International Development (Gender Equality) Bill

Baroness Jenkin of Kennington Excerpts

Friday 7th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Con)]

My Lords, in the three years that I have been in this House, we have had the opportunity and the privilege to debate many of these issues on a number of occasions. It is, therefore, very tempting for me merely to say, “I support this Bill; it is the right thing to do”, and sit down, because we have already had the chance to make these points. However, they are such important points, and so many women across the world have such terrible lives, that I fear I am not going to let your Lordships off so lightly.

I start by echoing the praise of the noble Lord, Lord Quirk, for the noble Lord, Lord McColl. I am lucky enough to share a room with the noble Lord, Lord McColl; I can speak at first hand of his enormous support for many good causes, of his personal support for me, which I very much value, and of his extreme modesty in the wonderful causes that he supports. I quite often have come back after the recess and said, “Have you had a good time, Ian?” and he has said, “Oh yes, I was operating on the Mercy Ships all the way through”. His dedication to these causes is something to be applauded and something that we should all honour as well.

Considering that the International Development (Gender Equality) Bill was originally No. 18 on the Private Members’ Bills ballot, it is a significant achievement that we are having this debate at all. Without the support of my right honourable friend the Prime Minister and the dedication of Bill Cash in getting it through, as well as the support of the International Development Secretary, we would not have got this far. I would like to pay tribute to her and to her predecessor, Andrew Mitchell; they both focused particularly on policy work at DfID to support women and girls.

Women across the world, whether they live in Sweden or Sudan, are entitled to live their lives with dignity, free from fear and empowered to control their own futures. However, while we know that women are integral to the development agenda, it remains the case that in many parts of the world their contributions are neither valued nor encouraged, as the noble Lord, Lord Quirk, told us so eloquently. There have already been significant steps taken to challenge the status quo, but the pursuit of gender equality cannot be just an element of the international development agenda. It is true that one of the eight millennium development goals is focused on women and girls, but should this mean that they are excluded from the other seven? Of course not.

Nevertheless, for poor women in poor places, significant gender gaps remain in education enrolment, fertility, access to healthcare and access to the local economic market. Women produce 50% of the world’s food and yet they earn only 10% of its income and own only 1% of its property. Women do not participate in society on equal terms with men, meaning that they are largely ignored in the decision-making process. It is not a coincidence that women in wealthier sections of society have not only received an education, but are more prominent within their communities. Even where developing countries as a whole are getting richer, differences between men and women remain, entrenched in ideology, despite nearly a century of women’s activism.

The participation of women in their communities and wider society is invaluable. Government agendas which fail to address the representation of women may lead to free and fair elections initially, but a male-dominated parliament, as we know only too well, will never be able fully to tap into and harness the entire population’s potential and capacity. Furthermore, by considering the different needs of men and women in emergency aid situations, we can better target our aid at the vulnerable, helping those who need it most. Systemic shocks, such as famine, economic downturn and conflict, adversely affect males and females, and yet women often suffer disproportionately and have very little say in rebuilding their communities after such events. Fewer than 3% of signatories to peace agreements are female.

DfID’s record on assisting women has been really good. Due to the department’s focus on the women’s and girls’ agenda, more than 14 million women have gained access to financial services; almost 3 million girls are in primary education; and more than 4 million women are using modern methods of family planning. The Government should be commended on these successes. The value of these achievements should not be underestimated. By promoting equality between the sexes, we can ensure that women receive a full education, marry and have children later in life and fully participate in their communities.

Let us take a moment to look at the evidence. An extra year of secondary schooling for girls can increase their future wages by 10% to 20%. Putting resources in women’s hands results in more household spending that benefits children, and a recent study of 30 developing countries showed that women with no schooling had three more children on average than women who attended high school. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that equalising access to productive resources between men and women could raise output in developing countries by as much as 4%. Estimates of the loss of growth owing to gender inequality in education range from 0.3% in sub-Saharan Africa to 0.81% in south Asia. It cannot be said often enough that when half the population is locked out of education and economic opportunity, there is no realistic path to sustainability. Without gender equality, economic prosperity will remain a dream.

As has already been mentioned, education is the solution. By integrating boys and girls in early childhood on an equal footing in an educational environment, entrenched sexism can be eradicated. We must ensure that this integration does not end at puberty. Equality for girls must continue into their teenage and adult years. Access to micro-finance initiatives and the ability to own their own land are as important for women as early-years education. Ultimately, women will escape poverty not, of course, through international aid but through business. They must be able to reap the benefits of their own hard work for themselves and their families.

While I recognise fully that households where women have a greater say tend to allocate a greater share of resources to education and health, these aspects of family life should not be entirely relegated to mothers and female family members. Programmes implemented in the developing world ensuring that children receive regular health checks and vaccinations are very often targeted at mothers, unintentionally reinforcing the stereotype that childcare is very much their remit only. By simply changing the word “mother” to “parent”, or including pictures of fathers and children in literature and posters, we can challenge the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. By doing this, we can begin to combat the exclusion of women from wider society.

My noble friend Lady Hussein-Ece focused her remarks on violence against women, and I will not repeat her arguments. Suffice it to say that one in three women worldwide will experience violence in their lifetime; by 2050, 50 million girls will have been forced into marriage before even reaching their 15th birthday. One woman from Tanzania recently reported:

“I see some women being beaten by their husband every day. When you talk to them, they say they are married and they cannot separate. These women will never climb the ladder: they will stay at the bottom”.

There you have it.

Another challenge to gender equality is access to contraception and choice over birth spacing. Traditional contraceptive methods are usually dependent on the co-operation of men, resulting in more than 200 million women who do not want to be pregnant but are not able to use contraceptives. This means that they cannot determine when to have their children and have a harder time feeding them, paying their medical bills and providing them with education. They are trapped in this vicious cycle of poverty, which could be broken simply by providing women with their own contraceptive methods. Again, this can be implemented through education.

I know that my honourable friend in the House of Commons has worked closely on his Bill with the Gender Rights & Equality Action Trust, otherwise known as the GREAT initiative. This organisation also deserves to be commended for its dedication to ensuring gender equality across the developing world. It runs a number of worthwhile projects, including the “Great Men Value Women” campaign, which works with teenage boys to give them a safe space to discuss their vision of masculinity and the tools they need to challenge the stereotypes to which they are often required to conform. Projects such as these are also vital to the gender equality agenda.

I applaud the Secretary of State’s commitment to this Bill and am grateful for the Opposition’s support as well. Who knows what might follow in the future without this Bill, which will enshrine in law Britain’s commitment to promoting gender equality around the world? It will also introduce a reporting duty on the Department for International Development, ensuring that all future Governments are held to account on this issue. It is only through passing the Bill that we can ensure the continuity of the equality agenda, not just for today’s Government but for all Governments.