Parliament debates bill to ensure aid spendingadvancesgender equality.

The UK parliament is currently debating the Gender Equality and International Development Bill.

If it becomes law the Bill will force the Secretary of State for International Development consider the role of women in all government supported overseas aid initiatives.

It would place a statutory obligation on the UK government to consider the impact of its overseas aid spending on reducing gender inequality.

The Bill was introduced to Parliament by Conservative MP Bill Cash who believes women are ‘prime movers’ in poorer parts of the world.

‘On a visit to India a few years ago… in the slums and among the ragpickers, it is women who are the driving force behind efforts to improve sanitation and water in Delhi and Mumbai.

‘Dividing up the slum areas into sectors, they raise one or two rupees from these desperately poor people, including themselves; but because of the scale of those in deepest poverty, weekly and monthly they raise millions of rupees, which are then invested in localised water and sanitation projects,’ Cash wrote recently in the New Statesman.

The Bill is supported by Water Aid, Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) and the Gender Rights and Equality Action Trust (GREAT) Initiative, a foundation to promote gender equality globally, established by writer and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, her husband Jason McCue and others.

Writing in the Huffington Post last week, singer and GREAT Initiative co-founder Karen Ruimy argued that gender inequality held back development.

“For instance early marriage and teenage pregnancy put a stop to the education of girls which means they cannot enter the workplace, which in turns slows down economic development.

“We also know that overseas aid can address or exacerbate gender inequality.

“For instance, a democratisation programme which fails to address the representation of women may lead to free and fair elections but may also lead to a male-dominated parliament.

“Women make up only 21 per cent of parliamentarians globally and it is critically important to address this.

“By considering the different needs of women and men in emergency situations, like the crises in Syria or the Philippines, or anywhere around the world that needs our provision and security, we can ensure that our aid is more effective and targets the most vulnerable in these situations, which is so often the women and girls.”

She told the Guardian, “In theory, gender equality should already exist, but we need to work on it every day,” and she hopes the bill will inspire other European politicians to assess their legislation.

The Bill has crossparty government support so is likely to become law. It is believed to be the first to enshrine in law a commitment to reduce gender equality through aid disbursements.