[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5858 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5858
To increase the United States financial and programmatic contributions
to promote economic opportunities for women in developing countries.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 20, 2006
Mrs. Lowey (for herself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Honda, Mr.
McGovern, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Fattah, Mr. George Miller of California,
and Mr. Schiff) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on International 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 2006'' or the ``GROWTH Act
of 2006''.
(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. 10. Growth Fund.
Sec. 11. Data collection.
Sec. 12. Support for local, indigenous women's organizations in
developing countries.
Sec. 13. Report.
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 two-fifths of the
labor force in South America. 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 interventions that
enhance 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 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'';
(B) in paragraph (3)--
(i) by adding at the end before the
semicolon the following: ``, including women'';
and
(ii) by striking ``and'' at the end;
(C) in paragraph (4)--
(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--
(A) in clause (ii)--
(i) by striking ``microenterprise
development field'' and inserting
``microfinance and microenterprise development
field''; and
(ii) by striking ``and'' at the end;
(B) in clause (iii)--
(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 in the
first sentence by adding at the end before the period the
following: ``, particularly women''.
(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''.
(d) Report.--
(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.
(a) Establishment.--
(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 2007 and
such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2008
and 2009.
(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; and
(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
(2) in subsection (b)--
(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, 2008, 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.
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