Ms Kate Mitchell:

Looking back at the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality, the report that came out of that process is really strong and robust. We are now developing the next national strategy for women and girls and the report provides a really strong blueprint for what should be included in the strategy. It helps us to be quite visionary and ambitious in our approach. I agree that a citizens' assembly is one element in a process and not the full solution. However, there is good practice in what has gone before and we can draw from that. If we are talking about a citizens' assembly and other forums for engagement and participation, we really need to identify the barriers to engagement and look at supporting people's participation, whether by way of transport, payment for people's time or otherwise. We must ensure we reach the more marginalised groups of individuals and communities, including disabled women, migrant women and Traveller and Roma women. Their voices very much need to be part of the process.