[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 188 (Thursday, November 29, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT BILL

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I wish to discuss the Women's 
Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act, WEEE Act, which the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported yesterday afternoon. It has 
been my honor to work with Senator Boozman on this legislation, which 
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Representative 
Lois Frankel originally introduced. The House passed the measure on 
July 17, 2018. Yesterday, the Senate took a big step toward passing 
this important bill into law.
  Both here in the U.S. and abroad, how a country treats its women is a 
barometer of its success. I believe that, when women succeed, so do our 
communities, especially economically. The WEEE Act is critical in 
achieving this goal. It brings attention to helping women 
entrepreneurs, including those living in poverty, to access the tools 
they need to start and grow their businesses and invest in themselves, 
their families, and their communities. It recognizes that women are not 
always on a level playing field, particularly when they face 
discrimination, gender-based violence and harassment, and restrictions 
on their opportunities.
  Roughly 1 billion women around the world are currently left out of 
the formal financial system, which causes many to rely on informal 
means of saving and borrowing that are riskier and less reliable. In 
many countries, because men are considered legal heads of household, 
married women are required to receive permission from their husbands 
just to open a bank account. As a result, we have observed the 
propagation of savings groups, primarily composed of women, recognized 
as a vital entry point, especially for poor and very poor women, to 
formal financial services. There is a high demand for such groups to 
protect and grow the savings of women with formal financial 
institutions. Evidence shows that, once a savings group is linked to a 
bank, the average savings per member increases between 40 to 100 
percent, and the average profit per member doubles. Investing in 
financial literacy, business leadership training, and mentorship are 
key elements to these outcomes.
  By requiring that 50 percent of the U.S. Agency for International 
Development's--USAID--micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise 
resources are targeted to activities that reach the very poor, as well 
as enterprises owned, managed, and controlled by women, the WEEE Act 
will help break down the barriers preventing women from participating 
in their local economies. It will help diminish the estimated 70 
percent of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in the formal 
sector that are unserved or underserved in terms of access to financial 
services, resulting in a financing gap of $300 trillion for women-owned 
small businesses. Furthermore, the WEEE Act will modernize USAID's 
development assistance toolkit to include innovative credit scoring 
models, financial technology, financial literacy, insurance, and 
actions to improve property and inheritance rights.
  We know that women's economic advancement can lead to greater 
security and resilience, as well as stronger investments in health and 
nutrition, education, and safety--not only for women but for their 
families and communities too. According to the World Bank, for each 
additional year of schooling, a woman's labor earnings increase by 
nearly 12 percent. CARE reports that participation in village savings 
groups increased spending on children's school fees by 76 percent in 
Tanzania and nearly doubled the health spending for families in Rwanda, 
along with increases in their spending on food and nutrition. This is 
exactly the evidence-driven development work that the U.S. should be 
supporting.
  We are making enormous strides, but there is still much to be done. 
Enacting the Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act into 
law will help equip women to overcome the critical barriers they face 
when seeking economic opportunity and will open doors for children, 
families, and communities to benefit as well. A McKinsey Global 
Institute report estimates that achieving global gender parity in 
economic activity could add as much as $28 trillion to annual global 
gross domestic product by 2025. These stark statistics serve both as a 
beacon of hope and a reminder of the great challenges that still must 
be overcome. The WEEE Act will help advance us towards this goal, and 
we must not stop fighting until such parity is reached.

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