Amid a worldwide backlash against women’s rights, and after its own aid cuts that further threaten those rights, it has never been more urgent for the UK government to speak up loudly for global gender equality, says the Gender and Development Network.
As feminists from around the world gather this week in New York , the mood is more angry and determined than celebratory. The annual UN Commission on the Status of Women is supposed to be a time when governments promote women’s rights – instead they are under attack from leaders around the world. We at the Gender and Development Network think that it has never been more urgent for the UK to speak up loudly for global gender equality.
Alarming rise in attacks on women’s rights
These attacks are not just a by-product of neglect, but a central plank in misogynist platforms. Alongside military and trade wars, another battle is unfolding. It’s not just the US, countries across Europe are shifting to the right while populist leaders are also in power in numerous countries in the Global South. These leaders are all from, or heavily influenced by, far-right movements unified by a defence of what they claim are ‘traditional values’ with opposition to women’s rights at the centre of their platforms.
A recent UN Women report warns that a backlash against women’s rights is already reported in one in four countries globally. Further reports of attacks on the rights of women and girls include access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, threats to feminist movements, and restrictions to girls’ education. Moreover, the global economic recession and austerity which could result from Trump’s administration will further fuel gender inequality. Time and again, we have seen how crises have a gendered impact, with women’s unpaid care work filling in the gaps where services are cut and women bearing the brunt of unequal trade rules.
The UK government: rising to the challenge?
Against this backdrop of misogyny, we hoped the new UK government might rise to the challenge and act as a champion for gender equality internationally as part of manifesto promises to build Britain’s reputation on the international stage. After all, in his 2023 Chatham House speech, Foreign Secretary David Lammy had suggested that under Labour the FCDO should “be proudly feminist, prioritising women and girls”. Former International Development Minister Anneliese Dodds – a committed feminist who also held the role of Minister for Women and Equalities – had already confirmed gender equality as a priority for her department and was about to give a speech for International Women’s Day. What a difference a week makes.
Instead, an announcement of 40% cuts to the ODA budget was soon followed by Dodds’ resignation. Like others across the UK development sector, we were shocked and angered by the cuts, not so much because they thwart the target of aid as 0.7% of GNI – but because aid can make a real difference. FCDO-backed programmes have had a material impact on women, from providing life-saving reproductive health services to supporting girls excluded from education and providing funds for the women’s rights organisations that are the real catalysts for change.
Protecting gender equality in a diminished aid budget
The widespread fear among UK-based aid organisations is that, once again, women and girls will bear the brunt of the cuts. During the last aid cuts in 2021, an internal government report found evidence that women and girls bore a disproportionate burden. Recent evidence confirms that spending that includes a focus on gender equality nearly halved between 2019 and 2022. Nor can private finance be viewed as a panacea to fill ‘funding gaps’. Given the potentially negative impact of different types of private finance on gender equality, a cautious and evidence-based approach will be needed.
In a letter to the Foreign Secretary, we argue that the FCDO must now clearly centre the promotion of gender equality across all development assistance if it is to uphold its promises. In relation to ODA bilateral spending, this means:
- Ring fencing evidence-based and effective programmes like What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Programme and funding to women’s rights organisations.
- Ensuring that at least 20% of remaining bilateral aid has gender equality as its primary or ‘principal’ target.
- Making good on the FCDO commitment that at least 80% of remaining bilateral aid has a ‘significant’ focus on gender equality.
Beyond aid: championing rights internationally
Aid is not the only way the UK can make a difference. To rebuild its reputation on international development, the government will need to demonstrate courage and commitment on the international stage in championing women’s and girls’ rights. The opportunities are immense and urgent. As leaders mark the landmark anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action the UK must use its voice loud and clear to resist the attack on women’s and girls’ rights by far-right governments and movements. Bold action will also be essential at the G7 Summit in Canada this summer to resist the rollback on rights started last year under the Italian presidency, where language on safe and legal abortion was cut, and instead promote progressive commitments on care begun under the German presidency three years ago.
Moreover, in the new world order that is rapidly unfolding, a reckoning with the UK’s own legacy of empire is long overdue. The Labour manifesto promised a “new approach based on genuine respect and partnership with the Global South to support our common interests“, which could start to move away from aid dependency and acknowledge and begin to repair the ongoing legacies of colonialism. Part of this shift requires a reversal of the net flows of resources from the Global South. That could include enacting UK legislation to ensure private creditors partake in debt relief, and supporting a UN framework convention on sovereign debt and the UN convention on tax. Doing so would increase available resources for governments to spend on gender equality.
Time for the UK to take a stand
With declining aid budgets, the UK government has more responsibility than ever to turn gender equality commitments into effective action. A major challenge faces Jenny Chapman, the new International Development Minister, and Harriet Harman, in the new role of Special Envoy for Women and Girls. Now is the time to stand up and be counted – to resist the rampant rollback of women’s rights and to take a bold stand against the alarming spectre of mushrooming misogyny across the world.
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This is the third blog in our series for International Women’s Day 2025. Catch up on the rest of the series here.