Cherie Blair is believed to have said rape is the first sexual experience of ‘most African ladies' at a visit to a London secondary school

Cherie Blair has claimed that rape is the first sexual experience of ‘most African ladies’.





She is reported to have made the remark during a talk about women and leadership to pupils at a London secondary.

School chiefs said they were delighted with her lecture, which was attended by around 100 pupils and teachers.

But an audience member accused the wife of former prime minister Tony Blair of making unsubstantiated claims.

Giving her name only as Caitlin, she said: ‘No one seemed to react and I was shocked because I felt like she was in a position of authority and should take responsibility for saying things like that without any evidence to support it.’

Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party group for Africa, said: ‘Mrs Blair should enable African women to speak for themselves instead of usurping their voice and their experience.’

She accused Mrs Blair of reinforcing harmful stereotypes, adding: ‘Violence against women is a huge problem in many African countries – as it is here.

‘But to characterise African women’s sexual experience as rooted in rape undermines the hard work of many to tackle this issue while playing to and indeed stoking stereotypes of sexually aggressive African men and passive women.’

She urged Mrs Blair, 64, to fund the flights and visas for a group of African women to come to the UK to speak about their own experiences. She said this would ‘undo the insult and injury’ her comments had caused.

Caitlin sent a written complaint to the Cherie Blair Foundation, a charity that supports women and girls in developing countries build their own businesses.

The organisation reportedly told Caitlin they believed Mrs Blair’s comments related to ‘the women she had met and heard directly from in the initial years of the foundation’s work rather than a specific research piece’.

School chiefs said they were delighted with her lecture but an audience member accused the wife of former prime minister Tony Blair (right) of making unsubstantiated claims

The email, seen by The Guardian, reportedly read: ‘As I’m sure you know, forms of exploitation – including rape – are a huge barrier to gender equality and impact the ability of women to learn skills, grow businesses and can stymie their overall empowerment.’

Mrs Blair defended her remarks at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Kensington, west London.

She said: ‘My comments were in answer to a question about adolescent African girls – not African women – missing out on their education for a variety of reasons including early pregnancy.

‘In that context I said that for the vast majority of young girls – who are often 12, 13 and 14 – their first experience of sex was rape.

‘There are studies that back this up, including a WHO report in 2002 that concludes a growing number of studies, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, indicate that the first sexual experience of girls is often unwanted and forced”. It was not my intent to offend or undermine anyone.’