Tackling violence against women and girls means dismantling the systems that enable it

This week, when the UK co-hosts a major conference on the future of international development in London, violence against women and girls will be firmly on the agenda. Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper is set to speak at a key plenary discussion on the issue at the Global Partnerships Conference, following repeated commitments from the government to place women and girls at the centre of UK foreign policy.

At a time when gender rights are under attack around the globe, the UK is right to recognise this as a priority. Violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most pervasive human rights abuses, affecting one in three women globally. But violence does not happen in a vacuum. Unless we also confront the systems that enable violence, it will never be eradicated. 

Women’s rights organisations working across the globe to tackle gender-based violence understand this. Not only do they deliver vital specialist services to women and girls, they also use their deep knowledge of the root causes of violence in their contexts to advocate for survivors and to hold their governments to account.

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They understand that patriarchy does not operate alone. Extractive economic systems and the legacy of colonialism play a key part in creating the conditions in which violence against women and girls is normalised and entrenched. Economic policies such as austerity are not neutral financial tools; they have profound gendered consequences.

Cuts to public spending often means less funding for healthcare, social protection, domestic abuse services and sexual health clinics – services women and girls disproportionately rely on. In the UK, during the austerity period following 2010, funding from local authorities to the domestic and sexual abuse sector was slashed by almost a third in a single year.  

Across many countries in the global majority, austerity measures promoted by institutions such as the IMF have hollowed out public services, leaving hospitals understaffed, schools underfunded and, as ActionAid research has shown, women and girls excluded from support services.

Women are often concentrated in public sector jobs, meaning they are also among the first to lose income and security when services are cut. At the same time, weakened social safety nets and rising poverty can leave women more vulnerable to exploitation and make it harder for those experiencing abuse to leave unsafe situations.

If the UK government wants to meet its commitments to women and girls, it must challenge the unjust economic systems that drive inequality and harm. That includes supporting meaningful debt cancellation through the G20, championing fairer global tax systems and backing reforms such as the UN Tax Convention, which could help unlock billions for public services including healthcare, education and domestic abuse support. 

Funding for the women’s rights organisations that are so vital in understanding and preventing violence is also essential. Yet deep cuts to foreign spending by governments have left many of them having to scale back crucial services, or even fighting for their survival. Around half of women’s rights organisations working in humanitarian settings surveyed last year said funding cuts had forced them to suspend programmes, including support services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. 

In the UK, the government’s decision to reduce the official development assistance (ODA) budget to 0.3% of GDP by 2027/28 – pushing UK spending to its lowest level since 2008 – is already seeing women and girls pay the price. Analysis has found that support for girls’ education and sexual and reproductive healthcare are among the programmes most affected by cuts. The UK government must restore its commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on ODA, while at the same time pushing for wider structural reforms.

This week’s conference also presents an opportunity for the UK government to rethink how it works with civil society. Too often, women-led organisations are consulted superficially while larger international actors retain power and resources. Real partnership means long-term, flexible funding, genuine co-design and accountability to the communities most affected.  

Women’s rights organisations are already leading transformative work, from supporting survivors and challenging discriminatory laws to organising against the economic policies that deepen inequality. Groups such as the Young Urban Women’s Movement, working across Malawi, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya, are directly campaigning on the links between economic injustice and gender-based violence and demanding change from their governments and international institutions. 

Violence against women and girls cannot be separated from the social, political and economic systems that sustain inequality. If the UK government is serious about tackling it, commitments to women and girls rights must go beyond rhetoric. It means shifting power, resources and decision-making to the organisations and movements already driving change – and using its influence on the world stage to help dismantle the systems enabling harm in the first place.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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