International Women's Day: support for girls' education across the globe

That this House notes with concern the findings of UN Women's report 'From Insight to Action: Gender Equality in the Wake of COVID-19' that without coordinated action to mitigate the gendered impacts of COVID-19, there is a risk that the fragile gender equality gains achieved over the past 25 years will be lost; acknowledges the continued importance of the Sustainable Development Goals as road maps to combat gender inequality in the UK and abroad; notes that before 2020, 130 million girls had no access to education and that this number has now increased as a result of inequality gaps caused by the coronavirus pandemic; further notes the important role that UK development spending has historically played working to ensure girls across the globe have access to education; draws attention to the fact that UK development spending cuts will drastically impact girls' access to education across the globe, as education programmes see a reduction in funding; and urges the Government to recommit to 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income to be spent on international development, as set out in their manifesto.