To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of women and girls living below the poverty line.

National Statistics on the number of children in relative and absolute low income are set out in the annual "Households Below Average Income" (HBAI) publication.

In the latest low income statistics, the number of women (including those of pension age) and female children below the poverty line decreased in three out of four measures compared to 2009/10. In 2017/18 there were 3.8 million women in absolute poverty before housings costs, down from 3.9 million in 2009/10. In 2017/18 there were 1.2 million female children in poverty in absolute poverty before housing costs, down from 1.3 million in 2009/10.

The above information has been sourced from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics using Stat-Xplore. Stat-Xplore can be accessed using: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.