Insights

We talk at Hawthorn about being a values driven company and sometimes we get the chance to take a stand. Last year, I chaired the G7 gender equality advisory council under UK presidency and this year I was invited back by Germany to sit on the council. I had two particular interests. First, how we measure progress and so I was delighted that Germany took up the UK proposal last year for a dashboard to provide data on how G7 countries are performing on topics ranging from the number of female led businesses to feminist diplomacy and the care economy.

Second, the searing subject of war rape, made more vivid this week by the testimony of the Ukranian first lady, Olena Zelenski. I have followed this subject since William Hague and Angelina Jolie held a summit in 2014 when I was editing the Evening Standard and I accompanied them to the DRC.

This week, the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly convened a summit on the subject of conflict related sexual violence; I was invited to compere some of the sessions and chaired one on media ethics, with a panel including journalist Christina Lamb, film maker Leslie Thomas and a survivor of Isis kidnap, called Hala.

It was harrowing to listen to the experiences of the Yazidi women, who were kept as slaves by Isis. But amidst all the economic trials and political quarrels at the moment, it was also inspiring to see the UK showing moral leadership on this subject.

Report 2022

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Name Role

It coincided with the presentation of the GEAC report to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Thursday. My small contribution was towards this same issue of war rape and, while wrapped in diplomatic language and stopping short of a new commission, which we would have liked, it has the best chance of strengthening response to this most barbaric weapon of war.