International Women’s Day 2025
International Women’s Day (IWD) was first marked in March 1911. Since then, much progress has been made in securing the rights of women and girls and moving towards a more fair and equal society.
However, there is no room for complacency in the struggle for gender equality. Projections from the World Economic Forum (WEF) indicate that it will take 134 years, nearly five generations, to reach gender parity at the current rate of progress. That would mean the global gender gap would close by 2158.
In light of these stark findings, the theme of IWD 2025 – which will be celebrated on 8 March 2025 – is ‘Accelerating Action’, advocating for increased momentum and urgency to address the systemic barriers and biases faced by women in personal and professional spaces.
Action to tackle entrenched gender inequality in the UK has stalled in recent years. Austerity and the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a decline in living standards that disproportionately impacted women, especially those on low incomes, lone mothers, Disabled women, and BAME women.
In order to address this, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has set out an ambitious policy programme as part of his Government’s “Plan for Change”. One of the core missions is to secure “Safer Streets”, an integral part of which is a commitment to halve Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in the next decade.
To meet this milestone and bolster gender equality more generally, the Government will need to consider taking a more innovative and gender-inclusive approach to policymaking, the lack of which costs the UK an estimated £94.9bn annually.
This blog will analyse the current state of play for gender equality in the UK, summarise policy efforts from the previous Conservative Government, and provide a snapshot of Labour’s engagement with gender equality measures so far.
The UK State of Play
The UK ranked 14th globally and 11th in the European region in the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index 2024, with a score of 0.789 out of 1 for its gender parity. The 2024 country analysis showed that the UK was doing significantly better in markers relating to “Educational Attainment” and “Health and Survival” compared to “Economic Participation and Opportunity” or “Political Empowerment”.
The UK’s global standing in Economic Participation and Opportunity has declined significantly since 2023, falling from 43rd to 58th in the world. In contrast, the country’s Educational Attainment had jumped from 34th in 2023 to being one of the top global contenders, coming in 1st in 2024.
Yet the UK’s Political Empowerment ranking remained largely unchanged between 2023 and 2024, rising by just one place to 18th in the world. If you dig deeper into this indicator, the breakdown is not as positive as the topline data initially appears. The UK comes in at 43rd for its percentage of women in Parliament and 36th for its percentage of women in Ministerial Positions.[1]
These figures improved after the 2024 General Election, which saw 263 women elected to Parliament, the highest ever number. Women MPs now make up 40.5 percent of the House of Commons. The Labour Government also has the most gender equal cabinet in British history, with 46 percent of ministerial positions being held by women, compared to 31 percent in the previous Conservative cabinet.
Domestic analysis by the UK’s equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that several high-profile cases had led to increased efforts from successive governments to combat VAWG. For example, ongoing challenges with low conviction rates for sexual offences have resulted in new policies, offences, and strategies being introduced in England, Wales, and Scotland.
The EHRC has also noted the legal recognition that women could be particularly disadvantaged compared to men as they disproportionately take on a primary caregiving role. The so-called “Motherhood Penalty” means that women are more likely to take on part-time, low-paid, or insecure work to accommodate caregiving responsibilities, impacting their earning potential and often trapping them in lower-paying roles. A lack of affordable and accessible childcare has also forced many women out of the workforce or into jobs with limited flexibility.
The gender pay gap
The gender pay gap in the UK unexpectedly increased in 2024, with Fawcett Society data showing that it had risen to 11.3 percent, compared to 10.7 percent in 2023. 45 percent of women in Great Britain thought that more should be done to address equal pay in relation to gender inequality. The EHRC found in 2023 that while the overall gap had narrowed slightly recently, there had been little change for more educated women. The EHRC identified child rearing as one of the key drivers of the gender pay gap.
On average, women do about 50 percent more unpaid work per week than men, and those with children are likely to see the income gap between themselves and their male counterparts open up considerably. Despite progress being made in this area, the UK’s gender pay gap is not set to close for a further 45 years.
The UK’s first female Chancellor, Rachel Reeves has reaffirmed her desire to close the gender pay gap.
Violence against women and girls
VAWG is an epidemic in British society, with the National Police Chiefs’ Council finding that 1 in 10 women were victims, and 1 in 12 people were estimated to be perpetrators.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales found that women were more likely to have experienced violent crime, with a higher proportion of women experiencing domestic abuse (6.6 percent), stalking (4.0 percent), sexual assault (3.4 percent), and harassment (11.2 percent) in the year ending (YE) March 2024 compared to men. In the YE March 2024, the police recorded 1,350,428 domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes in England and Wales; of those, 851,062 were recorded as domestic abuse-related crimes. Likewise, roughly 35 percent (69,958 offences) of all sexual offences recorded by the police in YE September 2024 were rape offences; an increase of 3 percent compared to YE September 2023.
Measures have been introduced by successive Governments to combat VAWG, especially in the wake of a number of high-profile cases involving serving Metropolitan police officers. However, levels of violence towards women and girls remain high.
The criminal justice system has also routinely failed to provide victims with adequate access to justice. Women, LGBT individuals and disabled people are more likely to report experiencing domestic or sexual abuse; and continuing regressive justice trends mean they are less likely to get a positive outcome from reporting. For example, there has been a sharp drop in charges for rape offences in England and Wales, with more women withdrawing their cases. The National Audit Office’s (NAO) recent report on Tackling VAWG highlighted that it took on average 158 days from police referral of a rape case to the CPS, for the CPS to then authorise a charge. This is in contrast to an average of 46 days for all other crime.
The Conservative Party’s Record
During their time in government, the Conservative Party implemented a raft of policy measures aimed at improving gender equality. These measures included the 2019 Gender Equality at Every Stage: a Roadmap for Change policy paper, introducing free period products into all state schools in 2020, abolishing the tampon tax in 2021, and publishing the 10-year Women’s Health Strategy for England in 2022. They also included measures in the Health and Care Act that banned ‘virginity testing’ and hymenoplasty, as well as making access to at-home abortion pills permanent.
The Conservative Party took a particular interest in policy aimed at providing better support for the menopause. A UK Menopause Taskforce was created in 2021, followed by an independent review into menopause and the workplace, which recommended the enforcement of section 14 of the Equality Act 2010. The enforcement of Section 14 would allow for ‘dual discrimination’ claims to be made, outlawing less favourable treatment because of a combination of two relevant protected characteristics. For example, a menopausal woman could bring a claim for discrimination on the combined grounds of age and sex.
Alongside this, the Women and Equalities Committee advised that menopause should become a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. The Government responded in 2023, indicating that it would not be progressing with either recommendation. Labour indicated before the 2024 General Election that it would be in favour of implementing the dual discrimination provisions under section 14 of the Equality Act.
Successive Conservative Prime Ministers also engaged with the issue of VAWG, especially after the murder of Sarah Everard in 2021. Legislative changes included a new “upskirting” offence created in the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019, and the investment of £159m in crime prevention measures through the Safer Streets Fund in 2020. In 2021 the Government then passed the Domestic Abuse Act, published the findings of its End-to-End Rape Review, and launched its Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls strategy. By July 2024, 78 percent of commitments made in both the VAWG Strategy and Domestic Abuse Plan had been met.
Further to this, in July 2022, the Government ratified the Istanbul Convention, which seeks to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. The Convention is seen as the gold standard legal framework for tackling VAWG. The UK had been a signatory to the Convention since 2012 but had not enforced it prior to its ratification. This delay was due to the UK’s domestic laws failing to meet the Convention’s requirements.
However, the implementation of these policies hindered their impact. The NAO found that the Home Office had not led an effective whole-system response in implementing the 2021 Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, noting that the Home Office’s dedicated VAWG Team found it “challenging to get buy-in from other government departments.” Likewise, the EHRC commented on the UK Government’s implementation of the Istanbul Convention, noting that some important steps had been taken to address VAWG, but that significant work still needed to be done to improve the situation for women and girls.
Labour’s plans
Since taking office in July 2024, the Labour Government has been resolute in its aim to make the streets safe again, including by halving VAWG in a decade and breaking down the barriers to opportunity. To support these missions, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has announced an extensive legislative agenda, including Rameen’s Law, a pilot of Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Orders, new stalking and spiking measures, the criminalising of sexually explicit ‘deepfake’ images, and the creation of a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection. In addition, the Government has committed to publishing a new VAWG strategy and proposed a review of the parental leave system.
The Government has also included measures which aim to promote gender equality in two of its flagship bills. The Employment Rights Bill includes positive measures to foster women’s workplace equality, such as enhanced flexible working, equality action plans to close the gender pay gap, stronger protections to end sexual harassment at work, and better protections against pregnancy and maternity discrimination. The Crime and Policing Bill contains changes to combat VAWG, including improved offender management, more rights for victims of stalking, and a new criminal offence of administering a harmful substance.
While the Government is taking positive action to affirm greater gender equality, its record is not unblemished. For example, Home Secretary Yvette Coopper announced in August 2024 that the Government intended to treat extreme misogyny as a form of extremism. This was contradicted by Minister for Security, Dan Jarvis, in January 2025, who seemingly confirmed there were no plans to expand the definition of extremism to include misogyny.
Likewise, in its manifesto, Labour promised to prioritise Women’s health. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has since faced backlash when Women’s health targets were seemingly excluded from the NHS 10-Year plan.
The future is female
The first six months of Labour’s term in office have shown a clear commitment to advancing gender equality and promoting women’s rights.
Now, the Government needs to fulfil its commitments and implement policies that will have positive, tangible outcomes for women and girls across the UK.
[1] Based on data from before the 2024 General Election