The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, the Rt Hon Tricia Marwick MSP, was delighted to host an event for young women at the Scottish Parliament on Monday 23rd March 2015. Announced as part of her Time for Reflection address to the Scottish Parliament on 23 September, the event brought together 128 young women from across Scotland. It was designed to encourage young women to develop the confidence and leadership skills needed to help them to achieve in their chosen field.
The Presiding Officer was joined at Holyrood on the day by deputy leader of Scottish Labour Kezia Dugdale MSP, leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson MSP, Alison McInnes MSP of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Alison Johnstone MSP of the Scottish Green Party.
32 schools across Scotland (1 in each local authority area) sent four young women to attend the Inspiring Young Women event at Holyrood. Scottish Parliament staff worked closely with the S4 and S5 year group pupils ahead of the event to ensure they got the best from their time on the day.
The Presiding Officer was also joined on the day by inspiring women from Scottish public life - Amal Azzudin, Campaigner for the Glasgow Girls; Khaleda Noon, Youth Development Manager for Sikh Sanjog; Cara Henderson, Founder of Nil By Mouth; Professor Pamela Gillies CBE, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University; and Louise Macdonald OBE, Chief Executive of Young Scot.
These inspiring women met the young women attending on the day and shared their own personal stories and experiences of leadership, confidence and barriers that face young women.
You can view photos from the event on the Scottish Parliament's Facebook page - click on the image below:
The full list of schools that took part is as follows:
Aberdeen City - Torry Academy
Aberdeenshire - Peterhead Academy
Angus - Arbroath High School
Argyll & Bute - Dunoon Grammar School
Clackmannanshire - Alloa Academy
Dumfries & Galloway - Maxwelltown High School
Dundee City - Off-site Education Service
East Ayrshire - Doon Academy
East Dunbartonshire - Boclair Academy
East Lothian - Preston Lodge High School
East Renfrewshire - Barrhead High School
Edinburgh City - Castlebrae Community High School
Eilean Siar - Sgoil Lionacleit
Falkirk - Falkirk High School
Fife - Auchmuty High School
Glasgow City - Springburn Academy
Highland - Inverness High School
Inverclyde - St Stephen's High School
Midlothian - Newbattle High School
Moray - Forres Academy
North Ayrshire - Irvine Royal Academy
North Lanarkshire - Braidhurst High School
Orkney Islands - Stromness Academy
Perth & Kinross - Perth Academy
Renfrewshire - Castlehead High School
Scottish Borders - Hawick High School
Shetland Islands - Anderson High School
South Ayrshire - Ayr Academy
South Lanarkshire - St John Ogilvie High School
Stirling - Wallace High School
West Dunbartonshire - St Peter the Apostle High School
West Lothian - St Kentigern's Academy