Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of Women and Girls Left Behind: Glaring Gaps in Pandemic Responses, published by UN Women on 17 December 2021.

We know that women and girls are amongst the hardest hit by the indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why the FCDO has been working with international partners to ensure the needs and priorities of women and girls are central to every aspect of our response.

This has included donating £10 million for the United Nations Population Fund's COVID-19 response and an additional £1 million to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women for the COVID-19 Crisis Response Window. This funding helped address reproductive health supply shortages caused by the pandemic, and scale up reporting, protection, and support services for women and girls affected by the surge in gender based violance (GBV). In addition, FCDO has supported over 40 countries to flex and adapt their social protection systems in response to COVID-19. This integrated a focus on gender equality and social inclusion to support women disproportionately impacted by the crisis. Social protection when well-designed can increase women's economic participation and reduce their unpaid care responsibilities, which have increased during the COVID crisis. The FCDO will continue to champion women and girls rights because that's the only way we will create a fairer, safer and more prosperous world.