Dear Foreign Secretary,
This International Women’s Day reasons to celebrate are vastly outweighed by alarming injustices worldwide. Hard-won gains on gender equality are being rolled back. Women and girls, disproportionately impacted by conflict, climate change, and poverty, do not hold the equal power and rights they should, and are paying the price for decisions made primarily by men.
Yet funding to support them is dwindling.
We urge you to target at least 20% of UK aid directly on achieving gender equality. To ensure this aid delivers maximum impact for whole societies it must be accessible to women-led and women’s rights organisations.
This is more urgent than ever. The UK has a proud legacy of championing the rights of women and girls, yet funding is at its joint lowest on record - almost half what it was in 2019. While funding for women’s rights organisations rightly received a surge of investment in 2022, it has still dropped 26% since its peak and now represents just 0.3% of bilateral aid.
Your promise of a feminist approach to the UK’s foreign and development policy, and commitment to forging genuine partnerships with the global majority, offers an opportunity to reverse this trend.
Women are already leading efforts to tackle today’s greatest challenges - from humanitarian crises to grassroots movements and international negotiations. Yet their vital work is held back by attacks on their rights and a lack of investment in their leadership. Supporting women leaders is not just morally right - it is a smart economic and strategic move, in Britain’s interests. Closing gender gaps in employment could unlock $160 trillion of global wealth. Peace processes led by women are 35% more likely to last.
But at the current pace, achieving equality will take centuries - 286 years to close legal gaps, 140 years for equal leadership, and 40 years for gender parity in parliaments. When women are held back, so is progress on the most urgent challenges facing us.
We cannot wait generations for equality, prosperity, or peace. We ask you to deliver on your promises with deeds, not words.
Sincerely,
0 CARE supporters, activists and advocates