Annual Edinburgh Lecture series begins

The annual Edinburgh Lectures series got off to a wobbly start on 1 October as Baroness Helena Kennedy QC was drafted in at short notice after scheduled speaker Helena Steven took ill at the last minute.

The lecture on the issue of women in politics at the City Chambers was a prelude to the centenery of the 1909 suffrage movement in the capital.

Baroness Kennedy told the audience that she “always speaks up for gude causes”; a reference to the Gude Cause group who organised last weeks celebrations of the suffrage procession.

Baroness Kennedy, who has given the Edinburgh lecture once before, said Scottish women have a rich history of activism that they should be proud of. “We don't wave the flag enough,” she exclaimed.

The barrister spoke of the resilience of her own mother, who had to move her young family out of their bombed tenement house during WWII, concluding that “Scotland is full of quiet, unassuming, courageous women, like my mother”.

In her 45 minute talk she drew from the early 20th century women's rights movement, celebrating the great activists; Flora “The General” Drummond, Ethel Moorhead and, notably, Chrystal MacMillan who led the charge of equality from the University of Edinburgh.

To an audience of around 80, the Glasgow born lawyer then talked about the modern day politics of Scotland.

Before devolution, the Scots were often poorly represented at Westminster, and consequently women “were doubly disadvantaged by the system,” she said.

The Baroness praised the Scottish Parliament for its 43 per cent membership of female members in 1999, calling the number a “critical mass”.

However, she added that progress since had been “slow and uneven”, pointing to the decline in the representation of women in parliament following the 2007 election.

The lecture was the first of ten to be given across the city at universities, museums and galleries until February.