International Development (Gender Equality) Bill

Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton Excerpts

Friday 7th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton (Lab)]

My Lords, with the leave of the House and an apology for standing up too soon, I will speak briefly in the gap. I echo the words of the noble Lord, Lord McColl, having been present when some women from Haiti came to talk about the danger to women and girls who have to go outside their living area because of the lack of facilities for them, particularly at night. It is extremely important that that is recognised.

We have changed some attitudes in Europe over my lifetime. I remember that it takes time. As chair of education in Lancashire, I heard that a girl who was very good at mathematics was told by the head of mathematics, “Once we get to the fourth year, you will of course decline in your ability because you are female”. That was said only 30 years ago.

I speak as a mother of three sons and a grandmother of three grandsons. Gender equality is not only about ensuring that girls get access, very important though that is in its own right. When I look at pictures—as a grandmother, I am drawn to pictures of small boys who remind me of my grandsons—and see the ones who are in poverty, distress or illness, it occurs to me that they, too, are suffering because of the lack of education for women and girls. That is because women and girls are needed to complement the skills of humanity and they must have the ability to develop not only their own skills but those of their families—boys and girls. It is too late in some ways to change male attitudes if the experience that boys have in growing up is one where most people seem to accept that a girl’s education is unimportant. The world needs all the skills that it can get. The lives of many women are tied up in circumstances where world development can only assist the whole of humanity in the future.

Many people have paid tribute to the noble Lord, Lord McColl, for his work and it is so important that we recognise his words of warning. Tempted though your Lordships may be to add amendments to strengthen or change the Bill, I am sure that the noble Lord’s record calls on us all to avoid that temptation to produce amendments. I wish the noble Lord’s Bill well.