In 2025, The Young Women’s Movement, the Scottish Youth Parliament and Elect Her came together with the Scottish Parliament to make plans to hold a Young Women and Democracy Summit.  

Research shows that young women do not feel their voices and views are sufficiently represented in Scotland’s politics and policies, and that 1 in 2 young women do not trust politicians to advocate for their rights. However, despite the barriers that exist to young women’s engagement, there is a genuine desire to participate in political processes. The Summit was designed as a safe space to explore these issues.  

A group made up of MSYPs and volunteers from The Young Women’s Movement worked for 6 months to design an event to support young women to learn about democracy, how to influence positive change and to come together for collective action. They took part in a residential weekend, spent a day in the Scottish Parliament and met online to create the agenda, branding and key messages for the day on 19 September 2025. The event was attended by 100 young women and girls from all over Scotland. 

“A great opportunity to meet new, like-minded people and feel inspired + empowered!” 

The day opened with a young women’s panel discussion chaired by Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone on ‘how do young women engage in democracy’ and closed with a keynote speech by Emma Roddick MSP, who in 2021 was the youngest MSP elected. We also held a series of workshops ran by Elect Her, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Dr Katherine Allison and the Electoral Commission. Young women were also able to attend an exhibition with stalls from the workshop holders, organisers and Girlguiding Scotland, as well as take a tour of the Parliament.  

“Workshops were valuable and brought me more ideas or taught me how to raise awareness of vital issues in a better way, where to start and how to continue.” 

It was crucial to the young women who designed the event that we make the Parliament feel comfortable, safe, inclusive and accessible. We wanted to ensure that this wasn’t just a learning experience; it was also a space to connect with each other and focus on their wellbeing. The agenda included craft sessions, interactive activities and a spoken word performance by Pepita Mwanga. 

“Truly needed to help the ongoing battle of burnout while trying to survive in a system that was never built for your success. Thank you for providing much needed hope!” 

The message from the Summit is clear: young women want a seat at the table. They want to see themselves represented in positions of power. It is up to institutions and people in places of power to create the space for young women to occupy, and to build meaningful pathways for them to learn and build the confidence and skills to take up that space.  

The Young Women’s Movement is committed to meeting young women where they’re at, bringing young women into spaces where decisions that impact them are made. We work to ensure their voices and insights are meaningfully heard by decision makers.  

Our Young Women Demand programme was set up encourage young women’s democratic engagement. It is being led by a co-design group of young women and girls who will be campaigning for young women to exercise their voting rights in the 2026 Scottish election, as well as scrutinising party manifestos and explaining the electoral system in simple terms. Following the election, the group will scrutinise Government and opposition policies against their electoral promises.