Defending Women’s Rights Across the Globe

Women’s rights worldwide are under increasing attack. The rise of authoritarianism, combined with the retreat of the UK and US from global leadership - especially through deep cuts to development funding - is rolling back hard-won progress.

Access to education, sexual health services, and protection from violence are all being undermined. This is not just a crisis for women and girls; it is a crisis for justice, equality, and global stability.

Yet both Labour and the Conservatives have weakened the UK’s ability to make a positive difference. Their dramatic cuts to the Official Development Assistance budget have slashed resources for vital programmes supporting women’s rights.

Liberal Democrats believe the Government must urgently recommit to championing gender equality worldwide. To do this, we must develop a roadmap for restoring the UK’s aid spending to 0.7% of gross national income and ensure at least 20% of that is dedicated to gender equality initiatives.

Today, our members have passed new policy which sets out a plan to defend women’s rights across the globe:

• Champion women’s economic empowerment by recognising unpaid care work, promoting equal economic rights, and supporting women’s access to finance and resources.
   
• Hold social media companies to account for misogyny online by pressuring them to improve content moderation and fix algorithms that promote harmful gendered content.
   
• Promote women’s political participation, using diplomatic influence and working to remove barriers like online harassment and lack of access to campaign funding.
   
• Lead globally in ending violence against women and girls, increasing ODA spending on prevention and survivor support.

These reforms are critical.

They will restore the UK’s role as a global defender of women’s rights, tackle online misogyny, empower women economically and politically, and help end violence that affects millions.

We cannot allow progress to be rolled back or abandoned. The UK must step up and act boldly on the world stage.

Women’s rights are being eroded - and defending them must be a top priority.