WE have two lists of fantastic candidates who are standing for election in the Glasgow and Lothian regions! Our candidates represent the grassroots activism that this Party is built on and WE are excited to bring that experience and knowledge to our campaign to change the law on consent and help achieve gender equality in Scotland.

Standing for the Women’s Equality Party in Glasgow are:

1. Ruth Wilkinson

Ruth is the Party's elected Spokesperson in Scotland and first candidate on the Glasgow list.

She is currently a student, reading for an MSc in Applied Gender Studies at Strathclyde University. Ruth has lived in the Glasgow area since 1995 and been a member of the Glasgow Branch of WE since it was founded. She lives on the south side of the city with her husband and teenaged daughter. One of the reasons Ruth feels so passionately that we need to campaign for women’s equality is that she thought, years ago when she was just discovering feminism, that we’d have sorted the patriarchy out by 2021. Unfortunately, Ruth sees her daughter coping with far too many of the same things that she has had to cope with, to say nothing of all the extra ones thrown up by the internet. That’s why Ruth jumped at the chance to join the Women’s Equality Party when it was first set up, and that’s why she is campaigning for the Women’s Equality Party in this election.

2. Suzanne Martin

Suzanne is the Party's elected Movement Builder in Scotland, leading on branch and membership development.

Suzanne is a 29 year old public affairs and policy professional who currently works for a national mental health charity. Since graduating from university in 2015, she has worked across a range of industries, from built environment to health and social care. As someone who has worked in male-dominated industries, Suzanne has often been the only woman and young person in the room. She understands the barriers women face when it comes to participating on a equal basis within the workplace, and how this can influence significant decisions that profoundly affect local communities. Originally from Fife, Suzanne moved to Glasgow at the age of 17 to study. Having had a privileged upbringing and continuing to lead a privileged life, she has only ever experienced discrimination and prejudice based on her gender and age. But that was enough to start her on what will be a lifelong path of women's rights advocacy based on an intersectional approach. Suzanne has worked as a volunteer for Glasgow East Women's Aid and joined the Women's Equality Party in 2017.

3. Esthi Thurston

Esthi is a parent, a part-time air traffic controller and union rep who is passionate about equality! She has been a member of the Women's Equality Party for three years and this is her first year standing as a candidate. Esthi's experience of working in a male-dominated industry has given her cause to reflect on the importance of representation, as leaders and role models but most importantly as diverse voices in the rooms where decisions are made. She understands the importance of good mental health and how equality can contribute to that in a multitude of different ways. As a home educator, Esthi is an advocate for educational choice. An equal education does not mean the same education for all. She strongly believes that an equal society is a happy one. A society where we flourish together.

4. Anna Nordahl

Anna joined the Women’s Equality Party just over a year ago, having had no previous political experience. From the beginning, she has been an active member, setting up a local branch in the Scottish Highlands & Islands, attending the 2020 conference and taking part in workshops, seminars and workgroups. Anna is an NHS front line worker and has witnessed first hand the enormous strain on our health care and social care systems over the past year. She also knows from experience how much we, as a society, depend on these two systems and the people working in care settings. Yet, despite this, she sees care workers struggling to put food on the table for their families and hears how they cannot afford to stay off work when they are unwell. Anna is a passionate advocate for equality and believes Scotland needs a parliament that truly represents the population, with more women, from all backgrounds, in politics.

Standing for the Women’s Equality Party in Lothian are:

1. Emma Watt

Emma Watt was born in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland and grew up in Ireland, Suffolk and Banff. She is a graduate of the University of Glasgow and completed postgraduate studies in Social Work. Emma has travelled extensively, living in China and Indonesia. Previously a Day Centre officer in Aberdeenshire for adults with learning disabilities, she now works for a third sector social work organisation overseeing services for newly arrived refugee communities. Emma identifies as a survivor of gender-based violence and has been outspoken about her negative experiences of reporting to Police Scotland. Her experience of being a single parent of two daughters and a carer have also profoundly informed her intersectional feminist views. She is determined to ensure that the voices of women who have been silenced are magnified and heard by policy makers and legislators in Scotland.

2. David Renton

David is a biker, barrister, philosopher, charity Chairperson, disability advocate and occasional poet. He is a Women's Equality Party Founder Member and is the first Disabled man to stand for WE in a Scottish Election. David has roots in Glasgow and was born into the Theatre. David left school at 15 and has worked as a care worker, cook, roofer's mate, stagehand, lighting designer, despatch rider, and motorbike instructor. Returning to education in his 30s, he has degrees in Law, Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy and Scottish Literature, from Kings College London and from Edinburgh University. David has lived in Edinburgh for the whole of the 21st Century.

3. Lucy Hammond

Lucy is 51-years old, from Port Seton near Edinburgh and is a mother to three girls and one boy. She is a founder member of the Women's Equality Party and passionately believes that equality it better for everyone, including men and boys. Lucy is a Social Worker, working specifically to support and rehabilitate men who have sexually or domestically abused women. She also works with women in the criminal justice system and has campaigned for change in the prison system. As someone who enjoys mechanics and engineering, she is an advocate for increasing the diversity of trade professions and STEM workplaces, believing they shouldn't be viewed as male jobs.