This House of Lords Library briefing provides background reading ahead of the debate to mark International Women’s Day scheduled to take place on Thursday 9 March 2017.
International Women's Day 2017 (185 KB , PDF)
International Women’s Day (IWD), which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women, is marked on 8 March each year. The House of Lords is scheduled to hold a debate to mark the day, focused on the role the UK plays in promoting gender equality globally, on Thursday 9 March 2017. Ahead of the debate, this short House of Lords Library briefing provides background information on IWD; summarises the most recent World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index report which ranked the UK twentieth internationally for gender parity; presents a selection of information on the situation in the UK in relation to the four criteria used in the WEF report—economy, education, health and politics; summarises recent government statements on how the UK is working to promote gender equality globally; and recommends sources of further reading on the subject of gender parity, both in the UK and internationally.
International Women's Day 2017 (185 KB , PDF)
This proposed law would prevent sentencing guidelines setting out when a pre-sentence report should be obtained from being framed by reference to the personal characteristics of an offender such as race, religion or belief and cultural background.
The House of Lords is due to discuss NHS staff access to single-sex spaces on 1 May 2025. Following a recent Supreme Court judgment about the meaning of the term ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an interim update on 25 April 2025 about the implications of this for workplaces and services provided to the public.
The UK co-founded and is a member of the Media Freedom Coalition, which advocates for media freedom, the safety of journalists, and holding those who harm journalists to account. More than 50 journalists have been killed every year since 2019, often with impunity. They can also be subject to detention and legal intimidation. The previous government worked with the UN and other multilateral organisations to promote media freedom, and the current government has said it will protect independent journalism.
