Women and Girls Strategy
This International Women's Day the Government have launched the new Women and Girls Strategy, which aims to tackle increasing threats to gender equality from climate change, humanitarian crises, conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, and recent attempts to roll back women’s rights, including in countries like Iran and Afghanistan.
For the first time, this strategy commits the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to more than 80% of its bilateral aid programmes including a focus on gender equality by 2030.
The Foreign Secretary has also announced a new emphasis on supporting grassroots women’s rights organisations, and funding for a Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights programme that will support an estimated 10 million women
The Women and Girls Strategy can be found here: International women and girls strategy 2023 to 2030 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Women in sports
The Government has today set out new standards for equal access to sports, making it clear that girls and boys should be offered the same sports during PE and extracurricular time in schools.
This follows on from the success of the Football Association’s (FA) #LetGirlsPlay campaign which is working to change perceptions and make sure girls get the chance to play football within the school curriculum, as well as at breaktime, after school and at local clubs.
The campaign was launched by the Lionesses squad and the FA after the England Women’s team’s success at the Euro 22 tournament last year.
Schools that successfully deliver equal opportunities for girls and boys will be rewarded through the School Games Mark, which will assess parity of provision in PE and extracurricular sport.
Schools are also being asked to offer a minimum of two hours curriculum PE time and Government will provide support to schools on how to do this through the upcoming refresh of the School Sport Action Plan.
Alongside this work, Ofsted will be publishing a report into PE in the coming months, which will inform future inspections and set out what they believe is possible in terms of offering high quality PE and equal access to sports.
This is backed by a package of cross-government funding to help boost sport and activities both inside and outside school hours including the confirmation of over £600 million in funding over the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium and £22 million for the School Games Organisers (SGO) network.
Further information can be found here: School sports given huge boost to level the playing field for next generation of Lionesses - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Women in the workplace
I passionately believe in supporting women in accessing and reaching their full potential in the workplace and I have tried to reflect this in everything I have done, and continue to do, as an MP and in my ministerial role. I was therefore delighted to announce the appointment of Helen Tomlinson as the new Menopause Employment Champion earlier this week.
As part of the voluntary role, Helen will focus on encouraging employers to develop menopause policies to create more supportive environments to help women experiencing menopause to stay and progress in work.
This builds on the government’s delivery of an ambitious plan to improve the health and wellbeing of women and girls, set out in the Women’s Health Strategy, in which menopause features as a priority area.