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I AM proud to call myself a feminist.

As the most senior elected woman in the UK Labour Party, I feel a responsibility to help deliver real change for women.

Just having a female First Minister and two opposition leaders in the Scottish Parliament is not enough to transform the lives of young women in Scotland.

Having a female Prime Minister is not enough to break down the barriers that still exist for women.

Theresa May has the audacity to wear a “this is what a feminist looks like” T-shirt. But there is nothing feminist about her austerity politics.

Tory cuts have hit women the hardest. As social security has been crushed by the Tories, 85 per cent of the cuts have been borne by women.

There’s nothing feminist about an economy built on low-paid low- skilled work and there is nothing feminist about a gender pay gap that experts warn could last for the next 50 years.

(Image: PA Wire)

May can wear whatever slogan she likes, but she has done more for Boris Johnson in her first 80 days in office than the Tories have done for women in 80 years.

Nicola Sturgeon has chosen to pass on these Tory cuts in Scotland – and impose further cuts of her own.

There is nothing feminist about having the power to stop the cuts and refusing to use it. And there’s nothing feminist about locking women out of the jobs of the future. So, as leader of the party who have a plan to transform women’s lives, I feel a huge responsibility to deliver.

Too many young women still face a barrier when they try to succeed, coming up against institutional discrimination.

Earlier this month, figures showed there had been falls in the number of pupils taking science, technology and mathematics at Higher, and an alarming lack of progress among girls taking these subjects.

If we don’t fix this now, we’ll lock women in to low-paid work and out of the jobs of the future.

We have one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world and the power to put money into our public services.That is why Scottish Labour will seek to amend the SNP’s budget to introduce a 50p top rate of tax and a penny for public services.