A Radical Break or an Incremental Shift? Gender Equality and Constitutional Change in Scotland

The Scottish Government has looked to the Nordic countries for inspiration as to how Scotland could be transformed by independence. The Nordic states rank amongst the highest in the world on measures of gender equality, and many individuals and groups see independence as an opportunity to move towards achieving similar outcomes. However, Scotland would retain many of its social, political, economic and institutional characteristics after independence, some of which may act as impediments to change. Focussing on childcare, this paper assesses Scotland's capacity to use this policy as a springboard for more gender equal-outcomes. Drawing upon the experiences of other nation-states and sub-state territories, the paper utilises interview data from a range of relevant stakeholders in order to assess Scotland's capacity to achieve more gender equal outcomes in the context of different constitutional scenarios.