Author: Julia Sun
The UK’s Strategy for Women and Girls 2023-2030 aims to address challenges such as climate change, humanitarian crises, and the war in Ukraine. The strategy promises that by 2030, the UK’s bilateral official development assistance projects will include gender equality content.
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On March 8, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly released the UK’s 2023-2030 Strategy for Women and Girls. The strategy aims to address challenges such as climate change, humanitarian crises, the war in Ukraine, and the growing threats to global gender equality from further erosion of women’s rights in Iran and Afghanistan. The strategy proposes that by 2030, the UK’s bilateral official development assistance projects will include content that promotes gender equality.
What priority areas and objectives does the new strategy focus on?
The new strategy reaffirms the UK’s three priority areas for gender equality: girls’ education, empowering women and girls’ rights and health, and ending gender-based violence (education, empowerment, and ending violence). Although the strategy does not provide corresponding financing commitments, it proposes three new goals for the work of the British Commonwealth Office for Foreign Affairs and Development (FCDO).
First, prioritize giving voices to women and girls at the grassroots level by supporting women’s rights organizations.The UK is committed to building a global network of partners and using the UK’s position at the UN, G7, G20, OECD and international financial institutions, as well as the UK’s network of embassies and consulates abroad, to protect the rights of women and girls. The UK is also proposing a new global learning alliance to counter the rollback of women’s and girls’ rights and mobilize more international support for innovative global gender initiatives.
Second, put women and girls at the center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development’s work.The UK has committed that by 2030, 80% bilateral official development assistance will include content that promotes gender equality. The UK has announced it will provide £38 million to partner with Canada’s Equality Fund to provide long-term, flexible funding for grassroots women’s rights organizations. The new strategy will prioritize support for often-neglected gender issues such as safe abortion, sex education, support for women with disabilities, sexual and reproductive health rights in humanitarian emergencies, child marriage and conflict-related sexual violence. In addition, the UK will prioritize investment in innovative financing instruments and establish new cross-sector partnerships with donor countries, middle-income countries, low-income countries, multilateral organizations and the private sector to support women and girls’ access to technology or education.
Third, provide new knowledge, evidence and research services.The UK has committed to establishing a new gender equality resource network to provide more accessible technical knowledge and guidance. The UK will also establish a center of expertise in gender education to share relevant research with policymakers and drive evidence-based policy development. In addition, the UK will propose solutions to expand women's voices, employment and incomes, and share relevant cases and evidence through the Center of Expertise on Green and Inclusive Growth.
What management principles does the new strategy follow?
The new Strategy for Women and Girls will be guided by five governance principles: speaking out for the rights and freedoms of women and girls; supporting grassroots women’s organizations; and investing in key life stages of women and girls, including investing in early childhood, basic learning, adolescence, and pregnancy. and childbirth and transition into the labor market, ensuring lifelong and intergenerational impacts; supporting women and girls in humanitarian work; and strengthening key systemic changes in politics, economics, and other areas that support gender equality and embrace innovative financing models and technology.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development appointed a new external expert committee on gender challenges to guide the implementation of the new strategy, develop phased goals and implementation plans, and track implementation progress through biennial public reports.
Announced alongside the new strategy is a new women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights program focused on supporting sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest rates of child marriage and maternal mortality. The project has a total funding of 200 million pounds (approximately US$244 million) and is expected to benefit more than 10 million women.
What is the feedback from all walks of life in the UK on the new strategy?
Because of the turmoil in British politics, the Women and Girls Strategy, originally planned to be released in 2022, has been postponed to this year. Several NGOs welcomed the launch of the new strategy. Jess Tomlin, co-chief executive of Equality Canada, is "excited" about this. She believes that a just, sustainable, prosperous future depends on gender equality solutions, and that every sector should work together with boldness and urgency to provide resources to women’s rights organizations around the world.
Stephanie Siddall, director of global policy and advocacy at the International Women's Association, believes that cuts in the UK's aid budget will have a greater impact on women. Any new strategy will require funding to offset the impact of aid funding cuts. Providing £200 million to support women's sexual health programs and £38 million to support women's rights organizations and grassroots movements will undoubtedly help support the feminist movement, but compared with no longer spending 0.7% of national income on foreign aid, These funds are just a “drop in the ocean.”
Manali Desai, head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and an expert on gender-based violence in India and South Asia, believes that the UK needs to integrate the new "Strategy for Women and Girls" with the poverty, climate change, and war currently faced by recipient areas. , immigration and education, because the impact on women and girls is very specific.
Bethan Cobley, director of advocacy and partnerships at MSI Reproductive Choice, said the new strategy was an "important first step." She believes that adequate and sustained resourcing and implementation through UK projects and global reach is vital.
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Comment (1)
Terence Spaull| November 20, 2023
Dear idobserver.org administrator, Your posts are always well-delivered and engaging.