Hello and welcome to the Scottish Parliament podcast. My name is Kasha and I work in the communications team.

In this episode, I got to chat to Hannah Stevens from an organization called Electher,

which is all about increasing women's representation in politics. We also chatted about an

upcoming event we're hosting together at the parliament on the 24th of June.

Keep listening for more details about that. Enjoy the conversation.

Would you be able to tell me a little bit about your role at Electher and what are some of your

favourite parts of the job? I'd love to. So my name's Hannah Stevens and I'm the

CEO of Electher. I'm not the founder of the organisation, but I have been involved from the very

beginning and have watched this tiny but mighty organisation grow over the past six years.

Really in response to the needs of women that we've been talking to,

we are established to motivate, support and equip women in all their diversity to stand for

elected office in all spheres of government, providing them with the knowledge, the confidence

and the skills that they need to do that. And by being in conversation,

listening to women, talking to them, sharing our resources, opportunities and creating community

with them, we've been able to understand the barriers, the questions, the challenges in place

and do our best to identify responses, resources that can support women on their way. I really, really love my job. I love

having the opportunity to connect with real women and real communities. I think that's the most

important part of what this is. You know, our interpretation of politics is the headlines,

what's happening in devolved politics and in Westminster,

our attention is there. But actually so much of it is real people in real communities,

making choices and decisions that impact the lives of real people and reminding ourselves

that that is where the power is and that is where the need for nurturing and support and exploration.

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