S 2069
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2069
To increase the United States financial and programmatic contributions
to promote economic opportunities for women in developing countries.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 19, 2007
Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mrs. HUTCHISON) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
A BILL
To increase the United States financial and programmatic contributions
to promote economic opportunities for women in developing countries.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the `Global Resources and
Opportunities for Women to Thrive Act of 2007' or the `GROWTH Act of
2007'.
(b) Table of Contents- The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and statement of policy.
Sec. 3. Microenterprise development assistance for women in developing
countries.
Sec. 4. Support for women's small- and medium-sized enterprises in
developing countries.
Sec. 5. Support for private property rights and land tenure security
for women in developing countries.
Sec. 6. Support for women's access to employment in developing countries.
Sec. 7. Trade benefits for women in developing countries.
Sec. 8. Exchanges between United States entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs
in developing countries.
Sec. 9. Assistance under the Millennium Challenge Account.
Sec. 11. Data collection.
Sec. 12. Support for local, indigenous women's organizations in developing
countries.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF POLICY.
(a) Findings- Congress finds the following:
(1) Women around the world are especially vulnerable to poverty. They
tend to work longer hours, are compensated less, and have less income
stability and fewer economic opportunities than men.
(2) Women's share of the labor force is increasing in almost all regions
of the world. Women comprise more than 40 percent of the labor force
in eastern and southeastern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean,
nearly a third of the labor force in Central America, and nearly one-third
of total employment in South Asia. About 250 million young women will
enter the labor force worldwide between 2003 and 2015.
(3) Women are more likely to work in informal employment relationships
in poor countries compared to men. In sub-Saharan Africa, 84 percent
of female non-agricultural workers are informally employed compared
to 63 percent of men. In Latin America, 58 percent of women are informally
employed compared to 48 percent of men. Informal employment is characterized
by lower wages and greater variability of earnings, less stability,
absence of labor organization, and fewer social protections than formal
employment.
(4) Changes in the economy of a poor country affect women and men
differently; women are disproportionately affected by long-term recessions,
crises, and economic restructuring and they often miss out on many
of the benefits of growth.
(5) International trade can be an important tool of economic development
and poverty reduction and its benefits should extend to all members
of society, particularly the world's poor women.
(6) Promoting fair labor practices for women, and access to information,
education, land, credit, physical capital, and social services is
a means of boosting productivity and earnings for the economies of
developing nations. For example, according to the World Bank, in sub-Saharan
Africa, inequality between men and women in employment and education
suppressed annual per capita growth during the period 1960-1992 by
.8 percentage points per year.
(7) Expanding economic opportunity for women in developing countries
can have a positive effect on child nutrition, health, and education,
as women often invest their income in their families. Increasing women's
income can also decrease women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, gender-based
violence, and trafficking, and make them more resistant to the impact
of natural disasters.
(8) Economic opportunities for women, including microfinance and microenterprise
development and the promotion of women's small- and medium-sized businesses,
are a means of generating gainful, safe, and dignified employment
for the poor.
(9) Women play a vital, but often unrecognized, role in averting violence,
resolving conflict, and rebuilding economies in post-conflict societies.
Women in conflict-affected areas face even greater challenges in accessing
employment, training, property rights, credit, and financial and non-financial
resources for business development. Ensuring economic opportunity
for women in conflict-affected areas plays a significant role in economic
rehabilitation and consolidation of peace.
(10) Given the important role of women in the economies of poor nations,
poverty alleviation programs funded by the Government of the United
States in poor countries should seek to enhance the level of economic
opportunity available to women in those countries.
(b) Statement of Policy- It is, therefore, the policy of the United
States to actively promote development and economic opportunities for
women, including programs and policies to--
(1) promote women's ability to start micro, small, or medium-sized
business enterprises, and enable women to grow such enterprises, particularly
from micro to small enterprises and from small to medium-sized enterprises,
or sustain current business capacity;
(2) promote the rights of women to own, manage, and inherit property,
including land, encourage adoption of laws and policies that support
the rights of women to enforce these claims in administrative and
judicial tribunals, and address conflicts with customary laws and
practices to increase the security of women's tenure;
(3) increase women's access to employment, enable women to access
higher quality jobs with better remuneration and working conditions
in both informal and formal employment, and improve the quality of
jobs in sectors dominated by women by improving the remuneration and
working conditions of those jobs; and
(4) bring the benefits of international trade policy to women in developing
countries and continue to ensure that trade policies and agreements
adequately reflect the respective needs of poor women and men.
SEC. 3. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR WOMEN IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES.
(a) Authorization; Implementation; Targeted Assistance-
(1) AUTHORIZATION- Section 252(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a(a)) is amended--
(A) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end before the semicolon
the following: `, including specific activities to enhance the empowerment
of women, such as leadership training, basic health and HIV/AIDS
education, and literacy skills';
(i) by adding at the end before the semicolon the following: `,
including women'; and
(ii) by striking `and' at the end;
(i) by adding at the end before the period the following: `, including
initiatives to eliminate legal and institutional barriers to women's
ownership of assets, access to credit, access to information and
communication technologies, and engagement in business activities
within or outside of the home'; and
(ii) by striking the period at the end and inserting `; and';
and
(D) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
`(5) microfinance and microenterprise development programs that--
`(A) specifically target women with respect to outreach and marketing;
and
`(B) provide products specifically to address women's assets, needs,
and the barriers women encounter with respect to participation in
enterprise and financial services.'.
(2) IMPLEMENTATION- Section 252(b)(2)(C) of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a(b)(2)(C)) is amended--
(i) by striking `microenterprise development field' and inserting
`microfinance and microenterprise development field'; and
(ii) by striking `and' at the end;
(i) by inserting after `competitive' the following: `, take into
consideration the anticipated impact of the proposals on the empowerment
of women and men, respectively,'; and
(ii) by striking the period at the end and inserting `; and';
and
(C) by adding at the end the following new clause:
`(iv) give preference to proposals from providers of assistance
that demonstrate the greatest knowledge of clients' needs and
capabilities, including proposals that ensure that women are involved
in the design and implementation of services and programs.'.
(3) TARGETED ASSISTANCE- Section 252(c) of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a(c)) is amended--
(A) in the first sentence by adding at the end before the period
the following: `, particularly women'; and
(B) in the second sentence, by striking `2006' and inserting `2008'.
(b) Monitoring System- Section 253(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211b(b)) is amended in paragraph (1), by inserting
after `performance goals for the assistance' the following: `on a sex-disaggregated
basis'.
(c) Microenterprise Development Credits- Section 256(b)(2) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2212(b)(2)) is amended by adding at
the end before the semicolon the following: `, with an emphasis on clients
who are women'.
(1) CONTENTS- Section 258(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2214(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
`(12) An estimate of the potential global demand for microfinance
and microenterprise development for women, determined in collaboration
with practitioners in a cost-effective manner, and a description of
the Agency's plan to help meet such demand.'.
(2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT- Section 258 of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2214) is amended--
(A) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(B) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new subsection:
`(c) Additional Requirement- All information in the report required
by this section relating to beneficiaries of assistance authorized by
this title shall be disaggregated by sex to the maximum extent practicable.'.
SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR WOMEN'S SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
(a) In General- The Secretary of State, acting through the Director
of United States Foreign Assistance, shall--
(1) where appropriate, carry out programs, projects, and activities
for enterprise development for women in developing countries that
meet the requirements of subsection (b); and
(2) ensure that such programs, projects, and activities that are carried
out pursuant to assistance provided under part I of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) meet the requirements of subsection
(b).
(b) Requirements- The requirements referred to in subsection (a) are
the following:
(1) In coordination with developing country governments and interested
individuals and organizations, encourage or enhance laws, regulations,
enforcement, and other practices that promote access to banking and
financial services for women-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises,
and eliminate or reduce regulatory barriers that may exist in this
regard.
(2) Promote access to information and communication technologies (ICT)
with training in ICT for women-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises.
(3) Provide training, through local associations of women-owned enterprises
or nongovernmental organizations in record keeping, financial and
personnel management, international trade, business planning, marketing,
policy advocacy, leadership development, and other relevant areas.
(4) Provide resources to establish and enhance local, national, and
international networks and associations of women-owned small- and
medium-sized enterprises.
(5) Provide incentives for nongovernmental organizations and regulated
financial intermediaries to develop products, services, and marketing
and outreach strategies specifically designed to facilitate and promote
women's participation in small and medium-sized business development
programs by addressing women's assets, needs, and the barriers they
face to participation in enterprise and financial services.
(6) Seek to award contracts to qualified indigenous women-owned small
and medium-sized enterprises, including for post-conflict reconstruction
and to facilitate employment of indigenous women, including during
post-conflict reconstruction in jobs not traditionally undertaken
by women.
SEC. 5. SUPPORT FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAND TENURE SECURITY
FOR WOMEN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
(a) In General- The Secretary of State, acting through the Director
of United States Foreign Assistance, shall--
(1) where appropriate, carry out programs, projects, and activities
for the promotion of private property rights and land tenure security
for women in developing countries that--
(A) are implemented by local, indigenous nongovernmental and community-based
organizations dedicated to addressing the needs of women, especially
women's organizations; and
(B) otherwise meet the requirements of subsection (b); and
(2) ensure that such programs, projects, and activities that are carried
out pursuant to assistance provided under part I of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) meet the requirements of subparagraphs
(A) and (B) of paragraph (1).
(b) Requirements- The requirements referred to in subsection (a) are
the following:
(1) Advocate to amend and harmonize statutory and customary law to
give women equal rights to own, use, and inherit property.
(2) Promote legal literacy among women and men about property rights
for women and how to exercise such rights.
(3) Assist women in making land claims and protecting women's existing
claims.
(4) Advocate for equitable land titling and registration for women.
(c) Amendment- Section 103(b)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2151a(b)(1)) is amended by inserting after `establishment
of more equitable and more secure land tenure arrangements' the following:
`, especially for women'.
SEC. 6. SUPPORT FOR WOMEN'S ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
The Secretary of State, acting through the Director of United States
Foreign Assistance, shall, where appropriate, carry out the following:
(1) Support activities to increase women's access to employment and
to higher quality employment with better remuneration and working
conditions in developing countries, including access to insurance
and other social safety nets, in informal and formal employment relative
to core labor standards determined by the International Labor Organization.
Such activities should include--
(A) public education efforts to inform poor women and men of their
legal rights related to employment;
(B) education and vocational training tailored to enable poor women
to access opportunities in potential growth sectors in their local
economies and in jobs within the formal and informal sectors where
women are not traditionally highly represented;
(C) efforts to support self-employed poor women or wage workers
to form or join independent unions or other labor associations to
increase their income and improve their working conditions; and
(D) advocacy efforts to protect the rights of women in the workplace,
including--
(i) developing programs with the participation of civil society
to eliminate gender-based violence; and
(ii) providing capacity-building assistance to women's organizations
to effectively research and monitor labor rights conditions.
(2) Provide assistance to governments and organizations in developing
countries seeking to design and implement laws, regulations, and programs
to improve working conditions for women and to facilitate their entry
into and advancement in the workplace.
SEC. 7. TRADE BENEFITS FOR WOMEN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
In order to ensure that poor women in developing countries are able
to benefit from international trade, the President, acting through the
Secretary of State (acting through the Director of United States Foreign
Assistance) and the heads of other appropriate departments and agencies
of the Government of the United States, shall, where appropriate, carry
out the following in developing countries:
(1) Provide training and education to women in civil society, including
those organizations representing poor women, and to women-owned enterprises
and associations of such enterprises, on how to respond to economic
opportunities created by trade preference programs, trade agreements,
or other policies creating market access, including training on United
States market access requirements and procedures.
(2) Provide capacity building for women entrepreneurs, including microentrepreneurs,
on production strategies, quality standards, formation of cooperatives,
market research, and market development.
(3) Provide capacity building to women, including poor women, to promote
diversification of products and value-added processing.
(4) Provide training to official government negotiators representing
developing countries in order to enhance the ability of such negotiators
to formulate trade policy and negotiate agreements that take into
account the respective needs and priorities of a country's poor women
and men.
(5) Provide training to local, indigenous women's groups in developing
countries in order to enhance their ability to collect information
and data, formulate proposals, and inform and impact official government
negotiators representing their country in international trade negotiations
of the respective needs and priorities of a country's poor women and
men.
SEC. 8. EXCHANGES BETWEEN UNITED STATES ENTREPRENEURS AND WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
(a) Department of Commerce- The Secretary of Commerce shall, where appropriate,
encourage United States business participants on trade missions to developing
countries to--
(1) meet with representatives of women-owned small- and medium-sized
enterprises in such countries; and
(2) promote internship opportunities for women owners of small- and
medium-sized businesses in such countries with United States businesses.
(b) Department of State- The Secretary of State shall promote exchange
programs that offer representatives of women-owned small- and medium-sized
enterprises in developing countries an opportunity to learn skills appropriate
to promoting entrepreneurship by working with business counterparts
in the United States.
SEC. 9. ASSISTANCE UNDER THE MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC) shall seek to ensure that contracts and employment opportunities
resulting from assistance provided by the MCC to the governments of
developing countries be fairly and equitably distributed to qualified
women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises and other civil society
organizations led by women, including nongovernmental and community-based
organizations, including for infrastructure projects, and that such
projects facilitate employment of women in jobs not traditionally undertaken
by women.
SEC. 10. GROWTH FUND.
(1) IN GENERAL- The Secretary of State, acting through the Director
of United States Foreign Assistance, shall establish the Global Resources
and Opportunities for Women to Thrive (GROWTH) Fund (hereinafter in
this section referred to as the `Fund') for the purpose of enhancing
economic opportunities for very poor, poor, and low-income women in
developing countries with a focus on--
(A) increasing women-owned enterprise development;
(B) increasing property rights for women;
(C) increasing women's access to financial services;
(D) increasing women in leadership in implementing organizations,
such as indigenous nongovernmental organizations, community-based
organizations, and regulated financial intermediaries;
(E) improving women's employment benefits and conditions; and
(F) increasing women's ability to benefit from global trade.
(2) ROLE OF USAID MISSIONS- The Fund shall be available to USAID missions
to apply for additional funding to support specific additional activities
that enhance women's economic opportunities or to integrate gender
into existing economic opportunity programs.
(b) Activities Supported- The Fund shall be available to USAID missions
to support--
(1) activities described in title VI of part I of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211 et seq.), as amended by section 3 of this
Act;
(2) activities described in sections 4 through 7 of this Act; and
(3) technical assistance and capacity-building to local, indigenous
civil society, particularly to carry out activities that are covered
under paragraphs (1) and (2), for--
(A) local indigenous women's organizations to the maximum extent
practicable; and
(B) nongovernmental organizations and regulated financial intermediaries
that demonstrate a commitment to gender equity in their leadership
either through current practice or through specific programs to
increase the representation of women in their governance and management.
(c) Authorization of Appropriations-
(1) IN GENERAL- There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this section $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may
be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
(2) AVAILABILITY- Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization
of appropriations under paragraph (1)--
(A) are authorized to remain available until expended; and
(B) are in addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes.
SEC. 11. DATA COLLECTION.
(a) In General- The Secretary of State, acting through the Director
of United States Foreign Assistance, shall--
(1) provide support for tracking indicators on women's employment,
property rights for women, women's access to financial services, and
women's enterprise development, including microenterprises, in developing
countries;
(2) where practicable track all United States foreign assistance funds
to local indigenous nongovernmental, community-based organizations,
and regulated financial intermediaries in developing countries, including
through subcontractors and grantees, disaggregated by the sex of the
head of the organization, senior management, and composition of the
boards of directors;
(3) encourage United States statistical agencies in their work with
statistical agencies in other countries to provide support to collect
data on the share of women in wage and self-employment by type of
employment; and
(4) provide funding to the International Labor Organization (ILO)
for technical assistance activities to developing countries and for
the ILO to consolidate indicators into cross-country data sets.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations- Amounts made available to carry
out section 10 of this Act are authorized to be made available to carry
out this section.
SEC. 12. SUPPORT FOR LOCAL, INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES.
(a) Amendments- Section 102 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2151-1) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a) by inserting after the ninth sentence the following
new sentences: `Because men and women generally occupy different economic
niches in poor countries, activities must address those differences
in ways that enable both women and men to contribute to and benefit
from development. Throughout the world, indigenous, local, nongovernmental
and community-based organizations and regulated financial intermediaries
are essential to addressing many of the development challenges facing
countries and to creating stable, functioning democracies. Investing
in the capacity of such organizations and in their role in the development
process, including that of women's organizations, shall be an important,
cross-cutting objective of United States bilateral development assistance.';
and
(A) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following new sentence:
`The principles described in this paragraph shall, among other strategies,
be accomplished through partnerships with local, indigenous nongovernmental
and community-based organizations and regulated financial intermediaries
that represent the interests of poor women and poor men.'; and
(B) in paragraph (6), by adding at the end the following new sentence:
`Investing in the capacity and participation of local, indigenous
nongovernmental and community-based organizations dedicated to addressing
the needs of women, especially women's organizations, shall be an
important strategy for achieving the principle described in this
paragraph.'.
(b) Assistance- The Secretary of State, acting through the Director
of United States Foreign Assistance, shall, where appropriate--
(1) improve the integration of capacity building and technical assistance
activities for local, indigenous nongovernmental organizations and
community-based organizations in developing countries within project
proposals that will include the participation of locally based partners,
especially women's organizations and other organizations leading women's
empowerment initiatives, to promote the long-term sustainability of
projects;
(2) provide information and training to local indigenous organizations
focused on women's empowerment, especially women's organizations,
in countries in which USAID missions are located in order to--
(A) provide technical assistance regarding availability of United
States international assistance procurement procedures; and
(B) undertake culturally-appropriate outreach measures to contact
such organizations;
(3) encourage cooperating agencies, implementing partners, and subcontractors,
to the maximum extent practicable, to provide sub-grants to local
indigenous organizations that focus on women's empowerment, including
women's organizations and other organizations that may not have previously
worked with the Government of the United States or one of its partners,
in fulfilling project objectives;
(4) work with local governments where appropriate to conduct outreach
campaigns to formally register unofficial local nongovernmental and
community-based organizations, especially women's organizations; and
(5) support efforts of indigenous organizations focused on women's
empowerment, especially women's organizations, to network with other
indigenous women's groups to collectively access funding opportunities
to implement United States international assistance programs.
SEC. 13. REPORT.
(a) Report Required- Not later than June 30, 2009, the Secretary of
State, acting through the Director of United States Foreign Assistance,
shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of this Act
and the amendments made by this Act.
(b) Update- Not later than June 30, 2010, the Secretary of State, acting
through the Director of United States Foreign Assistance, shall submit
to Congress an update of the report required by subsection (a).
(c) Availability to Public- The report required by subsection (a) and
the update required by subsection (b) shall be made available to the
public on the Internet websites of the Department of State and the United
States Agency for International Development.
END
