Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Oliver Heald

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)]

5. What steps she is taking to promote female economic empowerment in the poorest countries.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

No country can develop while half its population is locked out of that process, which is why I have placed improving the prospects for girls and women around the world at the heart of DFID’s work. I am honoured to have been appointed recently by the UN Secretary General to the new UN high-level panel on women’s economic empowerment, joining leaders of the World Bank, the IMF, the private sector and civil society to drive that agenda forward.

[Sir Oliver Heald]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that there needs to be a particular focus in the poorest countries on rural development and agriculture? It is women who produce most of the food and who are responsible for its security. Does she agree that if we can improve the productivity of women and empower them, we can reduce poverty and see growth in the countries that need it?

[Justine Greening]

My hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right. Agriculture is a key economic sector of most of those countries. A recent McKinsey report states that the achievement of gender parity at a regional level, so that each country matches the best progress of the best country in its region, would add 11% of global GDP by 2025—a huge economic lever for all of us to pull.