BOTH the Tories and Labour are being urged to improve their record on gender balance in 2023 as both parties failed to provide 50/50 gender balance for flagship BBC political programming.
In 2023, SNP appearances on the BBC’s Politics Scotland programme were 74% women. On Debate Night, the party presented a 50/50 gender split.
In contrast, the Tories only put up three women in the 26 times they were invited on to Politics Scotland and just four women across 22 appearances on Debate Night.
Labour also came up short with women appearing 48% of the time on Politics Scotland and one-third of the time on Debate Night.
Commenting, SNP MSP Siobhian Brown said: “The SNP proudly maintains at least a 50/50 split when it comes to gender balancing on political programming.
“Both the Tories and Labour need to up their game as they are failing their female politicians by not giving them their fair share of TV appearances.
“The Tories’ record on gender balancing is particularly shocking with male voices dominating their media appearances.
“As political parties, it is important that we reflect the country we are representing and it is an extremely encouraging step forward having a gender balanced Cabinet in the Scottish Government and one of the most diverse parliaments in the history of devolution.”
