UK aid and women and girls

Warning: this briefing discusses violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, which some readers may find distressing.

Empowering women and girls has long been a priority for UK aid. Under 2014 legislation, the government must have regard to spending aid in such a way as “likely to contribute to reducing poverty in a way which is likely to contribute to reducing inequality between persons of different gender”.

In 2024, UN Women reported that despite declining poverty and narrowing of gaps in education, global progress remains off track on Sustainable Development Goal 5 (gender equality and empowering all women and girls).

This research briefing sets out development challenges facing women and girls, global aid spending on gender equality, and UK spending and strategy.

Development and women and girls

Global development challenges affect different people in different ways, and can be influenced by their economic status, sex, gender, ethnicity, migration status, location, faith or belief, sexual orientation, age, or disability.

In its 2023 white paper on development, the government argued unlocking the power and potential of women and girls would accelerate “progress on all the UK’s global priorities”, such as economic growth and security.

Compared with men, women and girls often experience higher rates of poverty and increased risks during humanitarian crises and natural disasters, including displacement. Child marriage rates have fallen globally for girls and boys (though more girls than boys are married aged under 18), but conflict-related sexual violence and intimidate partner violence are high. Globally, gaps remain in sexual health services and reproductive rights.

While education participation rates between girls and boys has narrowed globally, education participation disparities between boys and girls remain in low-income and conflict-affected countries. The participation of women in the labour market also remains lower than expected, given increased educational participation. Women and girls assuming greater informal caring responsibilities is cited as one factor in this.

Peace processes that involve more women are associated with longer-lasting peace agreements, but women remain underrepresented in peace processes and in parliaments across the globe.

How is UK aid supporting women and girls?

The 2022 Strategy for international development made women and girls one of its four priority areas. Interventions focused on education, empowerment, and ending violence (known as the “three Es”). In 2023, the International women and girls strategy 2023 to 2030 set out further aims for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). This includes ensuring 80% of the FCDO’s bilateral programmes support gender equality by 2030.

Since taking office in July 2024, the Labour government has said it will prioritise women and girls and announced new funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights, and work on tackling gender-based violence, including child marriage. Baroness Harriet Harman was appointed UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls in March 2025.

How is aid spending on gender measured?

There is no specific data on aid spending on women and girls. However, aid reported to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses a three-point scale to measure whether gender equality is a “significant” or “principal” objective of a programme, or neither. 32 states report their data to the OECD, including all major donors except China.

In 2023, US$9.5 billion of bilateral aid was targeted at gender equality as its principal objective, with a further $99.1 billion having gender equality as a significant objective. This is the highest since recording began in 2000. In the UK, the proportion of FCDO bilateral aid programmes with a significant or principal focus on gender equality was 58% in 2022 and 52% in 2023.

UK aid spending has fallen from 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) in 2020 to 0.5% in 2025, with the Conservative government citing the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the economy as the reason for this. Under the Labour government, aid will gradually reduce to 0.3% of GNI by 2027, to fund increased defence spending. 2021 and 2023 (PDF) equality assessments found aid for women and girls were among the areas affected by the reductions.

What initiatives has the UK launched?

Global initiatives led by the UK include the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) in 2012; a global summit to end sexual violence in conflict in 2014, G7 initiatives on global education, and establishing the International Alliance on PSVI in 2022. It also implements UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security, which aim to protect and promote women leaders, humanitarian actors, and human rights defenders.