A good story from today’s Times (£) for International Women’s Day:
David Cameron will play host to Britain’s first Girls’ Summit this summer to galvanise efforts to end female genital mutilation and forced marriage.
The Prime Minister will convene the meeting in July, which will focus on tackling the abuse and oppression of women that is embedded in certain cultures, at home and abroad.
At the top of the agenda will be FGM, which threatens tens of thousands of girls and women in the UK, and forced marriage, whereby many British teenagers disappear from the school roll and, in extreme cases, end up being held hostage abroad.
You will be aware that Lynne Featherstone has made this her top priority in Government and has succeeded in co-ordinating effort across Whitehall involving Education and Justice Departments to combat FGM.
She’s actually speaking at an event tonight to mark International Women’s Day and will be tweeting from it.