Should women (and girls) be a priority for development projects?

For 50% of French people, development and poverty-reduction projects should give specific priority to women and girls in developing countries. Only 10% of respondents disagree with this statement.

On the other hand, however, 26% of respondents neither agree nor disagree, and 14% say they do not know, together representing 30% who seem relatively indifferent (without actively disagreeing) with the need to prioritise women’s and girls’ needs in development work.

This priority gains more slightly more recognition with women (53%) than with men (48%). Age has a larger impact on answers, with those over 50 clearly believing that it is important to put women and girls at the heart of poverty reduction.

Finally, even if there is slightly less support from right-wing voters than center- or left-wing voters for this priority, there nevertheless appears to be a general consensus, regardless of respondents’ political preference, that it is indeed necessary to improve gender equality as the focus of development approaches and programmes.

This data comes from our survey conducted by the YouGov Institute and piloted by the research team at University College London and the University of Birmingham as part of the project Aid Attitudes Tracker which measures the evolution of opinions and behaviors on issues of international solidarity in four countries.