SNP MSP Kate Forbes says she will focus her speech on violence against women and girls around the world.

Almost 40% of murders of all women globally are committed by male partners, and in Scotland over half of homicides of women are committed by their male partners, she notes.

Suspected human trafficking in Scotland increased in 2017 Ms Forbes states.

The MSP highlights the busiest trafficking route in the world is between Nepal and India, where women are often sold in order to lift the rest of the family out of poverty.

It is my right as a women to not be subject to abuse, exploitation and violence - but until all women have that right, there is work to do, Ms Forbes concludes.

Image source, Getty Images

New legislation that aims to ensure an equal gender balance on many public sector boards has been passed by the Scottish Parliament at the end of January.

Women make up just over 50% of the Scottish population, but currently make up only 45% of public board membership.

The new law sets an objective for at least 50% of non-executive members on all boards to be women by 2022.

The legislation was passed by 88 votes to 28, with the Scottish Conservatives voting against.

It will apply to colleges, universities and some public bodies including health boards, enterprise agencies, the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Read more here.

Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne says: "In this country we now have a generation of young girls who can see strong independent successful women as normal."

Ms Ballantyne warns against pressing too far and says we should only be worried about too few women going into engineering if there are barriers there.

She asks if she failed as a parent by not trying to break the gender stereotypes for her children.

Image source, bbc

"We must also be careful not to push too far."

The Tory MSP says the promotion of women's rights is in danger of becoming the demotion of men.

All the action we take should be about removing the barriers to allow girls and boys to go for jobs equally, she says.

Nick Eardley
BBC Scotland Westminster correspondent

A century on from women winning the right to vote, there are still many questions about how to achieve equal representation in politics.

Fewer than one in three MPs are women - and in the past few months there has been a sexual harassment scandal which many blamed on a macho culture in politics.

Prime Minister Theresa May is to lead a celebration marking 100 years since the Representation of the People Act, which allowed women over 30 to vote for the first time in the United Kingdom.

Image source, Topical Press Agency

The fact that Mrs May is a female prime minister is an illustration of how much has changed in the past century.

But progress has only gone so far.

Read the rest of Nick Eardley's article here.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay says women have been "airbrushed from history".

Today we fight to abolish the pay gap, for maternity rights, for the rights of women, for free sanitary products and much more, Ms Mackay says.

"We should celebrate how far we have come but know there is much more to do".

Image source, Getty Images

The majority of medium and large companies pay higher wage rates to men than to women, according to the latest government figures.

The disparity, known as the the gender pay gap, reflects the different average hourly salaries earned by men and women.

The government data showed, external 74% of firms pay higher rates to their male staff.

Just 15% of businesses with more than 250 employees pay more to women.

As many as 11% of firms said there is no difference between the rates paid to either gender.

Read more here.

SNP MSP Clare Haughey says there are many drivers to the gender pay gap, which require more that one solution.

We must continue to work together to tackle gender inequality - not just for ourselves, but for generations to come, she says.

"My life has been filled by the impact of extraordinary women," says Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton.

He tells the story great aunt Joan, who was celebrated for her work in military intelligence.

"We still have frontiers on which to push back," the MSP says, such as equal pay, maternity rights and even clothing in the workplace.

"I am a feminist, but if I'm honest, I don't think that's always been true."

He tells the chamber about how he was "blissfully unaware" of his privilege as a young man, stating he was a happy recipient of the benefits of the patriarchy.

"I'm not sure exactly when it was that I woke up to this, but wake up I did."

He admits embarrassment at having to rise to speak in debates like this as part of an all-male parliamentary team.

Mr Cole-Hamilton makes a commitment to ensure this is changed at future elections.

Image source, bbc

SNP MSP Sandra White says she is incredibly proud there is a statue to Mary Barbour at last.

The SNP MSP praises the Glasgow Girls and pays tribute to Euan Girvan who was their teacher at Drumchapel High.

She says the young women were absolutely fantastic in what they did and says they are still very much involved in fighting for social justice.

The Glasgow Girls are a beacon for what women can actually do when the get the encouragement, she concludes.

Image source, Johnny McLaughlan

When 15-year-old Agnesa Murselaj, a Roma from Kosovo, and pupil at Glasgow’s Drumchapel High, was taken by Immigration officers in a dawn raid, her friends refused to let her go without a fight.

As she and her family awaited deportation at a detention centre in London, fellow pupils Amal, from Somalia; Roza, from Kurdistan; Ewelina, a Polish Roma; and local Drumchapel teenagers Emma, Jennifer and Toni-Lee, banded together to campaign for her release.

What started as a school petition grew into one of the most memorable human rights campaigns of a generation as they lobbied the Home Office, challenged the First Minister in public, and won the support of their community.

The story of the girls' campaign was originally captured in an Amnesty International award-winning BBC Scotland documentary in 2005 and has since inspired a National Theatre for Scotland musical and a BBC film.

Green MSP Alison Johnstone says welfare reform has made women a "target for cuts".

She calls for collective empowerment and recognition of the women who face even greater challenges due to other barriers.

Reflecting on the Young Women's Movement 30 Under 30 Inspiring Women list, Ms Johnstone notes the common advice from those in the list is encouraging young women to "take up space".

Image source, bbc

SNP MSP Gillian Martin raises the issue of sexual harassment and those who say thinly veiled sexual comments are "only banter".

Those words are not banter they "diminish, control, objectify, insult, embarrass and distress".

Ms Martin says she wears purple, the colour of feminism, and says she stands with all those who have experienced insidious harassment, as she is one of them.

She says: "Even as a many as twenty years on from my harassment, I still think about what I could have done to stop it and how hard it was to take any action."

"I salute those who in the last year were braver than me and who have."

Image source, bbc

Labour MSP Claudia Beamish says history has been written by the winners and as long as we live in a patriarchy, men are those winners.

Ms Beamish pays trbute to a number of women including Emeline Pankhurst and Mary Barbour, who was one of Glasgow's first female councillors elected in 1920.

She says women here in Scotland and across the world have always stood up for the rights of others.

The Labour MSP says there are too few female journalists and calls for more women to go into the profession.