Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help support the governments of (a) Senegal and (b) Mali in relation to the potential reduction of gender inequalities in (i) access to gold mining land and (ii) participation in the governance of the gold mining sector.

The UK contributes funding to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The initiative supports Senegal and Mali to improve good governance in the extractive and mining sectors to improve development impact and reduce poverty.

As part of EITI, countries are held to a global standard. This includes provisions which aim to improve the participation of women in extractive sector management and encourage the publication of data by gender. The UK also provides funding to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA). IDA works across the Sahel region on a range of governance programmes, including on governance of extractives, which seek to consider gender in programme design and implementation, and contribute to gender equality gains. The UK continues to promote gender equality and women's economic inclusion with our partners. For example, during my recent trip to Senegal, I met with the Senegalese Foreign Minister to discuss the importance of gender equality and women's economic empowerment.