On Thursday 24th February 2011 the official launch of UN Women will take place at the 55th Commission on the Status of Women in New York.
This is a very important meeting. It will see the official launch of UN Women and bring together women from around the world.
There can be no retreat from the Government's promise to spend 0.7% on development aid by 2013. Women and girls around the world are helped by aid- from the woman in Nigeria who no longer has to walk for miles to get water, to the girl in Bangladesh who can now go to school. We must not turn our backs on them now.
Women in the developing world must not be made the victims of deficit reduction programmes, as they are in the UK, where the government's cuts are hitting women the hardest.
UN Women will support the women in parliaments and in governments across the world - they are the ones who will fight hardest for the women in developing countries. UN Women will play an important role in backing them up to ensure progress for the women they represent.
Fiona Mactaggart, Labour's Shadow Equalities Minister, said:
"During the coming session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women next week I will work to ensure that the poorest women in the world are not made to suffer from spending cuts. Women have been hit hardest by government spending cuts here in the UK."
"At the Interparliamentary Union meeting which coincides with the session I will be working with colleagues in other parliaments and governments to make sure that UN Women works with elected women to advance the condition of women throughout the world"