International Women's Day

Baroness Howe of Idlicote Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

My Lords, I, too, join in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, for her ability in securing this debate, which gives us this welcome opportunity to comment—alas, all too briefly—on the global and domestic challenges women still face today.

On the UK front, I shall comment only on women on boards. It really is shaming that although it is almost 100 years since women had the right to vote and 40 years since the Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act, the percentage of women on the boards of the FTSE 100 companies remains as low as 12.5 per cent. If no further decisive action is taken, it has been estimated that it will take another 70 years to achieve gender balance on those boards. Although some of us might have preferred compulsory targets right now, the report by the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Abersoch, requiring these companies to set and publish 25 per cent targets for the percentage of women to be on their boards by 2015 clearly makes economic as well as equal opportunity sense as a next step.

Today, there are more women than men enrolled in universities in this country, and importantly, women in their 20s out-earn their male peers even if, as we all know—and we all know the reasons why—women still face a powerful glass ceiling as they move up that ladder. Yet, as a recent McKinsey report has found, companies with more women on their boards vastly outperform their rivals, with a 42 per cent higher return on sales and a 66 per cent higher return on invested capital. At least the Davies report contains a clear message that legislation will indeed follow if this voluntary approach fails, so let us congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and keep a close eye on what the Government intend to do about it.

Education on the same basis for male and female children is crucial to maximise the contribution women make for their own, their children’s and their country's benefit. In the UK, that has been the situation—with some uneven areas, of course—for many years. At the global level, particularly in developing countries, sadly the picture is very different, yet we all know it is in our interests to invest in girls and women’s education there too. Certainly, we can all be proud of the wide-ranging international aid work done in many areas of social need by organisations such as Save the Children, UNICEF and PLAN International.

Particularly important for its focus on girls’ education is the quite excellent report by PLAN International’s “Because I am a girl” programme, which highlights the role that girls and women can play in economic growth and the missed opportunities of failing to invest in their futures. PLAN’s report showed that countries with the lowest number of girls in education lie at the bottom of the human development tables. Further, it found that an extra year of education increases a girl’s income by 10 to 20 per cent and is a significant step on the road to breaking the cycle of poverty. With education, girls have a chance of a better life for themselves and for their children and one which will lead to a more prosperous community, a better workplace and a wealthier nation.

I am glad to say, too, that DfID's approach under the previous Government to this whole area has been encouraging and I gather it continues to be so under the coalition. Your Lordships will have seen the two major reviews from the department, published this week. In his covering letter, Andrew Mitchell, the coalition’s International Development Secretary, commits the Government to securing schooling for 11 million children in developing countries over the next four years. I hope that the Minister will confirm that this is a firm commitment because, if achieved, DfID will certainly deserve our congratulations.

If that phrase “Education, education, education”, which we remember, is an acknowledged No. 1 priority for future generations of both sexes one other, equally vital, issue must be tackled for women and girls if they are to achieve equality and human rights. The UN Security Council’s Resolution 1325, aimed at fighting gender-based violence and conflict, among other issues, has apparently been much discussed this past week at the meeting in New York of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Although some progress is recognised, only 24 out of 195 countries worldwide have adopted a national action plan for women, peace and security. To put it bluntly, until it is no longer acceptable anywhere in the world for an army, whether a nation's official army or any rebel military group, to regard rape and violence against women and children as one of the spoils—indeed, the rewards—of war, we shall not achieve Resolution 1325 or all the objectives that we are fighting for.