International Women’s Day

My Lords, I add my thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Hendon, for this debate. I received the briefing pack prepared by the House of Commons Library, with the social and general statistics setting out the trends in female representation in public life. The note covers politics, public appointments, civil servants, the judiciary, the NHS, education and leading private sector vocations. Many of the statistics have already been quoted by the noble Lord, Lord Parekh. I will resist the temptation to repeat them. The statistics are predictable. The rate of advancement of women has been slow, and there remain many areas and positions where women are significantly underrepresented. I will come back to my perennial grumble. I say this every time I speak in such debates. One significant area where there is zero representation of women is on our Bishops’ Benches. I do not for one minute underestimate their contribution on equality matters, but it would be helpful to know when we can expect this anomaly to be rectified. It is right that we celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women; but there is much more to be done. This debate comes in a week when the London Evening Standard has highlighted the dispossessed in our society. It has called for action to tackle deprivation. It talks about a London which has two faces. In the richest capital in Europe, almost half our children live below the poverty line. A society cannot live in peace and celebrate success if a great many of our population live in poverty and squalor. The London Evening Standard deserves our praise. It should galvanise politicians to realise that promises alone are not enough. There must be a determined effort to eradicate the factors that condemn individuals to the so-called cycle of deprivation. Elimination of poverty and deprivation, both nationally and internationally, should not remain simply a political issue. Although many decisions that politicians make impact substantially on poor and deprived communities, there is also a significant role for voluntary organisations. I declare an interest: I am associated with Plan International. It is an independent organisation with no religious, political or governmental affiliation. It has a vision of a world in which all children reach their full potential in societies that respect people's rights and dignity. Our research into the state of the world's girls and young women over the past three years has revealed that they are often among the most vulnerable people in any given community: more likely to miss out on education and less able than their brothers to make a living. Those of us who are associated with projects both here and abroad can confirm that there are few, if any, cultures where women are not the primary carers for their own and other people's children. No one can dispute that girls are as capable as boys. Wherever in the world resources are provided for their advancement and development the results are striking. Give a girl skills and opportunities and we will be rewarded with a healthier, more educated, society. The single best investment is to prioritise adolescent girls’ access to education. Plan International has concluded—and we all agree—that investment in a healthier, better educated, more economically capable generation will, when multiplied, have a massive impact on the productivity and economic viability of the country that invested initially in just one girl. Since this is a time-limited debate, I will avoid the use of statistics, except to say that I commend the report, I am a Girl, which has been produced by Plan International. The key recommendations we should be pursuing are: prioritising girls’ education; challenging gender stereotypes; educating girls in post-conflict and post-disaster settings; increasing vocational training opportunities; listening to and involving girls; and collecting better data on female outcomes in education. These are not just my recommendations but the recommendations of a number of similar organisations. Let us hope that we can move in that direction.