Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of public-private sector partnerships for improving gender equality in developing countries.

Working with the private sector can crowd additional finance to benefit women and girls including through more productive jobs. DFID’s Work and Opportunities for Women is advising British multinational companies to secure better paid and secure work for 400,000 women in global supply chains. Our co-financing of the G20 Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative will help reach 115,000 women entrepreneurs in developing countries and mobilise additional public and private sector resources of $2.6 billion. CDC has co-led a collective commitment by the G7 Development Finance Institutions to mobilise $3 billion of public and private investments advancing gender equality in developing countries.