employers.”
Trade unions, including the PDA, who are part of the STUC can collectively serve trade union members, by using their combined strength to lobby the Scottish government and employers to provide the resources to meet the needs of its workers, including women.
Primary Care prescribing support pharmacist and PDA member Maxine Flynn said of her experience at conference, “I found the experience of conference and hearing of the similar issues facing women and the struggles they have in other sectors almost reassuring. The experience has galvanised my desire to further challenge and push back against systems and structural inequalities that hold women in the workplace back from achieving their potential.
I hope to have the opportunity to represent the PDA again next year and to see how the STUC and the women’s committee have advanced progress on all the motions actioned by the conference. In addition, I am hoping that we may all engage in some personal reflection on what our roles are in pharmacy, not just when trying to provide a high quality of care to women patients but also regarding the working conditions of PDA members in the pharmacy profession. I would encourage all women pharmacists to consider joining NAWP.”
SNP MSP for Caithness Sutherland and Ross and Minister for public health, women’s health and sport, Maree Todd speaking at the conference
PDA members Maxine Flynn (left) and Camila Gonzales Velez (right) at the conference
PDA members and the Royal college of Midwives delegation at the conference
Learn more
- Gendered Cost of Living Crisis: STUC Women’s Committee Demands Better
- About NAWP
- PDA Union Scotland and Northern Ireland Regional Committee
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