International Women’s Day

This can only be the start, but challenging these stereotypes is essential to level up our country so that everyone has the opportunity to lead their lives as they wish. This year marks 50 years since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act. This landmark legislation was the culmination of years of campaigning by women who chose to take a stand against the injustice of being undervalued, underpaid and overlooked. While the machinists of Dagenham are undoubtedly the most famous, they did not fight alone. I applaud the tenacity of the women bringing forward recent cases, demonstrating that it remains a crucial enforcement tool, empowering women from all walks of life, many in lower-paid roles, to not only secure fair pay but to demand that their work be valued.

To assist similar women we have expanded free childcare for three and four year-olds to 30 hours a week and we have introduced shared parental leave so that parents can share the joy—and, yes, some of the less joyful bits—of their child’s early years, because childcare is not just a women’s issue: fathers are of course equally responsible for their families. I also acknowledge, as many of us in this House know very well, that the childcaring team often extends far beyond parents and formal childcare arrangements to dedicated, loving armies of aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers and just about every relation in between, so the offer of flexible working should be of great value to them.

As 60% of carers are women, the Government’s £6.6 million investment to support carers to remain in or return to work is an important step, and our manifesto shows that we are committed to go further. We will also introduce a dedicated entitlement to leave for unpaid carers of one week per year, to better support carers to balance work and care. A matter of celebration is the current record employment rate for women. It has increased by 37% over the past half-century, from 53% in 1971 to its current record 72.4%, and increases in full-time employment for women have contributed roughly 90% of the increase since these more detailed statistics began to be collected in 1992.

But I want us to be honest that this is not the case for all women. Women from ethnic minority backgrounds have lower employment rates than white women, with the lowest in the British Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups, where fewer than two-fifths of women are employed. That is why we are running mentoring circles around the country, involving national employers offering specialist support to the unemployed, young, ethnic minority jobseeker.

We need to use our sector deals to support women in underrepresented industries, such as the offshore wind sector, which has committed to women being a third of the workforce by 2030. More than 130 aviation and aerospace charter signatories are also giving sustained attention to building a more balanced, fairer industry for women.

The Government are determined to see more women leading UK businesses. If women chose to start and expand businesses at a similar level to that of men, we would add billions of pounds to our economy, so the Government will be taking actions, such as those recommended in the Alison Rose review, and I am encouraged to see examples such as RBS, which recently introduced a £1 billion fund to help women’s enterprise.

As well as work, however, we need to ensure that women’s rights, safety, freedom and dignity are recognised and respected. This Government are taking action to bring an end to sexual harassment in the workplace, including carrying out the largest ever survey on this topic in the UK so that we can finally understand the true picture of the problem, and design targeted solutions that will work. We have also committed to ensuring protections against third-party harassment; for instance, from customers or suppliers. I know that the vast majority of leaders across the world of work are with us in wanting to root out sexual harassment in the workplace.

Of course, it is not only in the workplace that safety is important. Regrettably, there has been an increase in the number of female victims of homicide over the past three years, as reported through the Femicide Census. We are determined to tackle this, and I am therefore proud of this Government’s commitment to the passage of the Domestic Abuse Bill. It will be landmark legislation that tackles an injustice affecting the lives of far too many people.

While we are making progress here in the UK, we have also been blazing a trail internationally. The Prime Minister’s first speech set out his ongoing commitment to ensuring that girls across the world have the right to 12 years of quality education, and I am delighted that this will be my noble friend Lady Sugg’s first time in a debate in your Lordships’ House as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Girls’ Education internationally. Noble Lords should bring their domestic concerns to me.

The UK is proud to have a strong track record of championing gender equality and women’s rights globally, evidenced by our efforts to uphold sexual and reproductive health rights, the national action plan to end violence against women and girls, DfID’s strategic vision for gender equality, and our cross-government global girls’ education campaign: Leave No Girl Behind.

The UK can learn a huge amount from other countries. For instance, Rwanda has gone above and beyond its constitutional commitments and has the highest percentage—more than 60%—of female parliamentarians in the world as of the latest elections in 2018. This translates into women holding more than 50% of cabinet positions in Rwanda.

As a woman of faith—the Christian faith—I am very conscious of the role that faith communities can and do play in gender equality. After all, 84% of people around the world self-identify as having a faith. Of course, faith communities can play different roles in different contexts. Some religious institutions and their leaderships can have an inhibiting impact on girls and women and the range of choices they are genuinely able to make, especially when it comes to working outside the home. To my mind, where faith is manipulated in this way, it really is not about faith at all, it is about power and patriarchy. What I see and applaud are the many examples of where faith goes hand in hand with rights, protections and, ultimately, social progress. For example, research funded by the UK Government has shown the incredibly positive roles that faith leaders have played to reduce violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We must not shy away from commending and critiquing the faith dynamic as we work for women’s equality at home and abroad.

I conclude by reiterating that I am proud to participate in today’s debate with so many staunch advocates of equality for women. I am proud to be part of this Government, and it is an honour to play my part in the work we are doing and will continue to do to fight for equality for women here in the UK and across the world. I beg to move.

It makes it very difficult to hold parties to account for their attitudes towards diversity. This is a way of ensuring that our elected institutions look like the people they represent, and that is what we should be aiming for. In line with our debate, advancing equalities for women everywhere, will the Minister agree to do all she can to ensure that Section 106 is enacted as soon as possible, because until now the Government—from 2010—have refused to act on this.

Where we have a good number of women elected, such as the Welsh Assembly, we do see a different agenda. For example, much legislation has been passed improving the lives of women and children. The first Children’s Commissioner was appointed in Wales and now we have them in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.

The first Commissioner for Older People in the world was appointed in Wales and there is only one other; in Northern Ireland. The first Future Generations Commissioner was appointed in Wales in 2015, which is working very well. Indeed, we have the Second Reading of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill, promoted by Lord Bird, on Friday. I hope that the Government will be supporting it. Sixteen and 17-year-olds will be allowed to vote for the first time in elections in Wales. This shows that there is a different agenda when there is a good number of women in our elected institutions.

I am pleased to see the Domestic Abuse Bill has started its passage in the House of Commons. It has been a long time coming. The Minister will be aware that, although it has been welcomed by many organisations, they feel that the Bill may be lacking in some areas and there are concerns it does not go far enough. So can the Minister give a guarantee that the Istanbul Convention will be ratified once the Act has been passed and that it fully complies with the provisions of the Istanbul Convention, including explicit recognition of the gendered nature of domestic abuse and its disproportionate impact on women, and ensuring the protection of all women without discrimination on any grounds, including race, religion, nationality, or migrant or refugee status. All this has been promised for some time now.

The voice of women’s organisations in the United Kingdom was lost to a large extent when the coalition Government in 2010 disbanded the Women’s National Commission, although the Government at the time said it would be taken in-house with the Government Equalities Office having the responsibility. However, nothing is now heard about that and the Equalities Office cannot possibly be doing the work that the WNC carried out. Perhaps the Minister could tell the House what is happening in this field. The WNC was an asset to the United Kingdom. It comprised more than 650 women’s organisations and provided different Governments over a period of 40 years with a great link to the women of the United Kingdom. It was the voice of women to government. Unfortunately, that voice has been lost.

Are the Government prepared to look at this again and reconsider the decision of the coalition Government? I will be very happy to have any discussions with the Minister and I can assure her it will be most welcome to the women’s organisations of the United Kingdom.

We know that women have made advances over the years. We certainly have more opportunities than women of past generations and most of us have the freedom to live our life as we choose. As we mark International Women’s Day, I pay tribute to the work of women in the United Kingdom: those who give their time to care for others, such as grandparents who look after their grandchildren, thus allowing their own children to pursue their careers; those who care for sick partners with little financial reward, and whose wonderful work is often barely recognised, certainly by the state; all the women who work for charities, including those who run charity shops, all of whom are volunteers raising money for their charity; women who are involved in their church, doing all sorts of work; and the women we all know in our political parties who make sure that the machine keeps working but who never seek any political reward.

However, I am thinking particularly of two women I know who work in the field of domestic abuse, and I pay tribute to them today. Rachel Williams and Charlotte Kneer have both been victims of domestic abuse over many years, but they have turned their lives around and now work to help other women who suffer from domestic abuse. Rachel campaigns tirelessly and is committed to ending this abuse. She has four successful petitions on Change.org, with a combined half a million signatures. She is now a qualified independent domestic violence adviser, and she also runs an online awareness Facebook page called Don’t Look Back. She has also written a book about her experience. If noble Lords have not read it, it is available in the Lords Library and I recommend it.

Charlotte is now the chief executive of Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid refuge. I have visited it and am in absolute awe of the work that she does, giving women and their children their lives back. She adopts a holistic approach and provides women with the skills they need after suffering years of domestic abuse. Both are strong women and role models, providing support for women going through the trauma of domestic abuse.

Finally, I acknowledge the achievements of the women and girls who went on strike in 1888 at the Bryant & May factory in Bow. The match-girls’ strike is considered a key date in the history of trade unionism, as demonstrated by Henry Snell’s observation in 1936 that

“the matchgirls’ strike had an influence ... which entitles it to be regarded as one of the most important events in the history of labour organisation in any country.”

They were such brave women, leading the way for all women to get involved in the trade union movement and improving the lives of many women who worked at that time, as well as all those who followed.

We have made progress. There is still a long way to go and I trust that legislation that this Government will bring before us will go some way towards achieving equality for women everywhere.

Many in this Chamber will have taken on caring responsibilities for children and, perhaps, later in life for an elderly parent, as I have. These responsibilities, of course, inevitably limit individual freedom of choice, but do not force a lifetime of living in poverty. Why has society accepted that those who care for others may also be condemned to a life of grinding poverty? Why has radical change not occurred?

History often provides clues as to the way in which social change comes about. Sometimes a major shift in public attitudes has been the result of the actions of an individual. Elizabeth Fry was one such person. In the early 19th century, her crusade to improve the plight of women and their children in Newgate prison led to a series of reforms that radically changed society’s perception of both prisoners and prisons. Elizabeth Fry had a comfortable early life with parents who were bankers. Rosa Parks had a much poorer start to her life but she too sparked radical change. Her courageous refusal to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama to a white person, as were the rules in 1950s America, inspired the civil rights movement.

The match-girls’ strike in 1888 was the collective determination of a small group of girls, most of whom were teenagers. I have the badge to prove it. Part of their job making matches involved dipping the splints into phosphorous. From this practice many of them suffered phossy jaw—a type of bone cancer. Their conditions of work were appalling and their pay lower than even the norm for the time. The success of their strike action was hugely significant. It showed that unskilled workers could unite to improve their working conditions. The match girls were the forerunners of unions for unskilled workers and the laws for workers’ rights that followed.

Whether it is collective action—as in the case of the match girls—or individual courage and determination, change is possible. Why, though, has it taken such selfless acts to make change happen? One reason is that all these women were making their mark at a time when men alone were making public policy. Perhaps the strongest argument for diversity of every hue among our decision-makers is that only then is there a much better understanding of the lot of people throughout our society.

Many women who take on caring responsibilities today are not getting the recognition their dedication merits. Can this be the consequence of the gender make-up of our political decision-makers? As we have already heard, only 34% of current MPs are women. In the international league table of women in national parliaments, the UK is well down in 39th place. The picture is similar in local government, with just 36% of councillors being women and a much smaller proportion in leadership roles. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the lot of women in poverty has not been given the prominence it deserves. Advancing the equality of women everywhere has to include tackling the grave inequality that the women I have described suffer. The question, therefore, in this debate to celebrate the role of women is: who will take up their cause? When will change come for the women in our country who are living in poverty because of what they do to care for others? Perhaps the Minister can give us a response to that big question of our time.

I am chancellor of the University of Birmingham. In the 1950s my mother studied at the University of Birmingham and every day she went to classes wearing her sari.

The Minister spoke about women outperforming men. Well, 59% of our undergraduates are female and —wait for this—88.7% of female undergraduate students were awarded 2:1s or first-class degrees compared with 83.8% male undergraduate students. Also, 54% of our staff are female. But there is the pay gap—our average hourly pay-rate for women was 19.1% lower mean or 19.6% lower median, although this has decreased. The university has institutional targets to achieve 30% female representation of professors, as well as of senior researchers, senior lecturers and readers. In 2019, 27.5% of our professors and 39.8% of our senior researchers, senior lecturers and readers were female. So, we are working and conducting research on the UN global goals, including goal 5:

“Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

When it comes to companies, in 2010, women made up only 12.5% of the members of corporate boards and FTSE 100 companies; this was up from 9.4% in 2004. In 2010, Dame Helena Morrissey, a university contemporary of mine from Cambridge, founded the 30% Club setting a target of 30% women on FTSE 100 boards. We have made a lot of progress on this. We then had the Davies review in 2011, which set a target of 25% female representation by 2015, and now women hold a third of board positions in the UK’s top public companies. The latest data shows that one of the two targets set by the Government’s Hampton-Alexander review has been hit: women filling 33% of board seats in the top 350 UK listed companies by the end of this year. But the review is struggling to achieve its second main aim of having 33% of women in the leadership teams of firms listed in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. The boardroom target has been achieved voluntarily; that is the thing—there has been no legislation on this. However, the Hampton-Alexander review highlighted a lack of female representation in senior leadership and executive roles, with women making up only 15% of FTSE 100 directors.

I am proud to chair the advisory board of the Cambridge Judge Business School. Very sadly, one of our professors, Sucheta Nadkarni, passed away in October 2019. She was a real force at the business school, and director of the Cambridge Wo+Men’s Leadership Centre. The centre has done amazing work, including on the Cambridge Rising Women Leaders Programme, which has shown that diversity in senior leadership encourages innovation, improves decision-making, reduces corporate misconduct and improves financial returns. We are witnessing great strides, although there is still so much work to do. Positive progress has been made, with the number of female executives globally set to rise by 36%. This centre has amazing courses that are oversubscribed year after year.

I am also proud to be ambassador for the British Library’s Business and IP Centre. We have seen there very clearly that the business landscape in the UK continues to be dominated by men, with only 20% of businesses nationwide owned by women and fewer than 5% by ethnic minority women. The Minister mentioned the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, which estimated that if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men, this could add up to £250 billion to the value of the economy. We are doing our best to help all this. However, only 6.6% of women are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and, globally, we are still battling an average 32% gender pay gap.

India, where I was born, had a woman Prime Minister in Indira Gandhi well before we had Margaret Thatcher over here. Although we have had two Chancellors of the Exchequer, one after the other, who are British Asians—my friends Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak—India had its first female Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, last year. We are yet to have a female Chancellor of the Exchequer in this country. An American consultancy firm, Korn Ferry, found in its research a few years ago that women outperform men in 11 of 12 key emotional intelligence competencies.

For me, International Women’s Day is also an opportunity to count my blessings—to thank my lucky stars that I was born with the golden lottery ticket of living in this free and democratic country, with opportunities and a level of equality that women in developing countries can only dream about. I really welcome the Government’s emphasis on education for girls in developing countries, which not only changes their lives and their communities, but also enriches their countries. I am sure we will hear more about this from the Minister. I too congratulate her on her recent appointment as Special Envoy for Girls’ Education.

As this has been yet another election year, noble Lords will not be surprised that I focus my remarks today to reflect and update the House on where we are with women MPs. When Theresa May and I founded Women2Win in 2005, nearly 15 years ago, she was one of only 17 Conservative women MPs. When she was elected in the Blair landslide of 1997, there were just 13 Conservative women MPs, with 101 women on the Government Benches. That was 9% of the Conservative parliamentary party—or, to put it another way, the Conservative parliamentary party was 91% male. Can we imagine for a moment how that looked? Roll forward two more elections, in 2001 and 2005, and what progress had been made on our side? None. I felt ashamed, embarrassed and annoyed that my party did not seem to think it mattered. We seemed no longer to be the party of women voters, and we certainly were not the party of women MPs. Thankfully, after two strides forward, in 2015 and then again last December, things have improved and we Conservatives are now up to 87 women MPs. The additional 37 are very welcome, especially by the women MPs who until the election were very thinly stretched, resulting, for example, in male Ministers answering debates about the menopause.

Between the 2015 and 2019 elections, there was an increase of 81% in the number of Conservative women MPs. If we can keep that pace up over the next three elections, the job will be done and I can retire and close down Women2Win, which will no longer be needed. Across the House of Commons, numbers are at a record high, with 220 female MPs elected in December, reaching a total of 34%—the highest percentage in either Chamber to date—and moving us up the international rankings. The 50:50 Parliament campaign has played a part, with its #AskHerToStand campaign, as have other stakeholders. However, as we recognise this modest but welcome increase in numbers, we also need to recognise that there is still much to do to normalise women’s participation in political life.

I was delighted to host a new event in the Westminster calendar yesterday, launching the first “Women in Westminster: The 100”, which celebrates the achievements of and valuable role played by women in public life by recognising 100 high-profile women from the world of Westminster. That focuses not just on MPs and Peers, but on inspirational and talented women from across politics and public service, such as Permanent Secretaries, political journalists, campaigners and activists. In choosing the list, all of us judges were struck by the number of women rising up the ranks across Westminster and in related professions. I hope this list will inspire the next generation of women to begin their journeys, and that we will see many of them featured on that list of 100 in years to come.

Violence against women affects every sphere of life, as we have heard. There are many groups, across different faiths and around the world, committed to gender justice and using their voices to be part of the solution, such as Side by Side, a growing global movement. Just last week, I was delighted to be alongside a passionate group of women—including Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner—at the launch of the Faith and Violence against Women and Girls Coalition, here in the UK. I am looking forward to the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Bill in your Lordships’ House, and to constructive discussions about that legislation, including proper intervention support for children of domestic abuse and migrant women. Anyone of any age and in any circumstances suffering domestic abuse deserves appropriate support and a path to safety. Much of what we are talking about today is rooted in women and girls being valued and being able to value themselves.

Before I finish, I want to touch on one final area: women in the criminal justice system. A high percentage of these women have experienced some form of abuse themselves. Self-esteem is usually very low, and we know that for many of these women, specific provision in the community—particularly in women’s centres—is far more effective in the transformation of lives and reducing crime.

As I have said in your Lordships’ House before, I serve as bishop to women’s prisons and am president of the Nelson Trust. I welcome the Government’s production of a female offender strategy in June 2018, which encouraged trauma-informed and gender-sensitive provision. None the less, the strategy is grossly under- funded and the £5 million of funding for community provision over two years will run out in June. I hope the spending review takes account of the potential financial benefits of community alternatives to custody for women, notwithstanding their effectiveness for rehabilitation and wider society.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let us celebrate the progress made but not lose sight of the work still to be done. That takes me back to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 25 years ago. I look forward now to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Ranger.

Sadly, our father was assassinated at the young age of 42 when trying to save students of a local school who had taken part in a procession opposing the division of India but got caught in communal riots. Our father managed to save the students but lost his life for Hindu-Muslim unity in India. I am a posthumous child; I was born 20 days after the death of our illustrious father.

My life began in a refugee camp in India, without a father but with a remarkable mother. Our mother was widowed at the young age of just 35, with seven children. I was born 20 days later, taking our number to eight, with the oldest being 14. She had lost her country, ancestral home and husband, and whatever could go wrong for her, did. She was told by her family to put us all in an orphanage, as it would be challenging to manage eight of us on her own in a new country without a husband or family wealth. She refused to give up her children and accepted what fate had thrown at her. Luckily, she was educated at a time when many did not teach their girls, and was thus able to gain employment at a local primary school.

Our future would have been very different if our mother had not been educated. She brought us up through immense difficulties. Her words to us were, “You may starve, but you will study”. The result: five of her sons became commissioned officers in the Indian Army, and she received the title of the “Proudest Indian Mother” for having her sons serve in the defence of India.

I am most proud to have established businesses which have won six Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in International Trade, five of them consecutively: an unprecedented achievement. My companies sustain thousands of British jobs through their export activities and have connected Britain through trade with over 100 countries.

It is unfortunate that even today, we live in a world where there is not full gender equality. In many parts of the world, women are still prevented from studying or going to work. I say, “Those who do not treat women as equals become unequal themselves in the world”. Even though there are laws preventing gender inequality, there is still a gender pay gap that persists in the UK and across the globe. Why is it that women in many countries are worse off than men in terms of jobs and education? Women probably work harder and longer hours than men. More importantly, as my life shows, if a husband dies prematurely as my father did, he may leave behind a woman who is unable to deal with our uncaring world, and a mother who is unable to provide for her children. My mother’s resilience and ability shaped the lives of eight children, 19 grand- children and 27 great-grandchildren.

Educating girls is not just good for the girl; it also marks the end of poverty for her family, her children, her community and eventually her country. We must not underestimate the power of educated girls, as what they experience themselves they can impart to their children. As a Member of this noble House, I pledge my time and resources to support eradicating the mistreatment and gender inequality suffered by women across the globe. I pay tribute to vital initiatives such as International Women’s Day, which helps to highlight the achievements of women across the world as well as the challenges they face.

Finally, I would like to thank the three wonderful women who shaped my destiny: first, my mother, who never gave up and never gave in, no matter what fate threw at her. She could easily have abandoned us and remarried, as she was young, intelligent and beautiful, but she dedicated her life to her children and made each of us an asset to society. She also instilled in us the right values, which became the bedrock of our success. Secondly, I thank my beautiful, intelligent, educated and hard-working wife, who has always stood by me. She worked for the MoD and HMRC, and with her financial help we could offer the best education to our three beautiful daughters. She has been the bedrock of my success. Our eldest daughter is Councillor Reena Ranger OBE, who also runs an organisation dedicated to empowering women. Our second daughter is an accomplished NHS doctor who has completed her research in haematology. Our youngest daughter is a scholarship holder from LSE who worked for Google and PwC before joining one of our companies, and who has become an integral part of its success. Thirdly, I thank the former Prime Minister, the right honourable Theresa May, who ennobled me in her resignation honours list. Without the support of these wonderful women, I would not be standing here today as a proud man.

Let my life’s story always remind you of the strength of women. In the words of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith:

“From woman, man is born; within woman, man is conceived; to woman he is engaged and married … When his woman dies, he seeks another woman; to woman he is bound. So why consider her inferior? From her, Kings and Prophets are born … without woman, there would be no one at all.”

I thank noble Lords for being part of my maiden speech.

What can we do about it? Our findings from the Lords AI Select Committee were simple. If we want more gender-neutral outcomes from our algorithms, we need more gender-neutral inputs. In other words, we need more women coders, programmers, data scientists and analysts. We need more women in tech. This needs to happen now. It needs to happen before more data-driven technology businesses build huge data lakes and create products and services that discriminate against women and minorities—even if it is inadvertent.

It will be a challenge. Statistics from PwC’s Women in Tech programme state that just 3% of women are considering a career in tech, 78% cannot name a famous woman in tech and only 5% of leadership positions in tech are held by women. In engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s latest gender pay gap report states that there is a serious diversity deficit, with a workforce that is still only 12% female.

How do we address this? Technology is not a niche sector: it is everywhere and will change everything. But technology can be a force for good only if it is fair, transparent and equitable. Yes, opportunities abound, but only if we build the right foundations, and women must be part of that.

Last year, I was fortunate to address the inspiring Women in Data UK organisation: more than 1,200 women who recognise not only the profound opportunity of the data economy but the essential opportunity that women have to be an integral part of it. They want analytics and diversity to be top of the agenda, and they are using case studies and mentorship to encourage and enable more women to pursue careers in data science. There are currently four male data scientists to every one woman.

Imagine how much more we can achieve if we work together, and how much more we can achieve with education and mentorship. There is sound economic justification for increasing female participation at every level in every industry, and there is a moral and societal obligation to ensure that the world of data science has proportional representation. It is imperative that children at every level of education cultivate an interest in STEM. To do this, we must demonstrate how STEM can empower girls, women and gender-diverse individuals to be agents of change.

I commend the steps that the Government have taken in providing funding for 2,500 AI and data science conversion degrees, with 1,000 of them scholarships for people from underrepresented groups. There is £5 million to drive innovation in adult learning and £13.5 million for new master’s conversion courses and scholarships at academic institutions. Whether it is girls in school or women looking at a career change or professional development, the opportunities are emerging.

Encouragingly, academic institutions are similarly responding to the challenge. I commend the contribution and ambition of Edinburgh University in this important field. It has a target of 100,000 individuals to be certified in data science-related subjects in the next decade—and this is just part of what is happening at one institution. The UK is leveraging its leading position in academia to stay ahead in data, AI and other emerging technologies.

We must celebrate the role of women in the economy and society, but we must also recognise that we have more to do. As the pace of change accelerates, we must embrace the challenges and the opportunities. Data and AI’s time has come and women have a vital role to play. If we act now, we can achieve it.