[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17538]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           GROWTH ACT OF 2009

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I come to the floor to urge my 
colleagues to join me in addressing challenges facing women in the 
developing world. Senator Hutchison and I introduced the GROWTH Act to 
focus U.S. developmental assistance and strengthen the role of women in 
developing countries.
  Families, particularly in the developing world, would not survive 
were it not for the critical contributions of women. Rural women 
produce 50 percent of the world's total food, 60-80 percent of the food 
in the developing world, and most of the staples, such as rice, wheat, 
and maize, that provide up to 90 percent of the rural poor's food 
intake.
  Yet these women often bear the brunt of economic, legal, and social 
inequality.
  For example, because of the inequality in inheritance laws or the 
lack of enforcement of such laws, women are often dispossessed of their 
property when their husbands die. In fact, even though they 
overwhelmingly tend the fields and produce the food that keep their 
families alive, women in the developing world own less than 15 percent 
of land and in many African countries less than 1 percent.
  Economic, legal, and social inequalities have had a measureable 
impact on the ability of women in the developing world to earn an 
adequate living and support their families. The statistics are 
sobering--women make up 60 percent of the world's working poor, 70 
percent of the hungry, and 67 percent of the illiterate.
  Thus, improving the economic conditions of women is key to improving 
economic conditions in the developing world. Even more importantly, 
improving the economic conditions of women is key to the future of the 
children in these countries.
  Study after study shows that women in developing countries are more 
likely to use their income for food, health care and education for 
their children. As a result, greater economic opportunities for women 
means that their babies are more likely to survive infancy, their 
children, especially their daughters, are more likely to attend school, 
and their families are more likely to eat nutritious meals.
  One way to improve economic opportunity is to expand women's access 
to microcredit programs. Microcredit is an economically viable model of 
extending very small loans, at competitive interest rates, to the very 
poor. These loans allow the recipients, who are overwhelmingly women, 
to open or expand businesses and often allow them to lift their family 
out of poverty.
  When you talk about microcredit, you must talk about Dr. Muhammad 
Yunus. Dr. Yunus is the recognized developer of the microcredit model. 
In 1976, he launched what has become a global movement to create 
economic and social development from below with a loan of just $27 from 
his own pockets to 42 crafts persons in a small village in Bangladesh. 
Today, the Grameen Bank, which he founded to carry out his work, 
operates in more than 84,000 villages and has provided more than $8 
billion in low-interest loans to nearly 8 million people.
  Over the past 30 years, his microcredit model has changed millions of 
lives, directly and indirectly positively affecting the lives of as 
many as 155 million people.
  In 2006, Dr. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for developing 
this microcredit model.
  The award of the Noble Peace Prize to Dr. Yunus recognized that 
lasting peace and prosperity cannot be achieved unless large numbers of 
the world's poor have the means to break out of poverty.
  Earlier this year, Senator Bennett and I offered the Dr. Muhammad 
Yunus Gold Medal Act, S. 864, to honor Dr. Yunus's efforts. I thank my 
59 colleagues who have already agreed to cosponsor S. 864 and urge the 
rest of my colleagues to do the same.
  Today I also urge my colleagues to support S. 1425, the Global 
Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive, or GROWTH, Act of 
2009. Senator Hutchison and I offered the GROWTH Act on July 9 to 
expand on Dr. Yunus's microcredit model and focus U.S. developmental 
assistance on tackling many of the obstacles to economic empowerment of 
women in the developing world.
  The GROWTH Act would not only empower women by giving them the 
financial tools to start and grow their own businesses, it would create 
broader opportunities through educational, legal, and community 
building programs.
  The GROWTH Act is comprehensive legislation that, among other 
efforts, increases women's ability to start and develop businesses 
through enhanced microfinance, microenterprise loans, and related 
financial tools. It also supports various efforts to enhance women's 
land and property rights, and increases women's employment 
opportunities and improves working conditions for women through 
education, skills training, and advocacy programs.
  The GROWTH Act is an important step forward in attacking the 
underlying economic inequalities in the developing world that hold 
women back from their full potential.
  I thank Senator Hutchison for again joining me in offering the GROWTH 
Act, as well as Senators Collins, Landrieu, Shaheen, Gillibrand, 
Sanders, Casey, Whitehouse, and Johnson for joining the effort as 
cosponsors. I urge the rest of my colleagues to empower women in the 
developing world by supporting S. 1425.

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