Government cuts to international aid spending means the UK is losing hard-won gains for the rights of women and girls around the world, a new report by MPs has warned.
The cross-party International Development Committee said reductions in funding, staffing and expertise are undermining Britain’s ability to support women and girls in conflict-affected countries.
It said the government’s commitment to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda “appears to be waning”, despite rising global instability and increasing threats to women’s rights.
“The future of the Women, Peace and Security agenda hangs in the balance,” MPs said in the Peace under pressure: Protecting Women, Peace and Security report, warning that the government is “at risk of inflicting damage to its reputation” and “standing idly by whilst hard-won gains in global gender equality are lost.”
With global conflict at its highest level in decades and a growing backlash against women’s rights, the committee report said that these commitments are “more important than ever”. Yet, it adds, “the government’s commitment… appears to be waning.”
The most immediate pressure comes from cuts to official development assistance, reduced from 0.7 per cent of national income to 0.5 per cent in recent years – and now to 0.3 per cent. Funding women’s rights organisations has been slashed by as much as two-thirds, with MPs warning that this “compromises the delivery” of key programmes and “regresses the work of the UK and its partners.”
These cuts translate into fewer girls in school, reduced humanitarian support and diminished access to healthcare. Previous analysis cited by the committee found that millions fewer women and girls are now reached by UK-funded programmes – a reversal that MPs describe as a “serious blow” to long-term progress.
Writing in The Independent in tandem with the report, the chair of the International Committee, Labour’s Sarah Champion said: “It is getting increasingly hard to square the encouraging rhetoric we have heard… with the reality of what is happening on the ground”
“As we get the detail of the latest aid cuts, the full impact on women and girls is yet to come… We need to see ministers backing up their rhetoric with substantive action and adequate funding,” she added.
Ministers insist priorities around the rights of women and girls remain intact but MPs point to a hollowing-out of capacity within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where staffing cuts and a loss of gender expertise are said to be undermining delivery.
“The government cannot expect to deliver on these commitments without this expertise,” the report said.
At the same time, Britain’s leadership on the world stage appears to be faltering. Despite holding a key role at the United Nations, the UK failed to convene a dedicated session on women, peace and security during its presidency of the Security Council – something MPs say raises questions about its willingness to lead.
The committee also identifies a deeper structural weakness with a lack of transparency. There is no clear, ring-fenced budget for WPS programmes and MPs warn that “tangible progress cannot be made” without proper resourcing or accountability.
Perhaps most troubling is the broader shift in priorities. As defence spending rises and aid shrinks, MPs caution that gender equality risks slipping down the agenda.
“Gender equality should not become a footnote in UK diplomacy,” they warn, urging ministers to use Britain’s influence to “strengthen the implementation” of its commitments.
The government maintains that it is “mainstreaming” gender across its work. Critics, however, argue that without dedicated funding and focus, such an approach risks making the issue “effectively invisible”.
The committee is calling on ministers to set out how future programmes will be funded and to ensure that support for women and girls remains a priority. It said the upcoming refresh of the government’s strategy would be a key test of whether the UK can maintain its role as a global leader on women’s rights.
“With conflict on the rise around the world, and women and girls frequently bearing the brunt, advancing the WPS agenda could not be more critical, Ms Champion wrote. “If we shift gear now, we could fill what is a fast-emerging gap in WPS leadership,” she added. “If we keep standing still, we risk making all the right noises about supporting women and girls whilst hard-won gains are lost and gender equality becomes a footnote in UK diplomacy”.
This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project
