The Minister for Equalities (Seema Malhotra)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered International Women’s Day 2026.
It is an honour to open this International Women’s Day debate, which is being held in Government time for the first time since 2020. International Women’s Day was forged in the labour strikes of the early 20th century as women came together to call for better pay, shorter working hours and voting rights. It has become an important milestone that celebrates the achievement of women, promotes gender equality and acts as a call to action.
In this debate, I have no doubt that we will hear about pioneering pathfinders, including women who smashed the glass ceiling in Parliament and paved the way for us today, such as Constance Markievicz, the first woman elected; Nancy Astor, the first to take her seat; and Margaret Bondfield, the first woman Cabinet Minister—I recommend her new biography by Nan Sloane, who is a driving force behind the Labour Women’s Network. I am sure that hon. Members will mention the first woman Prime Minister, who took office in 1979. Labour has had the first female Chief Whip, the first female Chancellor and the first black woman MP, the inspirational right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott). We have also had Barbara Castle, Ellen Wilkinson, Jennie Lee and, of course, Baroness Harman in the other place. That is not to forget you, Madam Deputy Speaker—the first non-white Deputy Speaker and the first female Muslim Minister.
I have many greats and firsts sitting behind me—and probably in front of me—including my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler), who was the first black female Minister and the first black woman to speak from the Dispatch Box. I am proud that many of those were also Fabian women, and that we are marking 21 years of the Fabian Women’s Network this year.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Talking of strong women, there is my mum, my wife, my three daughters-in-law and my three grandchildren. Those three wee girls are at a very young age, but I tell you what: they have the potential to be leaders as well. They are fierce women and they are strong, and I am very pleased to see that.
Ever mindful that today we are celebrating International Women’s Day across Northern Ireland, the Minister will know that another lady was killed there last week. Of the women murdered in the whole United Kingdom, the highest proportion has been in Northern Ireland. Does the Minister share my concern that while we celebrate women, we also have to protect women? Our society must do that.
Seema Malhotra
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments and wish all the women in his family a very happy International Women’s Day. Let the message ring out from this House that every girl is a leader. He is absolutely right that we must look at where women come under threats online or through violence, and do everything to protect women and girls across the UK and around the world.
We speak today about the agenda of women’s progress, but we must remind ourselves that although we have made progress, men and women are still not equal—not equal at home and not equal abroad. Indeed, we face the new challenge of a misogynistic insurgency that is determined to roll back women’s rights. When we look at the level of online abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation, it is horrifying to see products that appear designed to make money out of the sexual harassment of women.
Today, I want to make three main arguments: that women are still not equal, that we must be uncompromising in resisting the backlash against women’s rights, and that in these fragmented times women must work with women around the world.
In a world where inequality persists in society, in the economy and in power, I am proud that Labour, led by a Cabinet that is 46% women, is putting the progress of women at the heart of its missions. That is not a coincidence. Women’s representation in politics drives new conversations and puts wider issues on the agenda. Of the 695 women ever elected to the House of Commons, 405, or 58%, were first elected as Labour MPs and 182, or 26%, as Conservative MPs.
Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)
I am proud to have joined this Parliament as part of a record number of women elected for Plaid Cymru in 2024, and part of the record 40% of women elected in that same year. We are clearly on our way towards a gender-equal Parliament. With that historic milestone in sight, would the Minister commit her Government to Centenary Action’s call to commence section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, which would require political parties to publish diversity data on candidates, to increase transparency?
Seema Malhotra
On the hon. Lady’s comment about women making up 40% of the House of Commons today, that is an important milestone, but we are not yet at 50%. I am proud that the Labour party has got close to it, and in fact pretty much reached that level. It is important that we continue to look to the centenary, as she said, with a range of measures to push forward the progress of women’s representation and political parties’ role in that, but also to look forward to the progress of women in every part of society and of our economy.
I recognise that this is about the choices we make. Labour’s manifesto committed to action to tackle gender inequality, from strengthening rights for women in work and reducing the gender pay gap to halving violence against women and girls. Our groundbreaking violence against women and girls strategy begins a decade-long, whole-of-Government and whole-of-society effort to halve violence against women and girls, backed by over £1 billion of funding. I know that every Member of this House will want to get behind that goal.
I want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of my friend and colleague the Minister for Safeguarding—my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips)—who I am proud to stand alongside in today’s debate. [Hon. Members: “More.”] Exactly!
We are not just acting at home: we have made tackling violence against women and girls a priority in our foreign policy, too. Recently, the Foreign Secretary launched All In, a new international coalition to scale up action to end violence against women and girls. It brings together global leaders, experts and campaigners, and focuses on preventing violence before it happens.
Labour is working to prioritise women’s health, with a refreshed women’s health strategy to be published soon. Our plans to make work pay are putting in stronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers at work, and tackling maternity inequality. We are reviewing parental leave and making flexible working more easily available. With two consecutive years of minimum wage rises, we are putting more money in the pockets of working women.
Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)
The Minister is making a brilliant speech that lots of us will be feeling very emotional about. Does she agree with me and Members across the House that although increasing the minimum wage is really important, as it disproportionately affects female workers, we also need to restructure how we value women’s work and the workforce predominantly made up of women?
Seema Malhotra
I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. That debate continues, and I will touch on some relevant issues later in my speech.
Last week, alongside the Minister for Women and Equalities, I was proud to launch our voluntary action plans. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, employers with over 250 employees will be asked to submit action plans showing how they will reduce their gender pay gaps and support employees going through the menopause. We are working with business leaders, civil society organisations and trade unions, because we cannot reach workplace equality without the support and commitment of all.
The removal of the two-child limit will lift 450,000 children out of relative poverty in the final year of this Parliament. As we know, poverty impacts women, whom the Women’s Budget Group describe as the “shock absorbers of poverty”.
On business, the Chancellor has backed the Invest in Women taskforce, launching a funding pool of over £600 million, including £130 million from the British Business Bank, to be invested in women-led businesses. It is the largest fund of its kind globally, addressing the enormous barriers to access to finance that exist for women.
Alongside that, the Government are supporting more women in the UK’s tech sector. Every year, the economy loses an estimated £2 billion to £3.5 billion because women leave the tech sector or change sectors due to barriers that should not exist. Men outnumber women by four to one in computer science degrees, which is a subject I studied. Women are less likely to enter tech, stay in the sector or rise to leadership roles.
Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)
Will the Minister talk about not just the tech sector, but how there is such a glass ceiling in engineering—there is a huge number of engineering jobs in my constituency—that women rarely manage to get through it? There is also a similar race equality issue in the higher tiers of engineering.
Seema Malhotra
Never a truer word was spoken. To building on the hon. Lady’s comment, it is worth the House knowing that, at the current pace, it will take 283 years for women to achieve equal representation in tech. That is why I am proud that the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has launched the Women in Tech taskforce to champion diversity in the UK tech sector, with a pipeline strengthened by stronger engagement with tech in the classroom. There are spaces in which our economy is going to grow, and we need a plan for women to be part of that.
Throughout history, women have consistently been the backbone of our communities, giving their power, time, ideas and more. They have done this in our classrooms, in our offices, in our hospitals, in our military and in the home. History has taught us that despite giving so much, women do not always gain equally to men. Every day, women and girls across the UK challenge the stereotypes so often thrown upon them, but they are our scientists, our teachers, our business leaders, our astronauts, our athletes and so much more. There is nowhere that women and girls should not be able to reach.
But while this Government have women’s equality firmly on the agenda, the battle is not yet won. Increasingly loud voices attempt to dismiss the necessary protections for an inclusive culture at work. Some argue that our existing equality framework has gone too far—that it hinders progress. Let us be clear: these protections embody the British values that women should be treated equally with men, and that people should be treated equally regardless of their race. That is a core British value. It was fought for.
In a Westminster Hall debate last September, a now Reform MP described the Equality Act 2010 as fuelling “a corrosive culture” of grievance. He then called for it to be abolished. It is not a grievance to recognise that a woman who is made redundant for being pregnant, or who leaves work because her employer does not make reasonable adjustments for the menopause, leaves us poorer as individuals, as an economy and as a society.
In this battle, these voices are taking up space online, too. When we see the level of online abuse and intimidation, we must tackle the misogynistic insurgency that threatens to roll back women’s rights and that is having a huge impact on the wellbeing and aspiration of women and girls across our country. The online abuse of women athletes is set to be discussed at the next women’s sports taskforce meeting. I am proud that the offence of creating intimate images without consent was signed into force last month, and that our female Secretary of State announced that it will be made a priority offence under the Online Safety Act 2023, delivering for users the strongest protections from such content.
But this happens against a backdrop of changing social attitudes that we are only just beginning to address. New research from Ipsos MORI and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College business school shows that 31% of gen Z men—born between 1997 and 2012—agree that a wife should always obey her husband, and one third, or 33%, say that a husband should have the final word on important decisions, according to a new global study of 23,000 people in 29 countries. We are in a renewed battle of ideas and new conversations about progress and rights. We also see pressures and influence through online social influencers. This demands our engagement. It is through conversation, legislation, education and campaigning that this Government are determined to keep us moving forward.
With the challenge to women’s inequality now being international, so must our response be. In the year 2000, we led the first UN Security Council resolution on women, peace and security. It was a simple but transformative idea: that peace is more durable when women help to shape it. UN statistics show that when women meaningfully participate in peace processes, the resulting agreement is 64% less likely to fail and 35% more likely to last at least 15 years. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by conflict and more likely to see their rights curtailed. Some 60% of preventable maternal deaths and 53% of deaths of under-fives take place in settings of conflict and displacement.
We continue to use our voice at the United Nations to push for women to be embedded in peace processes, resolutions and humanitarian responses. Indeed, this week Baroness Smith of Malvern and the UK special envoy for women and girls, Harriet Harman, are leading our delegation in New York at the Commission on the Status of Women, because this Government stand in solidarity with women and girls not just in the UK but around the world.
International Women’s Day marks the beginning not only of a month-long celebration of women’s history, but also, I hope, a year of progress and action. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Give to Gain”, the aim of which is to emphasise the power of reciprocity and support, whether through advocacy, education, mentoring or time, to help to create a more supportive and interconnected world, building new networks in our communities to bring hope, leadership and change, and renewing our determination. Connecting with our sisters at home and abroad will give us a renewed frontline to resist the roll back of our rights and push forward for the progress of women and girls for generations to come.
But this month is about more than reflection; it is about maintaining momentum. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said:
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.”
That is not an observation; it is a directive. It is for us to hold the light up to highlight progress, and to keep fighting for a better world for women and girls everywhere.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)
First, I thank the Minister for Equalities for securing this debate in Government time. In the time I have been in the House, I think this is only the second time that has happened. I am incredibly proud to stand alongside her. I also thank the Opposition spokeswoman, the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey), for setting the tone for this debate, and everybody else for following that tone.
I have to say that I have felt tearful at lots of points—I do not know what is wrong with me, but it is almost certainly something that the mother of my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Tulip Siddiq) would not be pleased for me to say. It is either hope or anger, or just the fact that I have my period, that makes me feel tired, hopeful and angry in equal measure. I say to the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) that if I get through this without crying, it will be a miracle. I just want to say a massive thank you.
As others have done, I had assumed—because sometimes I do not pay much attention—that this debate had been secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler), who does us that service so well every year, through the Backbench Business Committee, but it was in fact the Government’s doing. I thank the hon. Member for Beaconsfield for her comments, and I agree that she would be—and I hope she is—a challenge to whoever she stands opposite.
I thank the hon. Member for Gorton and Denton (Hannah Spencer), who made her maiden speech. When I made my maiden speech, I commented on how sexist it is for it to be called a maiden speech, and I said I was not a maiden because my children were in the Gallery. True to form, I am talking about my period and my lack of virginity, but I shall continue. It was an absolute pleasure to listen to her. I shall put aside my Birmingham versus Manchester rivalry, and say that she is very welcome here and across this House. I am definitely not going to repeat what I said when I first introduced myself to her, but to paraphrase it without being sweary, I said there are lots of lovely people here regardless of which political parties they come from, and when we work together we are always strongest.
I wish that I could go through everybody’s speeches, but I just want to highlight my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Dr Tidball), a woman who I work very closely with. Campaigns we have worked on together gave me cause to cry earlier in the week. I would only say that she has ruined “Bridgerton” for me, because I have seen only the first episode, so I am irritated. However, she always speaks with such passion, and who does not deserve love? That rang out through the Chamber.
I would like to pay tribute to the towering figures of the past that everybody has mentioned who advanced the causes of women’s rights, but we have also all paid tribute to the women who, without fanfare and acclaim, support families and contribute to their communities every single day. I personally could not cope without the women in my life propping me up, making me laugh and just noticing the stuff that needs noticing. People do not notice how important that little act of love actually is.
We have spoken of progress and celebration, but we know we have far to go. I could highlight the women of many countries in the world whom many Members have highlighted. The women of Afghanistan and Iran have featured very heavily in this debate. I am the sister-in-law of a beautiful and now departed Iranian woman who died of breast cancer. She made her home in our country, because her country was not safe for her. The bravery of the women who stand up to be counted in Afghanistan and Iran should move every single one of us.
When we do not want to come here on a Monday morning, imagine the privilege to be able to stand and speak out in this place. The reason I stood to be elected to Parliament in the first place is that, while we are gathered here at the heart of our democracy to discuss these issues in comfort and safety, beyond these walls in every part of our country women and girls are suffering. They are being attacked, abused, harassed and stalked. At home, in public places and online, the scale of violence against women and girls shames our society.
Today’s debate is not the moment for detailed policy talk, so I will not do that. But I will say that I am proud to be part of a Government who are tackling this issue as the national emergency it is. That has been underscored by many people who have spoken about our commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. But we know that words are not enough. Plenty has been promised and pledged in the past without results. That is why our violence against women and girls strategy, published in December, had to be different. It must deploy the full power of the state to deliver the change that is desperately needed. It is just a piece of paper; it is just a document. I have always said that when it needs to be stretched and ambition needs to be stretched, then that is absolutely what it should be. Brilliant women and campaigners—and credit to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner—campaigned for what I am about to say, which was not in the VAWG strategy.
Before I take on the grim task of reading out the names of all the women who have been killed in the past year, I want to take this opportunity to commit the Home Office to funding and delivering the oversight mechanism for the recommendations made in domestic homicide reviews. We will put in place a system that strengthens accountability and ensures that learning is consistently embedded across both local and national agencies.
This is about turning lessons into action, not just letting documents sit on a shelf in some local authority. By doing so, we will drive the meaningful change that is so desperately needed, because those women’s names—they used to just be numbers, but now they are names—must enable us to change to prevent future horrific deaths. It has been a long and arduous struggle, but I do believe that, with drive and leadership, change will come. Tragically, though, it will be too late for the victims, whose lives have been ended by this scourge, and their shattered families.
That brings me on to the task at hand. I will now read the names of the women who have allegedly been killed by men in the past year, collated arduously every year for over a decade by the Femicide Census. They are: Anjela Chetty; Joanne Penney; Michelle Egge-Bailey; Maleta Rosevear; Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo; Rachel Dixon; Claire Anderson; Paramjit Kaur; Clare Burns; Sarah Reynolds; Hien Thi Vu; Rebekah Campbell; Paria Veisi; Tracey Davies; Pamela Munro; Aimee Pike; Elizabeth Tamilore Odunsi; Nnenna Chima; Kathryn Perkins; Margaret McGowan; Ellen Cook; Rachael Vaughan; Marjama Osman; Yajaira Castro Mendez; Miriam MacDonald; Mary Green; Mandy Riley; Samantha Murphy; Isobella Knight; Christina Alexander; Annabel Rook; Reanne Coulson; Nilani Nimalarajah; Irene Mbugua; Nila Patel; Sarah Montgomery; Angela Botham; Fortune Gomo; Phylis Daly; Gwyneth Carter; Stephanie Blundell; Brenda Breed; Vanessa Whyte, and her children, James and Sara; Courtney Angus; Nkiru Chima; Kimberley Thompson; Shara Miller; Paris Kendall; Sufia Khatun; Zahwa Salah Mukhtar; Niwunhellage Dona Nirodha Kalapni Niwunhella; Sheryl Wilkins; Halyna Hoisan; Tia Langdon; Ndata Bobb; Linner Sang; June Bunyan; Michelle Thomson; Ann Green; Shelley Davies; Anjanee Sandhir; Catalina Birlea; Chereiss Bailey; Sonia Exelby; Agnės Druskienės; Michele Kennedy; Angela Shellis; Stephanie Irons; Dickiesa Nurse; Natalie Egan; Colleen Westerman; Katie Fox; Lainie Williams; Lili Stojanova; Xiaoqing Ke; Julie Wilson; Maria Saceanu; Lisa Smith; Janet Bowen; Samantha Lee; Lisa-Marie Hopkins; Gilly Livie; Tania Williams; Gloria De Lazzari; Victoria Hart; Lisa Denton; Vanessa Pountney-Chadha; Helen Rundle; Anam Rafay; Rita Rowley; Amaal Raytaan; Carla-Maria Georgescu; Helen Bird; Angela Clayton; Naomi MacIvor; Carolann Barraclough; Jennifer Symonds; Ellie Flanagan; and two women in their 40s whose names have not yet been confirmed. Every single year, there is always a name that has to be written on at the end because it comes in as I am walking in—I say that to give the House an idea of how regularly this happens. That final name on this year’s list is Karlie Sone.
The following are women whose names have not been read out in previous years: Lat Parks; Delia McInerney; Lucy Harrison; Laleh Zarejouneghani; Judith Law; Jane Riddell; Dawn Kerr; Victoria Adams; Simone Smith; and Brigitta Rasuli. I am grateful to the women of the Femicide Census for completing the list—it was incomplete because the information was not known—so that those women can be remembered. I also want to take a moment to remember those who have died by suicide or in unexplained circumstances as a result of abuse. We commit to doing more, so that their names are not forgotten. The number of those women outstrips the number in the list that I have just read out by some margin.
We refuse to forget these women, who all deserved so much more. I want to once again thank the Femicide Census for the tireless work that goes into collating these names every year. We find it difficult to listen to them, but the Femicide Census look through every single story. I express my profound gratitude for the work that it does to raise awareness of women and girls who have been so tragically killed by men. There is so much more that I could say, but the list continues to speak for itself. I will finish by saying only this: may these women get the justice that they deserved, and may we honour them by preventing others from suffering the same fate.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered International Women’s Day.