Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department is making on achieving Sustainable Development Goal number five to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

The UK is an international leader on gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment. Our leadership is backed up by manifesto commitments and legislation which put gender equality at the heart of our development and humanitarian spending. DFID’s contribution to Sustainable Development Goal Five includes results on a large scale - supporting 3.3 million girls to gain a decent education and reaching 7.3 million women and girls with humanitarian assistance in the last two years alone. We use development, diplomatic, defence and trade approaches and influence across the British government to ensure we empower all girls and women.