Championing Change
Advocating for Equality in Scotland’s Media and Cultural Landscapes
About us
Engender is home to Scotland’s first Equal Media and Culture Centre, a hub for research, monitoring and advocacy for equality in the creative and media sectors in Scotland.
Based on the National Advisory Council for Women and Girls’ 2018 recommendation that Scotland should have its own Women in Media Body, Engender received funding for a development project to identify what shape this might take.
Men’s over-representation across the media and creative industries is reflected in widespread stereotyping of women and lack of gender balance in print, on the airwaves and on screen. The portrayal of women across media is damagingly limited, especially for disabled women, minority ethnic women, older women, lesbian, bisexual and trans women.
Guest Post: “Why Did They Let This Go On?”
Anna McFatridge blogs for us on her research into the media coverage of two high-profile allegations of sexual harassment.
EMCC and Culture Counts launch EDI co-learning network
Working in partnership with Culture Counts, we are collaborating on an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion co-learning network
Read our latest report
This new Scotland-specific report delves into women’s lived experiences of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in the creative industries
Guest post: What is feminist leadership and why is it needed in cultural organisations?
MSc Applied Gender Studies student Ursula Grant blogs for us on feminist leadership in culture
Our reports
The EMCC researches and publishes reports on gender equality in the arts, culture, media and sports sectors. We also share relevant research from partners and other organisations.
The Equal Media and Culture Centre for Scotland (EMCC) release a Scotland-specific report into women’s lived experiences of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in the creative industries. Women working in various sectors across culture – film, television, journalism, theatre and music took part in this study, describing their first-hand accounts of EDI initiatives.
February 2025
Categories: All publications
Engender and the Equal Media and Culture Centre for Scotland's response to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee call for views on its pre-budget scrutiny 2025-26.
August 2024
Categories: All publications
This paper explores what Scotland could look like if its cultural policymaking took a human rights approach, looking at cultural rights not just as a passive ‘right to access’ culture, but as a foundational feature of democratic citizenship.
January 2024
Categories: All publications
This is a gendered analysis of a year's worth of news coverage of Scottish football, rugby and golf, revealing a stark disparity between media exposure of men and women's sport.
October 2023
Categories: All publications
Recent news
EMCC & Culture Counts Summer Advocacy Events
Jun 2, 2025: EMCC and Culture Counts invite participants to join an advocacy working group over the summer
Guest Post: Transformative Feminist Leadership in Action
May 30, 2025: Transformative feminist leadership in action, a blog by Ursula Grant
Guest post: What is Feminist leadership and why is it needed in cultural organisations?
May 27, 2025: Applied Gender Studies MSc student Ursula Graham writes for us about feminist leadership
Guest Post: “Why Did They Let This Go On?”: How Media Coverage of Harassment Shifts Blame from Men to Institutions
May 23, 2025: Our second guest blog from Anna McFatridge, an Applied Gender Studies student at the University of Strathclyde
Guest Post: How the Media Frames Harassment
May 20, 2025: Applied Gender Studies MSc student Anna McFatridge blogs for us on the UK media's framing of harrassment.
Guest Post: Century-long inequality persists in Scottish literature today
Apr 23, 2025: Dr Christina Neuwirth writes for us about her recently published report into gender inequality in the Scottish publishing and literature sector
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