II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2276 

To support empowerment, economic security, and educational opportunities 

for adolescent girls around the world, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2021 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To support empowerment, economic security, and educational 

opportunities for adolescent girls around the world, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Keeping Girls in School Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Appropriate congressional committees defined. 

Sec. 3. Findings. 

Sec. 4. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 5. Secondary education for adolescent girls. 


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Sec. 6. Global strategy requirement. 

Sec. 7. Transparency and reporting to Congress. 

1 SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE2 FINED. 

3 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com4 mittees’’ means— 

5 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

6 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep7 resentatives; and 

8 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

9 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

10 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

11 Congress finds the following: 

12 (1) Adolescence is a critical period in a girl’s 

13 life, when significant physical, emotional, and social 

14 changes shape her future. 

15 (2) Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable 

16 to HIV/AIDS, child, early and forced marriage, and 

17 other forms of violence which are detrimental to 

18 their futures, as evidenced by the following statistics: 

19 (A) Each year, 380,000 adolescent girls 

20 and young women become newly infected with 

21 HIV, more than 1,000 every day, and comprise 

22 the fastest-growing demographic for new infec23 tions in sub-Saharan Africa. 


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1 (B) Each year, 12,000,000 adolescent girls 

2 around the world are married before their 18th 

3 birthday, and more than 650,000,000 women 

4 alive today were married as children. 

5 (C) Child marriages often interrupt school6 ing, limit opportunities, and impact the phys7 ical, psychological and social well-being of such 

8 girls. Significant levels of lockdown-related dis9 ruption and economic crisis due to the COVID– 

10 19 pandemic could lead to at least 4,000,000 

11 more girls married before the age of 18 in the 

12 next two years. 

13 (D) One-quarter to one-half of girls in de14 veloping countries become mothers before the 

15 age of 18, and girls under 15 are five times 

16 more likely to die during childbirth than women 

17 in their 20s. As many as 1,000,000 girls across 

18 sub-Saharan Africa may be blocked from re19 turning to school due to pregnancy during 

20 COVID–19 school closures. 

21 (3) Before the pandemic, approximately 

22 130,000,000 girls around the world were not in 

23 school, and millions more failing to acquire basic 

24 reading, writing, and numeracy skills. With COVID– 

25 19 school closures affecting nearly 91 percent of the 


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1 world’s student population, over 743,000,000 girls 

2 have had their education disrupted and will face tre3 mendous barriers to returning to school when it is 

4 safe. 

5 (4) Girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are 

6 three times more likely than boys to be kept out of 

7 school, particularly in countries affected by conflict. 

8 (5) Due to discriminatory gender norms and ex9 pectations, disparities in access to safe and quality 

10 education manifest early in a girl’s life and continue 

11 to become more pronounced throughout adolescence. 

12 (6) Girls living with disabilities are less likely to 

13 start school and transition to secondary school than 

14 boys living with disabilities and other children, and 

15 just 1 percent of women with disabilities are literate 

16 globally. 

17 (7) While two-thirds of all countries have 

18 achieved gender parity in primary education, only 40 

19 percent have achieved gender parity in secondary 

20 education. 

21 (8) Adolescent girls who remain in school are 

22 more likely to live longer, marry later, and have 

23 healthier children. 

24 (9) Investing in holistic programming that en25 sures all girls complete secondary education could 


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1 lift gross domestic product (GDP) in developing 

2 economies by an average of 10 percent and every $1 

3 spent on such programming would generate a $2.80 

4 return—equivalent to billions of dollars in extra 

5 GDP. 

6 (10) Children born to women who completed 

7 secondary schooling or higher have 17.5 percent re8 duced odds of being off track for healthy develop9 ment. 

10 (11) Since July 2015, more than 100 public11 private partnerships have been formed between the 

12 United States Government and external partners to 

13 support innovative and community-led solutions in 

14 targeted countries, including Malawi and Tanzania, 

15 to ensure adolescent girls receive a quality edu16 cation. 

17 (12) The United States Global Strategy to Em18 power Adolescent Girls, published in March 2016, 

19 has brought together the Department of State, the 

20 United States Agency for International Develop21 ment, the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Chal22 lenge Corporation, as well as other agencies and pro23 grams such as the President’s Emergency Fund for 

24 AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of 

25 challenges preventing adolescent girls from attaining 


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1 an inclusive and equitable quality education leading 

2 to relevant learning outcomes. 

3 (13) Adopted in 2015, the 2030 Agenda for 

4 Sustainable Development renews the commitment to 

5 creating a world where all girls are healthy and pro6 tected, learning and have a fair chance to succeed. 

7 This agenda also states that empowering girls will 

8 require scaling up investments in holistic program9 ming models to end gender-based violence, child 

10 marriage, and female genital mutilation (FGM) and 

11 adolescent girls’ education and skills are essential to 

12 address gender divides, particularly in secondary 

13 school. 

14 (14) PEPFAR, through its DREAMS (Deter15 mined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, 

16 and Safe) Initiative, has worked to address a num17 ber of the specific barriers to education that adoles18 cent girls face. 

19 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

20 It is the sense of Congress that— 

21 (1) every child, regardless of place of birth, de22 serves an equal opportunity to access quality edu23 cation; 

24 (2) the United States has been a global leader 

25 in efforts to expand and improve access to quality 


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1 basic education for all, particularly marginalized and 

2 vulnerable populations, including women and girls; 

3 (3) gains with respect to girls’ secondary edu4 cation and empowerment have been proven to cor5 relate strongly with progress in gender equality and 

6 women’s rights, a stated priority of United States 

7 foreign policy and national security; 

8 (4) achieving gender parity in both access to 

9 and quality of educational opportunity contributes 

10 significantly to economic growth and development, 

11 thereby lowering the risk for violence and instability; 

12 and 

13 (5) education is a lifesaving humanitarian inter14 vention that protects the lives, futures, and well15 being of girls. 

16 SEC. 5. SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS. 

17 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator of the United 

18 States Agency for International Development shall enter 

19 into agreements, including agreements across sectors, to 

20 address the barriers described in subsection (b) that ado21 lescent girls face in accessing a quality secondary edu22 cation in countries where adolescent girls are significantly 

23 more likely to drop out of school than boys. Such activities 

24 shall— 


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1 (1) seek to support the needs of adolescent girls 

2 holistically to achieve positive life and learning out3 comes; 

4 (2) use existing United States Government 

5 strategies and frameworks relevant to international 

6 basic education and gender equality to— 

7 (A) integrate new technologies, digital 

8 learning enhancements and multi-sectoral ap9 proaches to girl’s education such as distance 

10 learning and accelerated education for out-of11 school youth; 

12 (B) apply evidence-based approaches; 

13 (C) promote inclusive, equitable and sus14 tainable educational achievement; and 

15 (D) support a responsible transition to 

16 education systems that are sustainably financed 

17 by domestic governments; and 

18 (3) ensure that schools provide safe and quality 

19 educational opportunities and create empowering en20 vironments, so that girls can enroll in and regularly 

21 attend school, successfully transition from primary 

22 to secondary school, and eventually graduate having 

23 achieved learning outcomes and positioned to make 

24 healthy transitions into adulthood. 


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1 (b) SPECIFIC BARRIERS.—The barriers described in 

2 this subsection are— 

3 (1) harmful social and cultural norms; 

4 (2) lack of safety at school or traveling to 

5 school and online, including harassment and other 

6 forms of physical, sexual, or psychological violence; 

7 (3) child, early, and forced marriage; 

8 (4) female genital mutilation; 

9 (5) distance from a secondary school; 

10 (6) cost of secondary schooling, including fees, 

11 clothing, and supplies; 

12 (7) inadequate sanitation facilities and products 

13 available at secondary schools; 

14 (8) prioritization of boys’ secondary education; 

15 (9) poor nutrition; 

16 (10) early pregnancy and motherhood; 

17 (11) HIV infection; 

18 (12) disability; 

19 (13) discrimination based on religious or ethnic 

20 identity; 

21 (14) heavy workload due to household tasks or 

22 care burdens; and 

23 (15) inequitable access to digital resources. 

24 (c) COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Agency 

2 for International Development Senior Coordinator 

3 for International Basic Education Assistance, in co4 ordination with the United States Agency for Inter5 national Development Senior Coordinator for Gender 

6 Equality and Women’s Empowerment and the Am7 bassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the 

8 Department of State, shall be responsible for the 

9 oversight and coordination of all activities of the 

10 United States Government carried out under this 

11 section. 

12 (2) DEVELOPMENT OF AGREEMENTS.—In the 

13 development of agreements described in subsection 

14 (a), the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and 

15 Women’s Empowerment and the Senior Coordinator 

16 for International Basic Education Assistance at the 

17 United States Agency for International Development 

18 shall consult with representatives across Federal de19 partments and agencies implementing the global 

20 strategy described in section 6. 

21 (3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER STRATE22 GIES.—Activities carried out under this section shall 

23 also be carried out in coordination with— 


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1 (A) the United States Global Strategy to 

2 Empower Adolescent Girls described in section 

3 6; and 

4 (B) the United States Government Strat5 egy on International Basic Education, including 

6 its objective to expand access to quality basic 

7 education for all, particularly marginalized and 

8 vulnerable populations. 

9 (d) ACCEPTANCE OF SOLICITATIONS FOR AWARDS.— 

10 The Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter11 national Development shall seek to accept solicitations for 

12 awards, pursuant to the authority in subsection (a), to 

13 conduct activities under this section beginning not later 

14 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

15 (e) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.—The Adminis16 trator of the United States Agency for International De17 velopment shall seek to ensure that activities carried out 

18 under this section— 

19 (1) employ rigorous monitoring and evaluation 

20 methodologies to ensure that such activities demon21 strably close the gap in gender parity for secondary 

22 education and improve the quality of education of23 fered to adolescent girls; 

24 (2) disaggregate all data collected and reported 

25 by age, gender, marital and motherhood status, disVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276

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1 ability, and urbanity, to the extent practicable and 

2 appropriate; and 

3 (3) use, to the extent possible, indicators and 

4 methodologies identified by the Interagency Working 

5 Group for the Strategy on International Basic Edu6 cation. 

7 SEC. 6. GLOBAL STRATEGY REQUIREMENT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 5 years there10 after for not less than 10 years, the Ambassador-at-Large 

11 for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State, 

12 in consultation with the Senior Coordinator for Gender 

13 Equality and Women’s Empowerment and the Senior Co14 ordinator for International Basic Education Assistance at 

15 the United States Agency for International Development, 

16 shall— 

17 (1) review and update a United States global 

18 strategy to empower adolescent girls, which includes 

19 a focus on girl’s access to quality, inclusive sec20 ondary education, and subsequent agency implemen21 tation plans; 

22 (2) provide a meaningful opportunity for review 

23 and civil society consultation on the strategy and 

24 agency implementation plans; and 


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1 (3) submit the updated strategy to the appro2 priate congressional committees. 

3 (b) CONSULTATION REQUIRED.—In reviewing and 

4 updating the strategy and implementation plans under 

5 subsection (a), the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Wom6 en’s Issues, the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality 

7 and Women’s Empowerment, and the Senior Coordinator 

8 for International Basic Education Assistance shall consult 

9 with— 

10 (1) the heads of relevant Federal departments 

11 and agencies (or their designees); 

12 (2) the appropriate congressional committees; 

13 and 

14 (3) representatives of United States civil society 

15 and multilateral organizations with demonstrated ex16 perience and expertise in empowering adolescent 

17 girls and promoting gender equality, including local 

18 civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, 

19 and program participants where possible. 

20 SEC. 7. TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTING TO CONGRESS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter 

23 for 10 years until each activity initiated pursuant to the 

24 authorities under this Act has concluded, the Adminis25 trator of the United States Agency for International DeVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276

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1 velopment, in coordination with the Secretary of State, 

2 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

3 a report describing— 

4 (1) the activities initiated under the authorities 

5 provided in this Act; and 

6 (2) the manner and extent to which such activi7 ties are monitored and evaluated, in accordance with 

8 section 5(e). 

9 (b) AVAILABILITY.—The report required by sub10 section (a) shall be made available on a text-based, search11 able, and publicly available website of the United States 

12 Agency for International Development. 

Æ 


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