The government loses the right to refer to itself as a “development superpower” when it decides to stop sponsoring initiatives intended to eliminate the exploitation of women and girls.
This has never been more applicable than when it comes to girls. Support a girl’s education, and she will benefit from it, living a longer, healthier, and more successful life and being able to fully contribute to her family, society, and nation. Parliamentarians of all political stripes eagerly embraced the prime minister’s vow in 2019 to support millions of girls through 12 years of education.
The rhetoric runs the risk of becoming hollow promises and overused soundbites since that pledge, which seems like it happened a long time ago. Why? Because the government decided to dramatically decrease the UK assistance budget just over a year ago, harming the world’s most marginalized people and failing the girls this government vowed to support. It eliminated their opportunity for a better future. Even according to the government’s own assessment, the cuts have been persistent.
On International Women’s Day, the international development committee was compelled to publish an analysis of the UK aid cuts that the government had refused to make public by using parliamentary privilege. This evaluation, conducted by the former foreign secretary Dominic Raab, acknowledges that women have suffered significantly from the reduction of foreign aid.
The government loses the right to refer to itself as a “development superpower” when it decides to discontinue sponsoring initiatives intended to reduce the exploitation of women and girls, send girls to school, or support disabled persons who are most at danger of living in poverty.
Fortunately, Liz Truss, the new foreign secretary, has declared she will restore funding for the support of women and girls. And when the government releases the new International Development Strategy this spring, she will have the ideal chance to put this pledge into action. Its focal point should be women and girls.
A good place to start would be to increase funding for women and girls to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, it will help to some extent repair our nation’s reputation that women and girls are champions around the world.But this must be a swift move in the direction of the government’s pledge to restore all of the UK aid budget to 0.7% of GNI, aiding those in greatest need.