NICOLA Sturgeon appealed to women to vote Yes for an independent Scotland to give Scots more powers over childcare, social security and poverty.

The Deputy First Minister led an all-women Cabinet event in Edinburgh were the female ministers took questions from women representing more than 100 organisations.

Polls show women are less likely to support independence and Yes campaigners believe if they can convince a majority of women of the benefits then there will be a majority Yes vote in September.

Ms Sturgeon was joined by Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, Commonwealth Games and Sport Secretary, Shona Robison, Youth Employment Secretary, Angela Constance and Children's Minister, Aileen Campbell.

Ms Sturgeon said: "Being independent will mean being able to provide more financial security for households, by guaranteeing cost of living increases in pensions, tax credits and the minimum wage.

"And being independent will mean we can make life easier for young families by delivering a transformational increase in childcare.

"Independence will make possible all of these policies, and many more besides. At its heart, the case for independence is based on a simple but fundamental belief, a belief in the ability and talent of the people of Scotland.

"No-one else will ever do a better job of running our country than we will. Independence means decisions about Scotland will be taken by the people who care most about Scotland, by those of us who live here, work here, run businesses and raise children here."

With 100 days to go to the referendum, Blair Jenkins, chief executive of Yes Scotland said it was on course to sign up one million people to vote Yes, revealing it had reached 789,191 signatures

He said: "I think today's total is fantastic - it's an extraordinary thing in many ways.

"I am very confident we will hit that target, I know we will.

"We know that we will need almost two million people to vote Yes."

Mr Jenkins said he was aware the group needed many more signatories but said campaigning in disadvantaged communities was boosting their support.

He added: "This is a strong indication of support, but we know this is about people voting on the day."

"We are working much harder in communities where people had given up on politics and tuned out of the process, and correspondingly there were very low levels of turnout.

"What we are finding in those communities is they are going to vote in this referendum, and they will by a majority vote Yes."