I was very proud to attend the 69th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women held in New York representing the United Kingdom as Minister for Equalities. According to the UN, the Commission is the biggest global meetings on gender equality and is a principle global intergovernmental body that is exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women across the world. The UN describes the Commission on the Status of Women as instrumental in solely promoting the rights of women and girls by documenting the reality of their lives throughout the world and shapes global standards on gender equality.

The meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women is built on the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a key global policy document on gender equality that embodies the commitment of the international community to achieve gender equality and to provide better opportunities for women and girls. The meeting marked the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Themes across the 12 key areas of outcomes we want include women and poverty, women and health, women and the economy and women in power.

The conference sought for member states to agree on further actions to accelerate progress and promote the rights of women and girls. The aim of the meeting last week was to make the need to secure the empowerment and freedoms of women and girls clearer than ever as a global priority. To understand how we as a global community can work together to progress the equality of women, I met with international partners and civil society organisations.

Further to these meetings, I addressed a conference session on the role of women in the conflict and rebuilding of Ukraine. I was a panellist at a breakfast roundtable on women in entrepreneurship and in the care economy. I was also able to meet with counterparts from Sweden, Philippines, Gibraltar and South Africa. The conversations I had with the representatives from these countries highlighted the shared values amongst the international community of ensuring the empowerment, progression and freedoms of women and girls. My meeting with Minister Chikunga from South Africa discussed our shared commitment to the rights of all women. In particular, we addressed issues surrounding gender-based violence and its prevalence in South Africa.

The global mission to tackle gender-based violence is one that the UK is greatly committed to. That is why the UK is working internationally to advance equality, challenge discrimination and ensure that the rights of women and girls are protected.

With over one million VAWG related crimes recorded by the police in 2022/23 in the UK, equalling approximately 3,000 offences a day, the need to protect and empower women and girls in the UK has become more important than ever. We’ve set ourselves the ambitious mission of halving violence against women and girls within a decade, using every lever available to us. This mission demonstrates our commitment to tackling the root causes of violence, and securing women’s safety, now and for the next generation. The government is redoubling efforts to empower women at work and throughout society; and, working in coalition with women around the world, will stand up for the rights of all women and girls.

This is part of our Plan for Change as the government is committed to the social and economic progress of women. By utilising every government tool available, we will target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence.

The importance of this work and our leadership internationally is vital also for the change we work to bring in our communities. Ahead of my visit to New York I attended Hounslow Council’s International Women’s Day event where over 150 women from across Hounslow discussed the progress of women locally in our economy as well as women’s health and women’s safety. I was proud to take this message of how we are working locally and share it with leaders from across the world. By working together, we can help accelerate action and make a difference for future of women and girls in Hounslow and across the world.