CARE International UK reacts to Andy Burnham taking over as Prime Minister and his subsequent announcement of Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary.
Helen McEachearn, CEO of CARE International UK said:
“Andy Burnham and Ed Miliband take office with the crucial opportunity to strengthen the UK’s allyship on global gender equality.
“I would like to express my personal gratitude to Yvette Cooper, whose commitment to women’s rights was a key driving force behind enshrining women and girls as a UK foreign policy priority.
“We now urge the new Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to recognise that defending the rights of women and girls is an inextricable part of protecting democratic values and fairness for all people, which belongs at the heart of global peace and security.”
The new ministers – the seventh Prime Minister and ninth Foreign Secretary in ten years - face a challenging landscape for gender equality with recent surveys by CARE indicating that:
· Women’s willingness to speak about politics has dropped to its lowest level since 1997
· 85% of UK adults think the UK should be involved in addressing women and girls’ rights around the world, but less than 4 in 10 (39%) of UK adults believed that Keir Starmer’s Labour government cared about the rights of women and girls.
Notes to Editors
· CARE International UK is a leading humanitarian organisation working with to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice in more than 120 countries.
· Please direct press enquiries or interview requests to press.uk@careinternational.org or contact Omer Hamid on +44 (0)7772047292.
