Women Saying No

 If a majority of us decide to vote YES on 18 September 2014, then that divorce from the rest of the UK is easy to do. No expensive lawyers. No cost except the travel to the polling station… No need to lift a finger. Just a cross on a ballot paper. But before you say, that’s great, think on… This is a decision we will live with for the rest of our lives, and our children’s and grandchildren’s, for maybe centuries to come. - MARIA FYFE

It’s been noted over and over again that women are more likely to vote NO in Scotland’s Referendum 2014. There has been endless speculation as to why this may be, but until now little expression of their views has been heard.

In a series of essays arguing for a NO vote at the forthcoming Scottish independence referendum, 14 women varying in age, ethnicity, political views and life experience – including Maria Fyfe, Johann Lamont MSP, Sarah Boyack MSP and Fiona O’Donnell MP – come together to make a positive case against independence.

With contributions from leading current and former politicians and citizens, Women Saying No presents the arguments against independence, from a female perspective, in an attempt to widen the debate.

Reviews: 

The book she has written is a gem. It zips along on a skilful mix of genuinely funny anecdotes, telling vignettes and perceptive political analysis. It serves future historians well too, for it will serve as a necessary counterbalance to the leadership-centric books and diaries which have followed the Tony Blair – Peter Mandelson years. But it has a more immediate attraction than that. The Nats gets a good pre-referendum kicking from Oor Maria. Recalling that the Nats used to call the Scots Labour MPs ‘the feeble fifty’ she points out the SNP were nowhere to be seen the night a last ditch Tory filibuster failed to halt the Minimum Wage Bill. ALASDAIR BUCHAN, TRIBUNE on A Problem Like Maria

A feisty, irrepressible, red flag idealist… the only woman Scottish MP in a gang of fifty. She could not be bullied, bamboozled or bribed. She did not fit comfortably in to the Procrustean bed of a biddable Blair babe. PAUL FLYNN, THE HOUSE MAGAZINE on A Problem Like Maria

About the Author:

MARIA FYFE was the only female Labour MP from Scotland when she was first elected in 1987. She was an MP for fourteen years for Glasgow Maryhill. In that time, she campaigned for poverty-stricken areas of the city in Parliament before stepping down in 2001. She has always been strongly politically active, campaigning for the equal representation of women in government.