“This government is on course to go down in history as one of the worst for women and girls”
A leading international aid worker whose family led the UK’s suffragette movement has warned the government’s ongoing aid cuts will be “catastrophic for women and girls”.
Dr Helen Pankhurst, senior adviser on gender equality at NGO Care International UK, warned Sir Keir Starmer’s government is “on course to go down in history as one of the worst for women and girls”.
She wrote to the Guardian newspaper in her charity role with Care International UK - a global humanitarian organisation, committed to defeating poverty and inequality through work with women, and their communities, in over 120 countries facing the world’s most challenging situations.
Dr Pankhurst is also the great granddaughter of suffragette leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst.
In her letter, she said: “This government is on course to go down in history as one of the worst for women and girls. We already know that the aid cuts will be deadly, but wiping out all funding to programmes that support women and girls is a new low – even if the government is saying the budget for women and girls will be “mainstreamed” or folded into other programmes.
“Specific programmes help girls into education, help mothers deliver babies safely, and protect women from violence. While some governments are stepping back from supporting women, I never imagined the UK would follow suit. It’s not only catastrophic in the short term for women who will have life-saving support withdrawn but a shortsighted measure that will ultimately work against the government’s own peace, security and growth agenda.”
These latest concerns come after charity and NGO groups hit out at Aid Minister Baroness Jenny Chapman after she likened UK overseas development funding to “global charity”.
Dr Pankhurst added: “Evidence shows that when women thrive, communities and economies prosper, and societies become more peaceful. It’s in everyone’s interest to ensure that this rash decision, made to balance the books, doesn’t now cause irreparable harm in the long run.
“The government’s rhetoric about ‘global charity’ and its decision to make savings on the backs of women and girls marks a dangerous shift away from the British values of inclusion and solidarity that it claims to celebrate. This plan would not only be another broken manifesto pledge but it signifies the UK joining a tragic race to the bottom.”
