THE venture to give woman the opportunity to get a better feeling of the political scene in Fife proved a big success.

Cardenden councillor Rosemary Liewald and her colleague, Councillor Lesley Backhouse, joined women as the Fife Centre for Equalities (FCE) brought to an end their nine month programme which they were able to run after being awarded £5,000 by the Scottish Government Vote Centenary Grant Scheme.

‘Fife Women and Inclusion in Politics’, was geared at the under-representation of disabled, minority ethnic or transgender women as voters, political activists and representatives in Fife.

FCE staged an outstanding afternoon of conversation, song and dance, at CISWO, North Street, Glenrothes, which allowed women from all backgrounds to talk honestly and openly about their lives, their backgrounds and Politics with a small p .

Said Rosemary Liewald: "FCE invites women from all political groups to help us to make our political systems more inclusive of disabled, minority ethnic or transgender women.

"2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the success of the Suffragette movement, when we remembered the brave and inspirational women who joined together to successfully challenge discrimination, and to influence women’s politics for generations.

"This programme has raised women’s awareness of the struggle for equal voting rights. More importantly the programme has highlighted that the struggle continues for women of different protected characteristics in the UK and around the world, and how women are succeeding in overcoming the barriers they face.

"Chantal Mrimi, one of Fife Council's employees who has recently written and published a book about her journey from Rwanda to Scotland, introduced the group to a wonderful display of Rwandan dance and music! And we all tried to learn some steps ourselves, myself not too successfully .

"This programme has also celebrated the successes of the unsung heroines who contribute to the Scottish political systems daily; they are the campaigners, personal assistants, researchers, analysts, lobbyists, community activists and so on.

"The fact that Fife Council is one of the most equal gender balanced councils in Scotland must be acknowledged as a huge success plus the work of our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the powerful women we have representing Fife in Holyrood, MSP Annabelle Ewing as well as MP Lesley Laird."

Ms Liewald concluded: "This programme has ended with a worthy celebration event in conjunction with International Women’s Day in 2019 and it marked the outstanding learning and achievements of all the participants. Special praise must go to Nina Munday, Pat Greenhough and the amazing team of women who make up Fife Centre for Equalities".