Image source, Reuters

Equalities Secretary Angela Constance quotes the young Malala Yousafzai who said: "We cannot all succed when half of us are held back."

Ms Constance says women are underrepresented on our public boards are quite simply missing from decision making roles, which is "entirely unacceptable".

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The equalities secretary says the Tories have of course opposed the Bill from the very start and they keep using the phrase quotas, which is the best example of their, at best, their misunderstanding of the legislation.

Quotas are about fixed proportions,whereas this Bill aims to bring a gender equality on boards as an aspiration, she says.

The Bill does not address the problem of having a continuous pipeline of women to apply for these roles, Mr Greene argues.

It does not address how we develop or nurture women in these industries, he adds.

Mr Greene expresses concern that the Bill is about ticking boxes.

He also worries about the legal issues the Bill will throw up.

He concludes by stating the Scottish Conservatives will always champion equality - a point met by heckles from other benches.

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Tory MSP Jamie Greene jokes: "Tthere is a secret bit of me that also hoped I had laryngitis (like Annie Wells)".

Mr Greene says as a white man this debate is not an easy one to speak in.

He says the Scottish Conservative position on this Bill is unchanged.

"Legislation also has consequences, it is not just symbolic, it becomes law."

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant says while progress has been made on boards, women still only make up about a quarter of chairs.

If appointments were already based on merit alone, women would already be equally represented, she argues.

She praises Women 50:50, stating it proves women working together can make a difference.

Labour hopes the Bill will go some way to address the discrimination women face, she concludes.

Image source, Getty Images

A new group set up to examine how women and girls can reach their full potential says it hopes it can be a "catalyst" for change.

The Advisory Council on Women and Girls has been created to advise the Scottish government on how it can tackle gender inequality.

It will be chaired by Louise Macdonald, chief executive of Young Scot.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said securing equality was a "moral obligation", as well as making economic sense.

Read more here.

SNP MSP Clare Adamson stresses the importance of unconscious bias.

Ms Adamson says it has an impact on every single position a woman has throughout their career.

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The SNP MSP says highlights when orchestras appoint people blind, there is a huge increase in women being picked.

Ms Adamson says "Women belong, they belong in the boardroom, they belong in every aspect of public life and they belong in our industry and our commerce."

Image source, PA

Only about one in three candidates for the council elections in Scotland last May were women, according to analysis by a campaign group.

Women 5050 said just 775 of the 2,550 people standing were female.

No political party had a 50/50 gender split in its candidates - with fewer than one in six Scottish Conservative candidates female.

Women 5050 is campaigning for an equal gender split in councils and the Scottish Parliament.

Women 5050 chairwoman Talat Yaqoob said only a quarter of councillors were currently women - and that the research made clear "we will not reach fair representation for women in 2017".

Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale says she was a co-founder of Women 50:50 with Alison Johnstone and she welcomes this Bill.

Ms Dugdale says the Bill is symbolic and will also have a practical effect.

Image source, bbc

She says she is sick to the back teeth with the arguments against the Bill, mostly from the Cosnervatives.

The Labour MSP says this about the historic under representation of women in positions of power.

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Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton says questions are being asked if the Bill would do harm.

Ms Hamilton says her party wants to work towards gender balance and focus the route to end barriers to that.

She too says her party will not be backing this bill.

Image source, Scottish parliament

Following reports about sexual harassment at Holyrood last autumn, there were calls for the all-male management group of MSPs to quit so a gender-balanced group could be installed.

Former Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said the parliament "simply cannot take a lead" on equality issues with only men on the corporate body group.

Ms Dugdale wrote to each of the members of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body asking them to resign.

Since then, two of its members - SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald and Labour MSP David Stewart - resigned from their roles.

They have been replaced by SNP MSP Sandra White and Ms Dugdale.

Lib Dems MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton welcomes the support lent to his amendments at stage 2 on protected characteristics.

This Bill has nothing to do with quotas and the appointing person must consider first and foremost the candidate best qualified, he says.

"I'm baffled by the position taken by the Conservatives here", he adds.

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister has warned businesses to step up the pace of gender equality or the progress already made could stall.

Nicola Sturgeon said companies must "inject new momentum" into improving women's representation.

She was speaking following publication of the Hampton-Alexander Review, external which calls for FTSE companies to increase the number of female board members.

She said: "Public tolerance of gender inequality has never been lower."

Read more here.

Green MSP Alison Johnstone confirms her party will vote to pass the Bill.

When women are not adequately represented on public boards, it makes it difficult to ensure public services are gender sensitive, she argues.

Ms Johnstone says intentions alone do not lead to gender balance, pointing to measures in her own party but highlighting she is the only female Green MSPs.

Globally, almost 77% of parliamentarians are men, she says, asking: are we really suggesting they are all there on merit?

"Has anyone ever referred to token men?"

Titters can be heard across the chamber.

Reality Check

"Having women on company boards leads to better financial performance" came the headlines from report after report, highlighting a business statistic guaranteed to capture the imagination and prompt debate.

What better way to encourage companies to focus on equality and diversity than to make them think of their bottom line?

In the UK, the 30% Club was set up in 2010 with the aim of having women make up at least 30% of the members on every board.

In the US, the Thirty Percent Coalition - a group of people who are chief executives and chairs of their companies - was created to achieve the same thing.

Of course, there are many other - and some say better - reasons to argue for gender equality, but we wanted to look at whether this broadly accepted claim is true - does having more women on the board really mean the company makes more money?

Read more.

According to SPICe:

The aim of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill, external is to improve the representation of women in non-executive positions on public boards.

Women make up over 50% of the Scottish population, but make up only 42% of public board membership, inclusive of chairs.

In addition to the aim of achieving equality, there is much research evidence to support the benefits of diversity.

Image source, AFP

There are many examples of voluntary action already taking place, such as the Scottish Government's Partnership for Change: 50:50 by 20/20.

There are also examples across Europe where legislation has been used to improve gender diversity on public and private boards.

The Bill introduces the 'gender representation objective' - a target that women should make up 50% of non-executive board membership. The objective applies to certain public bodies, colleges, and Higher Education Institutions.

It also applies to Scottish Ministers as they appoint non-executive board members through the Public Appointments process.

Read more here, external