[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2965 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2965

To increase the United States financial and programmatic contributions 
  to promote economic opportunities for women in developing countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 10, 2007

Mrs. Lowey (for herself and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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. 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 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; 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, 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, 2011, 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.
                                 <all>