How did the government mark International Women's Day ? It cut the aid budget. For a government which has asserted that one of the purposes of 'Global Britain' is the promotion of human rights, this is puzzling.
Those scholars who have devoted attention to women's role in societies in the Global South have demonstrated consclusively that they are the victims of extreme inequality, injustice and violence in every area of life. The discrimination which affects women in the Global North is multiplied to a terrible extent in the Global South. Aid, when directed properly, can help women in the Global South in countless ways, whether in the provision of schools, health advice or sanitary towels. If the government has any concern at all for human rights, it has to be said that these are among the most fundamental: they provide the tools which are essential for a life of dignity and security.
Many arguments can be deployed against aid: it has been wasted ; it can be misused to buy influence in states (like India) which do not need aid ; it can be a form of neo-colonialism. However, the solution to many of these problems lies in donors' policies. These can be monitored and changed ; the dubious purposes to which aid can be put are not excuses for giving up on the concept and the practice. Perhaps the government has given an indication of its priorities by choosing to purchase more Trident submarines (as reported in 'The Guardian' last week). If this government's idea of increasing global security is to encourage nuclear proliferation, abolish the renowned Department for International Development, and deny succour to the starving in Yemen, the only conclusion to be drawn is that the much-vaunted internationalist aspects of 'Global Britain' are in completely bad faith, and that this concept is merely camouflage for a whole-hearted embrace of populist nationalism.