Women: Public Life

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I was delighted with the debate in this and the other House. We congratulate the church on this historic event.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, there are 30 million women in the United Kingdom yet we seem to have problems finding 325 to become MPs. Is it not time that we studied successful examples in other countries which have adopted quotas in one form or another and different systems to achieve a better balance?

Women: Wages

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Wednesday 25th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I hope that the noble Baroness will be reassured that I have looked at the figures; I have them with me. She will know that the previous Government used the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which is what I have just cited, and not the survey she cited. That is in part because of the difference between median and mean, which no doubt I do not have to go into in depth with her. Also, the survey she is looking at went up in the last quarter, while now there is a slight drop. However, it is self-reported, whereas the survey I am referring to is based on PAYE and HMRC information. That is the survey the Government use and which her Government used.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, almost two-thirds of people in low-paid work, those earning £7 per hour or less, are women. The gender gap is still in existence, although it is narrowing, and women are still underrepresented in senior executive roles, particularly in science and technology. What is being done to take a really comprehensive look at the serious factors which contribute to gender inequalities in the workplace?

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend is right to highlight the different areas that men and women often work in. There is encouraging news in that the gender pay gap has narrowed and is now close to zero for full-time employees under the age of 40. However, you start to see a differential as you move into the older cohorts. That is to do with the areas that people work in and the fact that many more women are working part-time. The median hourly wage for part-time workers is £8.29 as opposed to £13.03 for full-time workers.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

There has been a huge amount of engagement. My honourable friends Jo Swinson and Jenny Willott, who is currently covering for Jo, have engaged with a number of NGOs. We have provided funding to the Women’s Resource Centre to enable it to launch its shadow report to the committee—that is, of course, an independent voice; we have provided the Equality and Human Rights Commission funding and other funding to enable people to feed into CEDAW and to report back on what CEDAW has said about the United Kingdom Government.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, the Government are to be congratulated on last week’s successful global summit and on working and leading on the elimination of sexual violence against women in war. Listening to my noble friend’s reply, I am disappointed that the Government will not nominate somebody for 2016. However, can the Minister say how the important work of CEDAW will be best promoted within the United Kingdom Parliament?

[Baroness Northover]

Some of the answers I have just given are relevant here. I point out that we agree with the strategy of the previous Government. The noble Baroness, Lady Kinnock, spoke in answer to my noble friend Lord Lester in 2010, pointing out the resources required to get such an expert in place and the need to prioritise. Meg Munn MP said that sometimes you need to make,

“difficult decisions about which bodies to seek election for”.—[Official Report, Commons, 29/4/08; col. 375W.]

We agree. The important thing here is the promotion of women’s rights, which we are doing at a number of different levels in the way the noble Baroness experienced last week at the summit.

Women: Inequality in Political and Public Life

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Baroness is quite right—progress is far too slow and much more needs to be done. Things are slowly speeding up. I am well aware of the work that she herself did in Wales to transform things in her party. I know also of the transformative effects that quotas have had in some of the Scandinavian countries so that they now no longer need to use quotas. It is very difficult under a non-proportional system to do that within the United Kingdom Parliament, but right across the board, whether it is women on boards, women in public life or women in Parliament, we are examining this extremely carefully. We absolutely take her underlying argument about the need for progress.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, there are 30 million women in this country, yet we seem to have great difficulty in finding 325 women to bring parity among MPs in the other place. When the Speaker’s Conference was set up by the previous Government in 2008 there was extensive examination of the diversity of Parliament. What progress has been made and are the recommendations that came out of that very good inquiry being implemented?

[Baroness Northover]

As my noble friend will know, we have implemented the provisions of the Equality Act in terms of enabling political parties to use positive action and women-only shortlists. Those were recommendations that came out of the Speaker’s Conference. We have also secured a commitment from the three main parties to provide greater transparency over candidate selection and launched the access to elected office for disabled people strategy. But my noble friend is quite right, as is the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, that more needs to be done.

International Development (Gender Equality) Bill

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Friday 7th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord McColl, for introducing this Bill to your Lordships’ House. I welcome and support this Bill. It is a subject I have spoken about on numerous occasions, as have many other noble Lords.

I am very pleased that gender equality and the empowerment of women are seen as essential for both the elimination of world poverty and the upholding of human rights. Supporting all efforts to achieve gender equality must be at the centre of the United Kingdom’s international development programmes. I know how much is already being done, which is why I particularly welcome the Bill.

We know that violence against women and girls is endemic in conflict areas and that its consequences are devastating and long-lasting, for not just the individual but the entire community. Sexual violence is not just a by-product of war, it is often a strategy of combat used systematically to terrorise and humiliate. This is a key element that needs urgent attention and vigilance.

Women and girls must be supported in all key areas in creating a positive and enabling environment for them. This can happen in a range of areas, such as: giving them a voice and accountability in terms of maternal mortality; gender violence, as I have mentioned; education, which is so key; conflict and post-conflict reconstruction; HIV and AIDS; and, of course, migration.

Giving women a voice and supporting women’s participation in national and local decision-making in promoting leadership are also essential. Supporting women in this way ensures that not just the women and their families but whole villages and whole areas are empowered. Women are given a voice where they have not had one in the past and have been silenced in the most horrific way.

I do not plan to speak for too long but I will turn to the women of Afghanistan, which is a subject that I have been particularly involved in and exercised about. We in the United Kingdom have a significant responsibility here. Afghanistan has been named the worst place in the world to be a woman, and it does not seem to be getting any better. Just a few days ago it was reported that a new Afghan law would allow men to attack their wives, daughters and sisters without fear of judicial punishment, undoing years of slow progress in tackling violence in a country that has been blighted by so-called honour killings, forced marriage and very vicious domestic abuse. The so-called honour killings by fathers and brothers who disapprove of women’s behaviour would be almost impossible to punish if this proposed law was enacted. This is shocking and unacceptable. It will make it impossible to prosecute cases of violence against women. The most vulnerable people will not get justice.

After all the years of conflict, war and the billions spent by the UK and other countries on this war, which was intended initially—if we cast our minds back—to free Afghan women from the violence meted out to them by the Taliban, it seems inconceivable that we can watch from the sidelines while this happens.

Countries that spent billions trying to improve justice and human rights are now focused largely on security and are retreating from Afghan politics. It is precisely for this reason that we need to commit that all future aid funds for these women are used to promote and protect women’s rights and education.

Human Rights Watch has said:

“Opponents of women's rights have been emboldened in the last year. They can see an opportunity right now to begin reversing women’s rights—no need to wait for 2015. The lack of response from donors has energised them further. Everyone has known since May that this law could be passed but we didn’t hear any donors speaking out about it publicly”.

This must not prevail. It would be a betrayal of these women.

Last year, I met a group of Afghan women MPs who were visiting our Parliament. I and others were struck by how brave these women were, facing threats daily just to be able to carry out their duties as Members of Parliament—threats that we could not possibly imagine here in the West. They were most concerned that once the troops withdrew this year they would be left even more vulnerable than they previously were. They were acutely aware of, and vocal on, how aid and progress made on, for example, girls’ education could so easily be dismantled. They all made a strong plea with us: that we ask the Government to ensure that funds for Afghan women be protected and be given specifically to the agencies which work with women, and not be allowed to be channelled through the Afghan Government, who we have seen are not reliable on these matters at the best of times.

I note the Secretary of State’s annual report on how effective aid has been in the pursuit of millennium development goal 3—to promote gender equality and empower women. The evidence for the need for this Bill is overwhelming. I again congratulate its initiator, Bill Cash MP, and we on these Benches fully support it.

Girls’ Education Challenge

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Baroness is right that combating violence against girls, as I have just addressed, is extremely important. It is no use trying to encourage girls to come to school if, on the way, they are attacked or will be attacked within the school. As the noble Baroness knows, dealing with this is a high priority right across DfID’s work, including in its education programmes.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, my noble friend will be aware of the particular challenges in Afghanistan, which is part of this programme. After the withdrawal planned for later this year, what steps will be taken to ensure that education for girls is maintained at the level it is currently at and to ensure that it continues?

[Baroness Northover]

When troops are drawn back from Afghanistan, as my noble friend will know, DfID’s commitment will be maintained because we are well aware that a more peaceful future is likely to be secured through the development of Afghanistan. Engaging girls and women is absolutely vital to that, and education is all part of it.

Equality and Human Rights Commission: Funding

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Monday 9th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I pay tribute to the noble Baroness for the work that she has done in this area. As she knows, the EHRC has its core funding for its core responsibilities and, obviously, in relation to the UN Human Rights Council, that is part of what it is doing. The grants that were rejected were rejected because they either duplicated what others were doing or were regarded as poor value for money. On building capacity for NGOs to contribute to UN treaty monitoring, there was a concern about duplication because many of the bid’s constituent parts may already be provided by others, including the voluntary sector.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, under Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Government are obliged to fund disabled people and organisations that support them. Is this still the case, given the changes that have recently been made?

[Baroness Northover]

We are very much committed to working with disabled people and their organisations. As I said, the EHRC has some core responsibilities; as regards those grants, we are talking about additional areas for which the EHRC put in bids. I can assure my noble friend that the EHRC plays an important part in the independent mechanism for monitoring the convention. A number of the EHRC’s bids for additional funding have not been approved in this instance because of the concern about value for money. However, that does not affect the EHRC’s core budget and its responsibilities.

International Day of the Girl

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to promote the education of girls around the world ahead of International Day of the Girl on 11 October.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, the UK Government place a high priority on girls’ education. In 2012-13 UK aid supported 2.8 million girls in primary education and helped 270,000 to go to lower secondary school. In addition, the UK’s flagship Girls’ Education Challenge will help a further 1 million of the world’s most marginalised girls to receive an education.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

I thank my noble friend for the informative Answer. However, she will be aware that 67% of illiterate people in the world are women and girls. Many have been denied access to education due to forced child marriage. This is a violation of girls’ basic rights and can lead to terrible consequences, such as death in childbirth. What is being done to ensure that Governments, particularly those in the Commonwealth and those in receipt of aid, are working to eliminate this appalling practice?

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend is right in what she says about child marriage. It is of course a reflection of the low status of women and girls, which is why investing in education and the long-term cultural changes that result from it is so important. Evidence shows that education may be the single most important factor in reducing child marriage. We address this explicitly, for example in our programme in Ethiopia, and we have other programmes in development in the DRC, Yemen and Zambia, because we recognise the importance of this issue.

Women: Rights

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

Thinking about this Question, it seemed to me that Emily Davison would not be totally satisfied by any means, but that she would be very pleased at certain things that have happened. That a female Member of the House of Lords is asking this Question to a female member of the ministerial team is a case in point. The fact that the noble Baroness and I have both been able to vote throughout our adult lives; the fact that both of us were admitted to degrees in our universities; the fact that both of us were able to secure PhDs and have careers are all tributes to Emily Davison and the suffragettes. However, I recognise that there is still much more that we need to do.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords, my noble friend will be aware that currently only 22% of MPs in the House of Commons are women. However, is she aware that only 35 women have ever held Cabinet positions in this country, and that since 1918 only 369 women have ever been elected as MPs? Finally, has the Minister noticed, as I have and as many noble Baronesses have mentioned privately to me, that of the 95 speakers who have put their name on the list to speak in the current debate on equal marriage, only 16 are women? What do these figures tell us about the current progress in the mother of all Parliaments?

[Baroness Northover]

I note what the noble Baroness says about the number of women MPs and Cabinet Ministers. It is also worth bearing in mind that until 1958 there were no women in this House of Parliament. There was universal suffrage in 1928, but that did not mean that there were women in both Houses of Parliament. She is right about those numbers, and most of them have come in recent times. The first thing is to make sure that we get women into Parliament. I pay tribute to the party opposite for the efforts it has made and to the parties on this side for moving ahead in this regard. This is extremely important, and by getting women in, we get them to all levels of government.

Syria: Humanitarian Aid

Baroness Hussein-Ece Excerpts

Tuesday 18th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The right reverend Prelate makes an important point. One of the striking things about this conflict, as in other cases, is the large amount of sexual violence, which is widespread and systematic. We hear reports of sexual abuse and domestic violence, and also of young girls being forced into early marriage among the refugees. Therefore we are extremely concerned.

We are providing clinical care and counselling for 12,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan who have experienced such trauma and sexual assault. I note the point about making sure that this is documented. It has struck me that this is better documented than may have been the case in the past but we still have a long way to go in terms of recognising the significance of this.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords, my noble friend will be aware that Turkey is shouldering the cost of the humanitarian aid for people from Syria crossing over its borders. They are currently accommodating 138,000 refugees in 14 camps at a cost so far of $500 million and rising. So, in the absence of any peace deal, what steps is the United Kingdom taking to lead international efforts to increase aid and support to Turkey, and what proportion of the figure she quoted earlier is going to Turkey?

[Baroness Northover]

We certainly commend Turkey’s extraordinary hospitality in looking after the Syrian refugees who are crossing their border. As I mentioned, the UK is providing £24 million in humanitarian aid. Overall, we are providing £53.5 million in response to the crisis; £29.5 million is going to those inside Syria; £24 million is going to the refugees outside, of which £3 million is supporting refugees in Turkey.

We are working with the international community, which is focused on supporting the neighbouring countries, and we will keep this under constant review.