‘Violence against women and girls can be prevented. The UK can help lead the way’

Speak to frontline gender-based violence service providers in Rotherham or Halesowen, and then to women’s rights advocates in Lilongwe or Lahore, and the similarities are unsettlingly consistent. The risks and realities are not identical, and the scale can differ dramatically, but the underlying dynamics barely shift: unequal power, social norms that excuse harm, institutions that act only after the damage has been done, and the relentless resilience demanded of women and girls simply to live and lead without fear.

What we often treat as separate domestic or global struggles is, in practice, one connected fight. The drive for change travels across borders too – the organising, the courage and the refusal to be silent.

This is why the Foreign Secretary’s renewed focus on preventing violence against women and girls (VAWG) globally is so important. It recognises that no country can move towards prosperity, democracy or peace when those calling for change must first negotiate their own safety. Gender equality needs to be at the centre of foreign policy, rather than at its margins. 

READ MORE:‘Is feminism “back” at the Foreign Office?’

The UK has played a central role in building a global evidence base for what works in tackling VAWG. Over the past decade, the UK’s flagship ‘What Works to Prevent Violence’ initiative has been a landmark investment to understand how violence can be prevented before it occurs: the world’s first multi-country study to pilot and rigorously evaluate a range of approaches to preventing VAWG across 12 countries in Africa and Asia. Its conclusions are both clear and profoundly hopeful: violence is not inevitable. In fact, What Works’ evidence shows that well-designed programmes, implemented consistently over 2-3 years, can halve rates of violence. It recedes when communities challenge harmful norms; when men and boys are engaged as allies; when economic inequalities are reduced; and when interventions are shaped through the lived experience of the communities they’re meant to serve.

Another global study points to a deeper finding that holds across cultures and continents: the strongest predictor of whether a country passes robust laws to end violence against women and girls is not its national wealth, the ideological leaning of a government, or even the number of women in parliament. It is the strength of its independent women’s movement. These movements and organisations – sometimes small, rarely well-resourced, and often operating in challenging political climates – are the engine rooms of progress. They drive legislation, shift norms and demand accountability. They are, in effect, the most powerful catalysts for change we have and should be celebrated as such.

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This evidence should guide the UK’s choices at a time of tightening budgets and rising global pressures. Investment has to reach the places where impact is deepest and most durable: tackling the root causes of gender inequality and enabling women’s rights organisations to lead that work. That means funding that is direct, flexible and long-term, and a genuine partnership with civil society – drawing on the insight of organisations that understand the dynamics of violence, backlash and change from within their own communities. Civil society leadership strengthens prevention, sharpens policy, and protects the gains that are most at risk.

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If the Foreign Secretary wants British foreign policy to reflect the UK’s values and extend its influence, she has chosen the right place to begin. Tackling violence against women is both foundational and transformative. It is also an area where the UK can act as a committed partner, particularly as it advances its own ambitions to halve violence against women and girls at home. Violence is one of the sharpest edges of gender inequality, but it is also a point from which a more ambitious vision for change can grow – one that treats women’s rights not as an accessory to foreign policy, but as foreign policy itself; recognising that global security without women’s safety is no security at all. Our responsibility, as parliamentarians, is to keep the UK on that path. That means scrutiny of budgets, attention to delivery, and a consistent commitment to the principles the UK has long championed. It also means recognising that the fight against violence is not only a matter of rights but of stability, development, and the credibility of our foreign policy.

The women and organisations driving this work have shown what is possible. The UK can play a meaningful role by giving them the long-term support required to protect that progress.

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