NOVEMBER 2020

SPOTLIGHT ON
PUBLIC POLICY

THE UNITED STATESTHE WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT ACT
Recognizing the importance of women’s economic empowerment
and financial resilience in addressing global poverty, the UnitedStates passed a law mandating a gender-sensitive approach to international development. The Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic
Empowerment Act (the WEEE Act), which was tabled in 2018 andpassed unanimously in January 2019, requires the US Agency forInternational Development (USAID) to ensure that all of its work isscrutinized to assess the impact on women. USAID must ensure targeted assistance to women and monitor its activities to ensure thatwomen benefit from its work.

The WEEE Act expanded the US Government’s international support
for microenterprises and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
through microfinance, including microcredit, programmes. It also
ensures special assistance for businesses that are owned, managed,
or controlled by women. Previously, such support was primarily limited to microenterprises. The Act will also expand support for programs
related to improving women’s access to financial resources, propertyand inheritance rights, and other legal protections.1

KEY FEATURES OF THE WEEE AC T
The WEEE Act, passed in 2019, mandates that all USAID work issubject to a gender analysis and gender equality is integral to
everything it does, from planning and project design throughto measurement and evaluation.

SMEs, considered key for driving economic growth, will receive
special assistance as part of this Act, with half of resources for
programs for SMEs reserved for enterprises owned, managed,
or controlled by women.

The Act makes it a legislative requirement that USAID reporton how much of its assistance targets and benefits women.

The Act also expands support to improving women’s access tofinancial resources, as well as property and inheritance rights.

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GENDER EQUALITY AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACT
Gender inequalities across the world severely hamper women’s
access to economic opportunities. Yet, economic growth is reliant
on women’s active participation in the economy through entrepreneurship and decent work. The WEEE Act draws on evidence thatincreasing women’s influence over household finances improves
their economic participation, as well as childhood survival rates,
food security, and educational achievement. It also refers to a 2016
McKinsey study which estimated that:Reflecting the fact that gender equality and economic progress are
inextricably linked, the WEEE Act requires that all USAID work is subject to a gender analysis and gender equality must be integral to
everything it does, from planning and project design through tomeasurement and evaluation. As women’s employment rate, accessto financial services, enterprise development, property and landownership, etc.

Achieving global gender parity in economic participation
could add as much as $28 trillion to annual global grossdomestic product.2

The WEEE act requires that standard indicators be used tomeasure performance and gender disaggregated datacollected to monitor progress on goals such

ADDRESSING GENDER BARRIERSFor many years, USAID has offered support, including financial assistance in form of small loans without collateral to small-scale entrepreneurs around the world with the aim to reduce poverty in
low-income countries. Through its work, the agency has learned thatmost microcredit borrowers, many of whom are women, remain inpoverty. In response, the WEEE Act has expanded support to SMEs,
which are far fewer in number as compared to microenterprises andlarge firms but represent “the missing middle” for women’s enterprises growing and moving up the economic ladder. SMEs create
four out of five new jobs in emerging economies, and are key to driving economic growth, particularly companies owned and managed
by women.3
The USAID has also long supported efforts to promote women’s equal
land and property rights. This is important given that land andproperty rights reduce poverty, trigger economic growth, increase
food security, and promote women’s autonomy and safety.4

There is a significant difference between the role women play infood production and their land ownership rights. For example, women comprise 48.7 per cent of agricultural labour in sub-Saharan Africa,
but only 15 per cent of agricultural landholders.5 The USAID is therefore working on initiatives in 17 countries to promote women’s land,property, and inheritance rights, and the WEEE Act has expandedboth the scope and momentum of these efforts. Some of these efforts include providing support in terms of legal frameworks that
expand women’s land rights, such as owning, profiting from, using
and inheriting the land, and improving women’s legal literacy to beable to exercise these rights.
In addition, the WEEE Act seeks to encourage women’s entrepreneurship by helping women understand government procurement
mechanisms and ensuring that governments consider women-owned
businesses as they purchase goods and services. It is estimated thatover 30 per cent of GDP in developing countries constitute government spending, yet women entrepreneurs are largely excluded fromthis market. Helping women expand into this area could be a strong
pathway to business growth.

MONITORING AND EVALUATIONCONCLUSION

The WEEE Act made it compulsory for all US Government programmes
overseas to include standard indicators and gender-based goals intheir measuring and monitoring systems. It also makes it a legislativerequirement that USAID report on how much of its assistance targets
and benefits women, including in areas such as employment rate,
access to financial services, earnings and income, etc.

The WEEE Act seeks to address gender discrepancies and barriers
across the world in a more targeted and expanded manner. Improving
women’s access to credit, financial services, resources, modern financial literacy tools, and land and property rights, will also help tackle
some of the interlinked issues, such as the elimination of gender-basedviolence. It is noteworthy that the WEEE Act recognizes that women’s
entrepreneurship is essential to advancing the US’s international
development goals.

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ENDNOTES
1. S.3247 - Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018, 115th Congress (2017-2018)https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3247

5. Land-links, 2016. Fact Sheet: Land Tenure and Women’s Empowerment. https://www.land-links.org/
issue-brief/fact-sheet-land-tenure-womens-empowerment/

2. McKinsey Global Institute, 2015. How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add 12 Trillion to Global Growth.
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/how-advancing-womensequality-can-add-12-trillion-to-global-growth#

6. The International Trade Centre, 2014. Empowering Women Through Public Procurement. https://www.
intracen.org/uploadedFiles/intracenorg/Content/Publications/Women%20procurement%20guidefinal-web.pdf

3. World Bank, Small and Medium Enterprises Finance. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance
4. Human Rights Watch, 2018. US Congress Should Back Bill Supporting Women’s Economic Empowerment
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/20/us-congress-should-back-bill-supporting-womenseconomic-empowerment#

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In support of:DISCLAIMER: This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union,
the United Nations and their member States.