My Lords, I am delighted that the noble Baroness, Lady Casey of Blackstock, has chosen this debate in which to make her maiden speech. She has worked tirelessly over the last 30 years in an extraordinary career dedicated to public service and helping others; she is truly a worthy addition to your Lordships’ House. I am sure that all noble Lords look forward with great interest to what she has to say.
It gives me great pleasure to open this year’s International Women’s Day debate. This day is celebrated all over the world in different ways, and I am pleased that we are recognising it in your Lordships’ House today. International Women’s Day is an opportunity to reflect on the vital contribution that women make across different spheres—political, cultural, social and economic—while also recognising that work still needs to be done to ensure the safety, security, equality and empowerment of women around the world.
The theme of today’s International Women’s Day is “Inspire Inclusion”. Inclusion is not about women being present—being in the room. How often are women in the room, but, frankly, not really expected to speak? Inclusion should mean women actually feeling able to express an opinion, playing a key part in the decision-making process at all levels of an organisation, government and across society. It means women—more women—becoming leaders. Yet, globally, women continue to be excluded from any level of the labour market, and when they are employed, they work longer hours for less pay—on average 20% less, in fact. Women represent only 30% of entrepreneurs and receive just 4% of financing. There is still much to be done for women’s inclusion, real inclusion, to be fully realised.
I turn first to international policy and aid. The UK has long been a global champion of women’s rights, and many Members of your Lordships’ House have been and continue to be at the forefront of that work; I look forward to their contributions today. Women’s rights are most under threat when they live in a country at war. We have witnessed that in Ukraine, where Russia’s illegal invasion has led to millions of families being displaced and a sharp rise in poverty. My thoughts are with the millions of women and girls who have suffered in the two years and two weeks since that conflict began. The UK continues to stand with Ukraine. The fiscal support the UK is providing contributes to maintaining public services, and our humanitarian funding protects the needs of the most vulnerable, including women and girls—for example, by supporting survivors of gender-based violence. Conflicts such as these throw into sharp relief the importance of legislation that facilitates the economic and social inclusion of women, both domestically and worldwide.
We continue to uphold our International Development (Gender Equality) Act, which sets out a legal requirement to consider gender equality in how we provide official development assistance. We continue to look at ways we can go further to prioritise women and girls in our international work. To set out an agenda that puts women and girls centre stage, we published the international women and girls strategy in March last year and the international development White Paper in November. As set out in the White Paper, our target in the UK is for at least 80% of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s bilateral aid programmes to have a focus on gender equality by 2030.
My Peers, I am very pleased to be speaking in this International Women’s Day debate today, especially as it is on 8 March—the first time for a good number of years that the debate has been on the very day. With so many speakers, I am sure that we will get a wide range of views. As the Minister said, we are all looking forward to the maiden speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Casey.
This debate is looking at
“the steps taken to promote the economic inclusion of women”,
but how do we get to that stage and what are the barriers? The United Nations has said:
“Women’s economic empowerment is essential to achieving women’s rights and gender equality. Women’s economic empowerment means ensuring women can equally participate in and benefit from decent work and social protection; access markets and have control over resources, their own time, lives, and bodies; and increased voice, agency, and meaningful participation in economic decision-making at all levels from the household to international institutions”.
That sums it up very nicely. We need more women in positions of power for women to achieve economic and financial freedom. Getting women into positions of power in all walks of life, such as politics, business, public bodies, sport and the arts, is the way forward. Unfortunately, there are many barriers, such as sexism, misogyny and bullying in the workforce, that can prevent women progressing upward in the workplace, as recent reports have shown. The “Today” programme this morning featured three separate instances of sexism and misogyny against women in the workplace.
Where are women in the political life of the UK? Things have certainly improved in terms of getting more women into the House of Commons. Today there are 226 women MPs, who make up 35% of all MPs. But since 1918 only 564 women have been elected as MPs, compared with 4,752 men; that is quite a difference. Where there is a good number of women in elected institutions, there is a different agenda. Wales is an example. Women make up 43% of the Senedd Cymru, the Welsh Parliament. I am proud to say that in the Labour group in the Senedd there have always been more women than men. That came about because Labour took positive action when the Welsh Assembly was established in 1999, ensuring that women would play a big role in this new institution. The majority of the Cabinet at the moment are women, not for the first time.
My Lords, I am glad that we have a debate for International Women’s Day and I thank the Minister for opening it. It was not always like this: the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, will recall her battles in the Labour period to ensure that we had this debate. I and some others joined her in that. I then needed to do the same in the coalition, and I said, “It’s automatic, or it should be”. As a Minister, I found myself opening or winding on several of these debates—which have become automatic. We owe a lot to the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, for making sure that this is the case.
As we heard, this debate is still very much needed. I am delighted that the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, has decided to give her maiden speech today. I need to insert a wild card here; I hope to be here all the way through. Anyone taking part in the debate knows that they must be here for the winding speeches, and will want to hear the answers to their points; but, on this International Women’s Day, my daughter is expecting a baby—a baby girl, we understand, but who knows? What is more, she sees her midwife at 11.30 this morning, who may hurry things along. For some reason known only to my daughter, she thinks that I am calm in a crisis. If things do move along, she wants me on hand. I am delighted and honoured to do my best to assist, although with some trepidation—but do not mention it to her.
Maybe this is a case in point. It has traditionally been women who have taken on key caring roles, and that has had an impact on their economic position. Much else flows from that. It will be my daughter who takes the lion’s share of parental leave. My son-in-law’s allowance is less generous; at least he gets leave—it used not to be the case—but it is not yet equality. What we need is properly paid parental leave for both parents. It is no accident that this has been happening in Scandinavian countries; that is where there is the best gender equality.
My Lords, it is an absolute pleasure to follow that terrific speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Northover. On behalf of all of us, I am sure, I welcome granddaughter Northover into the world on this extremely auspicious day. I am also thrilled that the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, is making her maiden speech, and I look forward to it. I know I have not very many minutes, but I will try to cover as many things as I can.
What becomes clear, listening to this, and I am sure will become clearer during the day, is that women are still doing the caring and childcare and are not paid for it. I go back 50 years to Spare Rib—I know I have done this before, but I will do it again. One very fundamental thing happened then. When we wrote the original editorial, we said that the gender divide was just as tough for men as for women, that women have to support 2.2 children for the rest of their lives with their two weeks holiday, et cetera. We dropped that within about a fortnight because it became clear that it was women’s stuff, and women’s equality was so huge.
In those 50 years, we have expanded the role of women. I stand here. We all stand here. Effectively, we can be barristers, lawyers, doctors, solicitors, mothers and everything. We never did anything about the role of men. It was very interesting. We said, “We want all the sexy stuff in your life, and we want you to take out the trash”. This was a very bad equation. It seems that what has happened is that men are very frozen in their roles. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, I have a lot of connections with Denmark: my sister lives there. Economically, men get paid to care. The moment you are in a capitalist system, what you get paid for matters, and what you do not get paid for is kicked into the long grass. This is what happens now. In effect, we have not changed at all in this respect.
I was thinking about things that have gone well and things that have gone badly. As all noble Lords know, I work in food politics. I want to announce that, from Sunday, there will be a Mothers Manifesto hunger strike taking place across the road. This is on behalf of lots of groups of mothers, because guess who is skipping meals in this cost of living crisis? It is not the blokes—I am sorry, but it is not. One in four mothers in this country is currently skipping a meal. But 50 years ago, nobody skipped a meal. I am not saying it was all fun and roses, but we certainly did not skip meals. If someone had said to me, “In 50 years’ time, you’re going to stand up in Westminster and talk about food poverty”, I would have said that they were bonkers. But I met the mothers about the hunger strike just yesterday—all my examples are from the last few days. Last week, I was with a head teacher who said, “I noticed this curious pattern about a girl in the sixth form: she came into school only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This went on for a while, and I asked her teacher, who said, ‘Yes, it’s very, very weird’.” They found out that she and her mother had only one pair of shoes. It was not the boy with his father; it was the mother.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for opening today’s important debate. I also say how much I am looking forward to the maiden speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey. I have long been an admirer of her work, her determination, her advocacy, and the way that her work has really made a difference in people’s lives—so thank you.
Today and this debate give us an opportunity to reflect, to pause and to remember the women who lost their lives in pursuit of equality for women, those women who are in the midst of war and conflict, and those women who face sexual violence and general domestic violence as an everyday reality. It is also an important moment to celebrate and honour the achievements of women around the world.
In the short time available to me, I will speak not on international matters, as I generally do, but will touch on inequalities in our healthcare provision, particularly with regard to women’s health, more specifically black women’s health, which has a sustained and long-term impact on their well-being and quality of life, as well as a significant impact on our economy and on economic inclusion. I am extremely grateful to Dr Jenny Douglas, a senior lecturer at the Open University, with whom I have debated and discussed these issues over many years. She is a lifelong and passionate advocate for black women’s health.
There is a wealth of data out there from the WHO, the Institute of Health Equity, and the King’s Fund, on these health inequalities. They identify issues around life expectancy, premature death and disability, productivity losses, the direct cost to the NHS and other welfare services and reduced taxes. There are all these economic impacts, but let us always remember the well-being and welfare impact of these inequalities on women. These are significant consequences to our economy.
The Women’s Health Strategy was published in August 2022, and identified that:
My Lords, I begin by welcoming the distinguished noble Baroness, Lady Casey; like others, I look forward to hearing her maiden speech. In preparing for this debate, I came across an article on the history of women’s employment in the Civil Service. I learned that it was only in 1869 that women were, for the first time, employed by the British Government. This was occasioned by the Government’s acquisition of the nascent inland telegraph industry and with it a number of female telegraphists who became employees of the General Post Office and hence civil servants.
The following year, the Postmaster General introduced women clerks elsewhere in the organisation. In summarising his reasons for this, he said that “They”—by which he meant women—
“take more kindly than men or boys to sedentary employment and are more patient during long confinement to one place … Women are less disposed to get together to extort higher wages … Women will not require increases related to length of service as they will retire for the purpose of getting married as soon as they get the chance … There will also be fewer women than men on the pension list”.
I was led to the conclusion that he did not get the memo about the financial inclusion of women, but he had opened the door for more women to attain higher-status employment.
However, married women were still disbarred from working in the Civil Service. The marriage bar was not abolished until 1946 for the home Civil Service and, amazingly as it may seem, 1973 for the foreign service. Of course, as has already been pointed out by the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, it was only during my childhood in the 1970s that legislation was passed making it unlawful to discriminate against women in the workplace and giving women the right to equal pay.
However, whatever progress has been made, we need to remember that many women in this country are still subject to significant economic and financial insecurity and economic disadvantage. As has been pointed out by others, caring responsibilities, childcare costs, social pressures and mores and working hours and work patterns all still play a part in keeping women in this country out of the workforce or out of better-paid roles.
My Lords, I thank all noble Baronesses for their work in this House and in their communities. I warm-heartedly welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, to this Chamber and look forward to hearing from her. I also want to acknowledge my mother’s strength and tenacity. Today, my sister, my daughter, my granddaughter and I stand tall because of her journey, courage and sacrifice.
In my contribution today, I wish to highlight the importance of protesting and marches. I have just returned from Bangladesh. I wish to pay homage to the women and men who rose to the call of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 7 March 1971 for a free, independent nation. My mother led, walking in the streets of Bangladesh to demand freedom and justice from the then occupying Pakistani army. Bangladesh today is a thriving nation and fast-emerging economy. The UK Government are much loved and respected for their earliest recognition of its independence and their ongoing support.
The number of women who were raped and tortured at that time is estimated at over 300,000. The USA kept silent on that genocide and stood with the occupiers and barbaric genocidal army. To this day, that army has not been brought to justice or made accountable. It pains me to say that the US has continued its blinkered support to some nations. I find it heartbreaking that it has continued to show callous disregard for human rights and justice in nations where it provides weapons of war.
As a daughter born of that nation, and as a Londoner for more than 50 years, I have marched many times since, demanding an end to the war in Iraq, better NHS services and so on.
As noble Lords have noted, some progress has been made for women throughout the centuries. I draw the attention of the House to the first UK women’s liberation March, commencing on 6 March 1971, when over 4,000 women participated on the streets, demanding equal and universal rights for women. Today, this has evolved to become a 1 million-strong women’s rights movement, demanding the right to live in freedom from the fear of violence, rape, torture, sexual and physical abuse, and, of course, the universal right to participate in public life.
My Lords, I remind the House that while this is a wonderful debate, we have a six-minute advisory speaking time for a reason: so that we can hear the Minister properly later and finish at an appropriate time.
My Lords, I am so pleased to be here celebrating International Women’s Day with all my friends and colleagues in this House. I welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, whose work I have admired for many years. I look forward to her maiden speech so much.
I am delighted that this year’s International Women’s Day theme centres on investing in women, a topic close to my heart. It is gratifying to see the House focus its attention on this crucial subject. We are all aware of the benefits associated with investing in women’s health, education and economic opportunities. Women’s increased economic participation in their ownership and management of productive assets not only accelerates development but alleviates poverty, diminishes inequalities and enhances children’s well-being. Women typically invest a larger portion of their earnings in their families and communities compared to men. Moreover, providing girls with even a few years of primary education improves economic prospects, reduces family size and boosts children’s access to education.
However, realising these benefits hinges on robust investment. Women, particularly in developing nations, require access to comprehensive credit, banking and financial services to fully develop their assets. This, again, was promised at the meeting of Finance Ministers of the G20. While formal education empowers girls, ensuring they have equitable access to educational opportunities is paramount, especially considering the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on girls’ education.
Recent reports from reputable institutions such as the World Bank and the World Economic Forum underscore persistent global gender inequalities. The widening gender pay gap in the UK between 2022 and 2023—reports have recently been published on this, including this morning—and the projected 131 years to achieve global gender parity, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, are alarming. These statistics signal regression rather than progress in women’s rights worldwide.
20 of 77 shown
The White Paper also announced a new global campaign for women’s economic empowerment, which will drive forward global efforts to ensure that every woman has the equal right to decent work, the freedom of safe work of her choice and the resources to reach her potential. A key part of that is integrating gender equality into our economic diplomacy, which means leading by example to create meaningful jobs for women and identifying evidence-based solutions to expand women’s voices.
A strategy that focuses on women and girls has many benefits. The evidence shows that investing in women and breaking down the barriers they face accelerates international development. That is why British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution, continues to champion “gender-smart investing” and why it has pledged that 25% of its new investments in the period 2022-26 will focus on supporting women’s economic empowerment. In Bangladesh, for example, BII is providing a $52 million loan for the construction of a greenfield manufacturing facility, which will support new business growth in the manufacturing sector. The loan is expected to create 1,000 jobs, and 50% of these will be held by women.
Building on this, the SheTrades Commonwealth programme helps to provide women-led businesses with various elements of support, including technical assistance, networking and support from specialised business support organisations. With UK funding, SheTrades Outlook is a unique global online platform that tracks and compares countries’ progress on trade and gender equality, sharing good practice and lessons learned and promoting women’s economic empowerment.
Ideally, different policy goals must work in tandem. Later this month we are hosting a dialogue at Wilton Park on “Building Women’s Economic Empowerment into Climate Transitions”, which will bring together key actors—academics, civil society, multilateral institutions, the Government and the private sector—to explore how we can build women’s economic empowerment into the green growth agenda. The UK Government will continue to use the full weight of our diplomatic and development offer to put women and girls, in all their diversity, at the heart of everything we do.
Turning now to the domestic front and gender equality in the UK, it is encouraging to see that the gender pay gap across UK employees fell in 2022 to 14.3%, a fall of 3% over the past three years. Transparency is a key tool in tackling the gender pay gap. Back in 2017, some seven years ago, the Government introduced regulations requiring large employers to publish the differences in average salaries and bonuses for men and women. It happens to be the first piece of legislation that I took through your Lordships’ House.
These regulations have been effective, motivating employers to scrutinise their approach and improve equality in the workplace. But a key driver of the gender pay gap is lower levels of female participation in the workforce, accounting for around half the gap, which widens in the 20 years after the first child in a family is born. We know that high childcare costs present a real challenge for many women when weighing up whether or when to go back to work, and how many hours they can work when they have young children to look after.
We are dealing with this head-on through the Government’s tax-free childcare scheme for working parents. For every £8 that parents pay into their childcare accounts, the Government will add £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 in top-up per year. This applies to each child up to the age of 11. For children with disabilities, the maximum amount of government top-up is £4,000, until the child is 16.
Building on this, at the Spring Budget last year, the Government announced the biggest ever investment in childcare in England by providing eligible working parents with 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks per year. Parents can access this from when the child is nine months old until they begin school. This expansion in early years entitlement is worth an estimated £1.7 billion in the financial year 2024-25. As a result, we expect that 1.5 million mothers will increase the hours they work by 2027-28 and that around 60,000 more will enter the employment sector. At the Spring Budget this week, we confirmed that the Government are guaranteeing the hourly rate paid to childcare providers to deliver the free hours offer, which will give childcare providers the confidence to invest in expansion.
Alongside support with childcare, workplaces must offer their employees flexibility in how and when they work. Flexibility benefits women and men, but we must recognise that women still bear more of the childcare workload and face particular challenges in balancing their professional aspirations with family responsibilities. But it does not have to be this way. If we embrace adaptability in working arrangements, dismantle the rigid structures that have historically hindered women’s career progression and, in turn, offer an environment where talent, not time spent in the office sitting at a desk, is the currency of value, it will have a transformative effect on women’s inclusion.
That is why this Government have introduced the right to request flexible working from day one of an individual’s employment. This will come into force on 6 April this year and will bring around 2.6 million additional employees in scope of this entitlement. We have also passed the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act, which includes measures that support people who wish to discuss flexible working arrangements with their employer. These discussions are important, as we know that the extent to which flexible working is suitable will depend on both the individual’s and the business’s circumstances, so we want employers and employees to come to the arrangement that works for both parties. This will benefit fathers as well as mothers, giving them the opportunity to do their part in the home; and, more broadly, flexible working can lead to more diverse leadership, the development of innovative service and products, and more resilient organisations.
Further, we are committed to supporting pregnant women and new parents who wish to participate in the labour market. So, the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 extends the existing redundancy protections that currently apply to those on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave. From 6 April, these protections will also cover the period of pregnancy and a period of time after that. This means that employers are obliged to offer a suitable alternative vacancy where one is available, giving women on maternity leave or who have recently returned from maternity leave priority over other employees who are also at risk of redundancy. This same protection applies to parents taking adoption leave or shared parental leave.
Additionally, the Government announced new measures in Wednesday’s Spring Budget to help parents balance work with looking after their children. From April, the Government will raise the threshold for the high income child benefit charge—HICBC—to £60,000, taking 170,000 families out of paying this tax charge. The Government are also raising the top of the taper at which child benefit is withdrawn to £80,000. This will reduce the marginal tax rate, which will improve people’s incentives to continue working or take up more hours. The OBR estimates that, as a result, those already working will increase their hours by a total equivalent to around 10,000 full-time individuals by 2028-29.
Beyond difficulties in entering the labour market, women can also find it more challenging to reach leadership levels in the organisations that they are part of. In 2016 the Treasury launched the Women in Finance Charter to improve female representation at senior levels with a view to improving the productivity, innovation and competitiveness of the financial services sector. More than 400 firms, employing more than 1.3 million people across the financial services sector, have signed up to the commitments of the charter, from global banks to credit unions, from leading insurance companies to new start-ups. The first wave of signatories to the charter started out with an average level of senior representation of 27%. Today, the signatory base has grown substantially and the average level of senior representation stands at 35%.
The charter’s five-year review found that the average proportion of women on UK executive committees had increased from 14% in 2016 to 22% in 2021, while the proportion of women on UK boards had increased from 23% to 32%. The increase for executive committees is nearly 60% and for boards it is nearly 40%. Average representation on boards and executive committees was higher for firms that had signed the charter— 50% higher for executive committees and 40% for boards. It is really encouraging to see that charter being emulated in other sectors, including aviation and maritime; in other countries, such as Norway, Luxembourg and Ireland; and across diversity strands, such as in the Black Talent Charter. I look forward to the charter’s next annual review report, which will be published later this month.
There is still quite a lot of work to do to continue our progress towards true gender equality and inclusion. In implementing these domestic policies and through our international leadership in putting women centre stage, the UK Government have demonstrated our unwavering commitment to women and girls around the world. I am very pleased to open this debate in your Lordships’ House, and I beg to move.
Where there are enough women in political life the agenda is different, as we have seen in Wales. Wales has a Children’s Commissioner, the first in the UK. It has an Older People’s Commissioner, the first in the world. I really wish the UK Government would accept that older people need a commissioner in England. There is also a Future Generations Commissioner, again the first in the UK and—I am not sure—possibly even in the world. These are just three examples of the influence that women can have on the political agenda.
As the Minister said, things are improving but there is still some way to go. Let us look at what is preventing women having economic inclusion. Commenting on the Budget earlier this week, Helen Walker, the chief executive of Carers UK, said that
“women disproportionately shoulder the bulk of unpaid caring responsibilities in the UK. Of the 5.7 million unpaid carers … 59% are women. And for women out of work with caring responsibilities, the cost-of-living crisis has plunged many into poverty. Thousands are struggling to make ends meet and many are at greater risk of poor health as they cut back on essentials such as food and heating. For women in work, juggling employment with their caring responsibilities can be very tough … women are more likely to be in part-time and insecure work such as zero-hours contracts, often to take on caring responsibilities. This leaves working women who are unpaid carers more vulnerable to loss of earnings and even dismissal. The new Carer’s Leave Act which comes into force in April this year will offer some protection to working women, granting up to five days unpaid leave to carers and offering the same rights as other forms of family leave … But if carers are to be properly supported, all parties must recognise the enormous societal and economic value that people looking after family and friends provide. It is estimated that the value of unpaid care in England and Wales alone is the equivalent of a second NHS—a staggering £162 billion per year. Ensuring carers—including women—have access to practical support, can prioritise their own health and wellbeing while caring, and remain financially resilient is crucial for the overall health of the country”.
I am grateful to Helen Walker for all her work in this field.
The briefing I have received from Refuge, a charity that supports women victims of domestic violence, says that women will experience economic abuse, a form of domestic abuse involving an abuser restricting a person’s ability to acquire, use and maintain money or other economic resources. Research by Refuge in 2020 found that two in five adults in the UK have experienced economic abuse in a current or former intimate partner relationship. Economic abuse often prevents domestic abuse survivors being able to access the vital funds needed to flee from abusive relationships, forcing them to continue living with dangerous perpetrators.
Aspects of the welfare system, including universal credit and the Child Maintenance Service, are routinely used by perpetrators to facilitate economic abuse. The ongoing cost of living crisis has created yet more opportunities for perpetrators to control and abuse survivors through restricting their access to financial resources.
Refuge says that the £2 million flee fund announced by the Home Office in January 2024 is welcome, providing one-off payments to survivors to help them escape from abuse. However, Refuge says that only a fraction of the survivors who need to access this emergency support will be able to. It gives the example of the allocated funds for February this year, which were spent in a matter of days. More funding is required to support all women who need access to this life-saving emergency fund. Adequate investment in the flee fund and specialist domestic abuse services, providing economic support to survivors, is therefore vital. Will the Minister look at this and support the idea of more investment for the flee fund, as it would be a lifeline for women who need to escape from abusive relationships?
The Office for National Statistics report on the gender pay gap in the UK, which the Minister mentioned, shows that the latest figures, from 2023, demonstrate a 7.7% pay gap among full-time employees and a 14.3% gap for all employees. The ONS reported on earnings in April 2023: the median weekly earnings for men were £666 and for women £491. Just for those in full-time work, the figures were £725 for men and £629 for women. The gap seems to be widening, in part demonstrating the impact of working part-time or leaving the labour market due to unpaid care. The effects accumulate across a lifetime, peaking when women reach their 50s.
Considering that the Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1975, how much longer do women have to wait to achieve equality of earnings? It has taken an awfully long time to get to this stage. Does the Minister agree that achieving this would go a long way towards economic inclusion for women? I look forward to the contributions of other Peers and the Minister’s reply, as we all celebrate International Women’s Day.
We know that there is no country in the world where there is full gender equality yet. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023 shows this. The rate of progress has slowed between 2006, when the first edition of the report was published, and 2023. The UN’s gender snapshot of 2023 finds that, if current trends continue, more than 340 million women and girls will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030. Close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity. It is no accident that greater equality is connected to economic position.
I had the privilege, on behalf of this House, of attending the most recent annual Reykjavik Global Forum, which focuses on the position of women. The key necessities for greater gender equality were identified there as equal parental leave—meaning equal, properly paid parental leave—equal pay, equal representation and ending gender-based violence. It is circular: these need to be addressed if we are to secure greater economic equality, and greater economic equality helps to address these issues.
What has happened since we last debated the position of women in the world—besides my daughter being pregnant? In the UK, as worldwide, the cost of living has hit women harder than men. Has the Treasury done a gender impact assessment of the effects of the Budget and, if so, has it been published? I remember, as a DfID Minister in the coalition, needing to point out that the Treasury needed to do that gender impact assessment for the United Kingdom, just as we asked developing countries to do.
The Women’s Budget Group finds, for example, that single men will gain an average £500 more a year than lone mothers from the cuts to national insurance. More significantly, high inflation and cuts have eroded the budget for public services, meaning that unprotected services will see real-terms cuts in day-to-day spending, according to the OBR. That includes local government and justice. These cuts will impact women more than men, because they are more likely to use and work in local services. As for the justice system, we already know that rape cases, for example, have to wait years rather than weeks to be heard. It is appalling that this is likely to get worse, not better.
The situation internationally can be dire for many women and girls, yet we have cut our aid budget. The international development White Paper says that it puts women and girls front and centre but, without the wherewithal to deliver it, it is an empty promise. A key aim here must be to support sexual health and reproductive rights; they are essential to women, their families, communities and countries. In her reply, could the Minister tell us what ODA has been reinstated since the 80% cut?
We know that we face the major challenge of climate change. The poorest are the most vulnerable to climate change, women and girls especially. They often lack the resources required to adapt to the changing climate and ensure their protection. With increasing droughts, women and girls are expected to travel longer distances to collect water and firewood, exposing them to potential violence. The destruction of households and livelihoods and the loss of livestock and crops due to severe drought have become a reality for communities hard hit by climate change. As the climate and nature crisis accelerates, urgent action is needed to ensure that existing gender inequalities are not exacerbated.
In February 2023, the Government published their UN-required UK Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan. It recognises:
“Increasingly climate security and conflict are interlinked. Women”
and
“girls … are affected differently”.
It includes, as a priority, ensuring that gender is addressed, including through the use of international climate finance.
The FCDO’s March 2023 international women and girls strategy and its November 2023 White Paper both highlight the disproportionate impact on women and girls of climate change. Yet, a recent review of UK aid commitments to international climate finance by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact found that, despite the commitments, the UK has not done this. In fact, attention to gender appears to be decreasing. Perhaps the Minister can comment.
This century has seen an increase in the intensity and impact of conflict and violence on civilians globally, with Afghanistan, Ukraine, the conflict in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, and Sudan. The Mines Action Group reports that about 80% of the victims of small arms and light weapons are women and children. Our development budget and strategy should not just say that it recognises this but translate that into the necessary actions.
We need to ensure that there is far greater economic equivalence between men and women, whether in the UK or globally. We also need to ensure that there are more women in positions of leadership, as the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, has just said. In Reykjavik, I heard one Icelandic Minister say, “Women are often told that they are too young, too old, too single, too married, with not enough experience or with too outdated experience to be leaders”. Does that sound familiar?
There is so much that we need to do. We are not on track either in the UK or worldwide. I look forward to the contributions of others and to the Minister’s reply to this debate, and I cross my fingers that my new granddaughter stays just where she safely is, at least for the moment.
Going on to the international stage, I would very much like to contest the words of the Minister earlier, as the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, said. I do not in any way impugn her willingness to say that we are spending a lot on development, but, according to Care International, which was here in the House doing a very large event widely attended by Peers, we are now spending less than 1% of UK bilateral finance on targeting gender equality, and less than 0.2% reached the needs of women’s rights organisations. No one is under any illusion: unless we empower women, it is about not just our economy but our stability, the wars in countries, the safety of children and how we will go forward.
It seems that we still live in a kind of conspiracy where men dominate. If we look back to the inquiry into Partygate, the decisions about the Covid lockdown were made by a group of young men in their 30s who had no children, had been to Eton and had no idea what it meant to care for an elderly relative or to think, “How am I going to do my zero-hours contract job when I’ve got to look after the kids?” or, “How will I get to the food bank?” None of these things was considered.
So there is a question of legislation about representation, and, ultimately, legislation and support that says, “We have to bring up the next generation well”. I am completely shocked. I am sitting on a new committee about ultra-processed food. One in five kids are going to school, at five years old, obese. Do not just think about them; think about our economy. These children are going to be what we call the “inactive blob”, which we are all worried about. We are spending money on coaching them to get back to work. They will not get back to work. They are sick. We are in the most extraordinary state with this. I find it really depressing. Although I am thrilled, personally, that I can stand here and think that I have had an amazing life, it worries me very much, despite all the work that people have put in and the efforts we make.
There are some fundamental things that government needs to grasp. The first is that we are a society that loves and protects our children, rears them properly and healthily, and supports the people who do that. We are a society that looks after the people who care for people in their old age. We as a country understand that, if the problems of climate change, which are massive, are going to be helped, we up our development budgets to help women in developing countries through women’s projects and women’s representation—and, by the way, we need a lot more than 37% women representing us at COP.
“Although women in the UK on average live longer than men, women spend a significantly greater proportion of their lives in ill health and disability when compared with men. Not enough focus is placed on women-specific issues like miscarriage or menopause”—
although I welcome the recent guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission and also the work the Government have been doing in relation to this—
“and women are under-represented when it comes to important clinical trials”.
The report also states that
“while women make up 51% of the population, historically the health and care system has been designed by men for men”.
That still remains the case.
“This ‘male as default’ approach has been seen in: research and clinical trials, education and training for healthcare professionals”
and
“the design of healthcare policies and services. This has led to gaps in our data and evidence base that mean not enough is known about conditions that only affect women … It has meant that not enough is known about how conditions that affect both men and women impact them in different ways—for example, cardiovascular disease, dementia or mental health conditions. It has also resulted in inefficiencies in how services are delivered—for example, we know that many women have to move from service to service to have their reproductive health needs met, and women can struggle to access basic services such as contraception”.
Day after day, we hear from women who speak movingly about their experiences, women who do not feel well-served by our health system as it is.
In that strategy, although mention is made of black, Asian and minority women, the strategy does not really discuss the experiences of racism that black and Asian women experience. For example, a recent report by the Birmingham Race Action Partnership has significant data on this.
A specific example of where black and Asian women’s experience needs to be addressed is in relation to maternal deaths. Thankfully, these are very rare, but there are disparities with black and Asian women more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth and in the year following childbirth than white women. The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee’s report into black maternal health set out a number of reasons for ethnic disparities in mortality that are not fully understood. For example, pre-existing conditions, socio-economic factors, the quality of maternity care or the need for training on disparities. Black women at term are one and a half to two times more likely to have a stillbirth and four to five times more likely to die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. There is an intersection with economic disadvantage, with women living in deprived areas having the highest maternal mortality rates.
Will the Minister say what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations in the Women and Equalities Committee’s report on black maternal health? That would go some way to tackling basic health inequalities and support women, particularly black and Asian women, to enable them to play their part in being active, healthy, major contributors to our society.
With that disadvantage comes the risk of seeking solutions that only offer further disadvantage. I am, of course, referring to payday lending and gambling. In my declared role as chair of GambleAware, I am acutely conscious that the picture in relation to women and gambling is as dramatic as it is troubling. Gambling Commission data shows that between 2016 and 2023 the number of women gambling online more than doubled from 12% to 25% of all women, a faster rate than for men. As a result, more than 3 million more women are now gambling online than was the case eight years ago. It is of particular concern and relevance to today’s debate that, however mistaken they may be, one of the main drivers of gambling among women is practical and economic: the desire to win money to boost household finances, relieve financial pressure or provide hope of escape from relationships, poverty or domestic abuse.
One in 10 women who gamble turn to gambling to supplement household income. A quarter of women who gamble expect to gamble more in the coming months owing to the cost of living crisis. Because of the stigma attached to women gambling, women who experience gambling harms are, for once, less likely than men to discuss the issue or seek help with it.
Higher gambling expenditure is associated with worse financial outcomes, including financial distress, lower financial inclusion and poor financial planning. Data from GamCare, one of the charities commissioned by GambleAware as part of the National Gambling Support Network, shows that financial difficulties are experienced by 80% of the people it treats, and being in debt is reported by 66% of National Gambling Helpline users.
There is a need to ensure that specific action is taken to support women experiencing or at risk of gambling harms, and to protect them from financial hardship. Among other work, GambleAware has set up a fund to support activities recommended by researchers looking at women’s lived experience of gambling and gambling harms. It has also devised an ongoing stigma campaign, relaunched earlier this week, to break down the barriers that prevent people seeking help with their harmful gambling. However, much more needs to be done.
I hope that many of the measures set out in the gambling White Paper will help women experiencing gambling harm and prevent unaffordable financial losses that can impact their economic security. These include the introduction of financial risk checks, state limits for online slots—which I am pleased the Government have confirmed that they will be introducing —and improved rules on the provision of incentives such as free bets and bonuses.
These measures are all vital to protecting women from the detrimental financial impacts of gambling. They need to be finalised urgently before more people experience harm. As the Government seek to reform their approach to gambling harm, research, prevention and treatment, the third sector providers that deliver the majority of these crucial services need to be given reassurance that their work will be protected and supported. I hope this reassurance will be provided soon.
I join with others in celebrating International Women’s Day and the steps taken to promote financial inclusion. We have come a long way since women were first employed in the Civil Service in 1869, but we need to acknowledge that many women in this country experience serious financial insecurity and face the risks and bleakness associated with it.
This coming Saturday, this global movement of 1 million women will rise and coalesce alongside hundreds of thousands of men and women of every background, creed, colour and faith, or none. They will stand in solidarity with all the oppressed, occupied and violated women of our world, and in opposition to the killing of women and children in their thousands. They will call for an immediate halt to the killing fields of Palestine, where 30,000 women, children and their families have been murdered, tens of thousands buried under tons of rubble, with bombs more horrific than Hiroshima, while 70,000 more have been injured, maimed or burned with phosphorus, or are starving—women and children—without water, basic food or medicine.
We must hold the perpetrators to account. Until that time, together with many hundreds of thousands, I shall march in peace and solidarity, giving voice to those who cannot. In honour of the Palestinian mothers, daughters and granddaughters who have been slaughtered, I will walk in the tradition of my country—this country—and shout out to demand that our Government must stop their support for the Israeli occupying force and its brutal warfare on the Palestinian people. The PM should rest assured that such marches will not stop until that slaughter stops.
We debate economic equality and justice while women in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Nigeria, Eritrea, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan cannot truly comprehend freedom, justice or economic liberation. We have been the architects of so many global conflicts. We at home, in Europe and in the USA, cannot contemplate peace, pay gaps and boardroom equity while women continue to be murdered and raped, regarded as collateral and the dispensable property of wars.
Given what we are witnessing on our screens, millions of citizens no longer accept or believe that our arrogant Governments’ war objectives are to free and liberate nations and their women from the shackles of inhumanity, injustice and dictatorship. We have fallen so short of our own moral compass, becoming oblivious to one dictator who is currently slaughtering a whole people while citing freedom and peace.
We appear to have learned nothing from the illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and, sadly, have become even more emboldened towards war. Once again, we are whispering peace despite the mass civilian killing fields of Rafah, the West Bank and Khan Younis. The IDF is roaming free, at will bombing to smithereens hospitals and schools, and thousands of women and children, doctors, nurses and journalists. Women have lost everything that they know as home. Women are holding babies torn to shreds.
What can citizens do but march? I pray that these marches will yield peace and justice. The cause of Palestine has been awakened in the hearts of all citizens throughout the nations, among thousands of ordinary men and women who understand the differences between self-defence and genocidal murder, collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. We demand justice and peace.
I hope that these marchers will continue to oppose the actions of our Government, who are so complicit with Israel’s breaking of international laws and breaching the international norms of war. The PM standing and declaring war on protestors may provide temporary cover over his conscience. Allying them with extremist behaviour will do nothing to dissuade me, my neighbours, my children or my grandchildren from marching in the tradition of the Suffragettes, and for all those who march today for freedom and justice, as they have done for hundreds of years. Yes, to call for freedom and justice across all the rivers and the seas, and all the continents, until all women in all nations are free and triumph over occupation, oppression, wars and genocide.
Yet for women in conflicted areas, time is of the essence. Their lives are endangered daily by violence, displacement, poverty and disease. On this International Women’s Day, I pay homage to the remarkable women serving as human rights defenders, despite facing repressive regimes and violent actors. We have to fight harder for those in Afghanistan, where women protesting against the Taliban are being detained, silenced and subject to abuse. Can you imagine never being able to go out, week after week, nor let your children out? Similarly, women on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict are advocating for peace amid bloodshed.
In Ukraine, women like Oleksandra Matviichuk are trying to expose Russian aggression. They are taking notes and going to war-torn areas so that people can be prosecuted. Ukrainian women are on the front line, from soldiers to grass-roots activists. There are 50,000 women in Ukraine on the front line, in one way and another, playing a pivotal role in countering Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
Three years since the last military coup in Myanmar, women have intensified their involvement in the pro-democracy movement, challenging patriarchal structures and advocating for gender equality. In Iran, women continue to face brutal repression for their peaceful dissent, exemplified by the courage of those who protested against the death of Mahsa Amini.
Women worldwide endure double jeopardy, for their gender and their convictions, yet remain undeterred. I urge this House to join me in honouring the resistance and bravery of women affected by conflict, and those fighting against the odds for a more equitable world. Women’s economic equality is central to realising and protecting women’s rights. When women work, economies grow; when women in emergency settings are held back, the entire process of peacebuilding and reconstruction is in jeopardy. Women think about health and investment; they think about education. Stable economies are paramount to the transition that a country makes from war to peace and can help prevent conflict breaking out in the first place. A number of indexes show that if those women were listened to, it would stop many wars.
The private sector plays a crucial role in bridging the gaps after war and is potentially positioned to accelerate economic resilience for women and girls. Various companies have created initiatives to better support women at local level, from skills training on how to fully utilise their farmed crops to bank account creation and financial courses.
I urge that schools should not be used during a time of war for offices, because it is when people are not being educated that the economy of a country goes down, and it is impossible to assist in bringing it forward. I have worked with two great organisations but, because of the war, children have not been taught to read or write, so they are not able to be employed as they get older in even the most basic tasks, such as hotel trades. Then, labour comes in from outside, which damages the economy terribly. I also urge the Government to encourage greater investment in conflict-affected countries and ask them to promise that no discussions about investment in women or in those countries are held without local women at the table.
I have one other point, on today’s report from the Commons Treasury Select Committee. One of its recommendations is that we should have no NDAs in future. I hope that this and other Governments will put that in legislation as quickly as possible.