SCOTLAND now has its most diverse parliament in history after a bumper election for women and minorities.
For the past two parliamentary elections, in 2016 and 2011, the number of women elected to Holyrood remained stagnant at 45 seats across all parties (34.9%) but this year a total of 58 female MSPs (44.9%) will be taking up their place in the chamber next term.
That’s almost a 50-50 parliament, and something that Scots should be proud of. And not only that, but it’s clear that Yes parties put up more female candidates and made a concerted effort to bring women into Holyrood.
The SNP actually now have more female MSPs than male, a clear shift directed by self-proclaimed feminist and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Out of the 64 new MSPs, 34 are female and only 30 male.
The Greens, who have Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater sharing the role of leader, also made sure that their candidate lists were gender balanced, and had even included a non-binary candidate in the Highlands and Islands.
And they now have five female parliamentarians and three male, which means both pro-independence parties in Holyrood are now dominated by women.
When it comes to the Unionist parties, Labour tops the scoreboard of the most inclusive number of MSPs when you look at it from a gender perspective, they have 10 female MSPs and 22 Male. The Tories however, have 23 men and 8 women. The Lib Dems have three male MSPs, and one female.
It’s a move in the right direction, it’s clear that the Scottish electorate want a more representative parliament and for the next five years female voices will certainly be heard.
But it wasn’t just women that benefitted, minorities did too. In a historic moment Pam Duncan-Glancy, who was elected on the regional list for Glasgow as a Labour MSP, became the first wheelchair user to take up the mantle.
It was an emotional moment watching her give a title check for the first time while being interviewed by a local radio station, you could hear the emotion in the voice and how much it meant not only to her, but the disabled community as a whole.
She told the BBC: “I feel incredibly honoured and privileged to have been given the opportunity to serve.”
Scotland also now has two female MSPs of colour for the first time in its history as Kaukab Stewart took the Glasgow Kelvin constituency for the SNP and Pam Gosal was elected on the regional list for the Tories.
Constitutional battle lines aside, this is unprecedented and hopefully something that all parties will begin to build on as the appetite for a diverse range of candidates that is clearly held by the electorate.
In her acceptance speech, Stewart, who is also the first Muslim woman to be elected to Holyrood, said: “It has taken too long but to all women and girls of colour out there - the Scottish Parliament belongs to you too. So whilst I may be the first I will not be the last.”
And, the number of male MSPs of colour has doubled. In the 2016 election only Humza Yousaf for the SNP , and Anas Sarwar from Labour, took up seats in parliament despite the Asian community being the largest minority in Scotland.
This time around both politicians retained their seats and will be joined by Foysol Choudhury for Labour and Sandesh Gulhane for the Tories.
Unfortunately, there were no male candidates from the black community elected, something Yousaf has criticised before, so there is still plenty of work to be done.
We may not have a completely representative parliament just yet, but it’s moving in the right direction, and this intake of MSPs, which includes a lot of fresh faces, will be a breath of fresh air as we descended into the second independence referendum campaign during the first half of the next parliamentary term.
Scotland needs a diverse range of voices so that we can have a proper and frank discussion about the future of our country, whatever side of the political spectrum they come from.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here