IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5480 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2018 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To improve programs and activities relating to women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment that are carried out by the United States Agency for International 

Development, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Entrepre3 neurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Because women make up the majority of 

7 the world’s poor and gender inequalities prevail in 

8 incomes, wages, access to finance, ownership of as9 sets, and control over the allocation of resources, 

10 women’s entrepreneurship and economic empower11 ment is important to achieve inclusive economic 

12 growth at all levels of society. Research shows that 

13 when women exert greater influence over household 

14 finances, economic outcomes for families improve, 

15 and childhood survival rates, food security, and edu16 cational attainment increase. Women also tend to 

17 place a greater emphasis on household savings which 

18 improves families’ financial resiliency. 

19 (2) A 2016 report by the McKinsey Global In20 stitute estimated that achieving global gender parity 

21 in economic activity could add as much as $28 tril22 lion to annual global gross domestic product (GDP) 

23 by 2025. 

24 (3) Lack of access to financial services that ad25 dress gender-specific constraints impedes women’s 

26 economic inclusion. More than 1 billion women 


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1 around the world are currently left out of the formal 

2 financial system, which in turn causes many women 

3 to rely on informal means of saving and borrowing 

4 that are riskier and less reliable. Among other con5 sequences, this hampers the success of women entre6 preneurs, including those seeking to run or grow 

7 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The 

8 International Finance Corporation has estimated 

9 that 70 percent of women-owned SMEs in the for10 mal sector are unserved or underserved in terms of 

11 access to credit, amounting to a $285 billion credit 

12 gap. 

13 (4) Women’s economic empowerment is inex14 tricably linked to a myriad of other women’s human 

15 rights that are essential to their ability to thrive as 

16 economic actors across the lifecycle. This includes, 

17 but is not limited to, living lives free of violence and 

18 exploitation, achieving the highest possible standard 

19 of health and well-being, enjoying full legal and 

20 human rights such as access to registration, identi21 fication, and citizenship documents, benefitting from 

22 formal and informal education, and equal protection 

23 of and access to land and property rights, access to 

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1 proportionate care burdens, and business and man2 agement skills and leadership opportunities. 

3 (5) Discriminatory legal and regulatory systems 

4 and banking practices are hurdles to women’s access 

5 to capital and assets, including land, machinery, pro6 duction facilities, technology, and human resources. 

7 Often, these barriers are connected to a woman’s 

8 marital status, which can determine whether she is 

9 able to inherit land or own property in her name. 

10 These constraints contribute to women frequently 

11 running smaller businesses, with fewer employees 

12 and lower asset values. 

13 (6) Savings groups primarily comprised of 

14 women are recognized as a vital entry point, espe15 cially for poor and very poor women, to formal fi16 nancial services and there is a high demand for such 

17 groups to protect and grow their savings with formal 

18 financial institutions. Evidence shows that, once 

19 linked to a bank, the average savings per member 

20 increases between 40 to 100 percent and the average 

21 profit per member doubles. Key to these outcomes is 

22 investing in financial literacy, business leadership 

23 training, and mentorship. 

24 (7) United States support for microenterprise 

25 and microfinance development programs, which seek 


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1 to reduce poverty in low-income countries by giving 

2 small loans to small-scale entrepreneurs without col3 lateral, have been a useful mechanism to help fami4 lies weather economic shocks, but many microcredit 

5 borrowers largely remain in poverty. The vast major6 ity of microcredit borrowers are women who would 

7 like to move up the economic ladder but are held 

8 back by binding constraints that create a ‘‘missing 

9 middle’’—large numbers of microenterprises, a 

10 handful of large firms or conglomerates, and very 

11 few SMEs in between, which are critical to driving 

12 economic growth in developing countries. 

13 (8) According to the World Bank, SMEs create 

14 4 out of 5 new positions in emerging markets but 

15 about half of formal SMEs don’t have access to for16 mal credit. The financing gap is even larger when 

17 micro and informal enterprises are taken into ac18 count. Overall, approximately 70 percent of all 

19 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) 

20 in emerging markets lack access to credit. 


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1 SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO IMPROVE GENDER POLICIES OF THE 

2 UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTER3 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 

4 (a) DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION POLICY.—It shall 

5 be the development cooperation policy of the United 

6 States— 

7 (1) to reduce gender disparities in access to, 

8 control over, and benefit from economic, social, polit9 ical, and cultural resources, wealth, opportunities, 

10 and services; 

11 (2) to strive to eliminate gender-based violence 

12 and mitigate its harmful effects on individuals and 

13 communities through efforts to develop standards 

14 and capacity to reduce gender-based violence in the 

15 workplace and other places where women conduct 

16 work; 

17 (3) to support activities that secure private 

18 property rights and land tenure for women in devel19 oping countries, including legal frameworks to give 

20 women equal rights to own, register, use, profit 

21 from, and inherit land and property, legal literacy to 

22 exercise these rights, and capacity of law enforce23 ment and community leaders to enforce such rights; 

24 and 

25 (4) to increase the capability of women and 

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1 comes, assume leadership roles, and influence deci2 sion-making in households, communities, and soci3 eties. 

4 (b) ACTIONS.—In order to advance the policy de5 scribed in subsection (a), the Administrator of the United 

6 States Agency for International Development shall ensure 

7 that— 

8 (1) strategies, projects, and activities of the 

9 Agency are shaped by a gender analysis and, when 

10 applicable, use standard indicators to provide one 

11 measure of success of such strategies, projects, and 

12 activities; and 

13 (2) gender equality and female empowerment is 

14 integrated throughout the Agency’s Program Cycle 

15 and related processes for purposes of strategic plan16 ning, project design and implementation, and moni17 toring and evaluation. 

18 (c) GENDER ANALYSIS DEFINED.—In this section, 

19 the term ‘‘gender analysis’’— 

20 (1) means a socio-economic analysis of available 

21 or gathered quantitative and qualitative information 

22 to identify, understand, and explain gaps between 

23 men and women which typically involves exam24 ining— 


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1 (A) differences in the status of women and 

2 men and their differential access to and control 

3 over assets, resources, opportunities, and serv4 ices; 

5 (B) the influence of gender roles, struc6 tural barriers, and norms on the division of 

7 time between paid employment, unpaid work 

8 (including subsistence production and care for 

9 family members), and volunteer activities; 

10 (C) the influence of gender roles, struc11 tural barriers, and norms on leadership roles 

12 and decision making; constraints, opportunities, 

13 and entry points for narrowing gender gaps and 

14 empowering women; and 

15 (D) potential differential impacts of devel16 opment policies and programs on men and 

17 women, including unintended or negative con18 sequences; and 

19 (2) includes conclusions and recommendations 

20 to enable development policies and programs to nar21 row gender gaps and improve the lives of women and 

22 girls. 


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1 SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR MICRO, SMALL 

2 AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES. 

3 (a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Section 251 of the For4 eign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘microenterprise’’ and in8 serting ‘‘micro, small and medium-sized enter9 prise’’; 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘and in the development’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘, in the development’’; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end before the period 

13 the following: ‘‘, and in the economic empower14 ment of the poor, especially women’’; 

15 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘microenterprise’’ and in17 serting ‘‘micro, small and medium-sized enter18 prise’’; and 

19 (B) by adding at the end before the period 

20 the following: ‘‘, particularly those enterprises 

21 owned, managed, and controlled by women’’; 

22 (3) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘microenter23 prises’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, small and medium24 sized enterprises’’; 


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1 (4) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘microenter2 prise’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, small and medium-sized 

3 enterprise’’; 

4 (5) in paragraph (5)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘should continue’’ and in6 serting ‘‘should continue and be expanded’’; and 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘microenterprise and 

8 microfinance development assistance’’ and in9 serting ‘‘development assistance for micro, 

10 small and medium-sized enterprises’’; and 

11 (6) in paragraph (6)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘have been successful’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘have had some success’’; 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘microenterprise pro15 grams’’ and inserting ‘‘development assistance 

16 for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises’’; 

17 and 

18 (C) by striking ‘‘, such as countries in 

19 Latin America’’. 

20 (b) AUTHORIZATION; IMPLEMENTATION; TARGETED

21 ASSISTANCE.—Section 252 of the Foreign Assistance Act 

22 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a) is amended as follows: 

23 (1) In subsection (a)— 

24 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 

25 (1)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘credit, savings, and 

2 other services’’ and inserting ‘‘credit, in3 cluding the use of innovative credit scoring 

4 models, savings, financial technology, fi5 nancial literacy, insurance, property rights, 

6 and other services’’; and 

7 (ii) by striking ‘‘microfinance and mi8 croenterprise clients’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, 

9 small and medium-sized enterprise cli10 ents’’; 

11 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘micro12 finance and microenterprise clients’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘micro, small and medium-sized enterprise 

14 clients, particularly those clients owned, man15 aged, and controlled by women’’; 

16 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘microenterprises’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘micro, small and medium-sized 

19 enterprises’’; and 

20 (ii) by inserting ‘‘acquire United 

21 States goods and services,’’ after ‘‘United 

22 States markets,’’; 

23 (D) in paragraph (3)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘microfinance and mi2 croenterprise institutions’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘financial intermediaries’’; 

4 (ii) by striking ‘‘microfinance and mi5 croenterprise clients’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, 

6 small and medium-sized enterprises’’; and 

7 (iii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

8 (E) in paragraph (4)— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘microfinance and mi10 croenterprise clients and institutions’’ and 

11 inserting ‘‘micro, small and medium-sized 

12 enterprises, financial intermediaries, and 

13 capital markets’’; and 

14 (ii) by striking ‘‘the poor and very 

15 poor.’’ and inserting ‘‘the poor and very 

16 poor, especially women;’’; and 

17 (F) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(5) assistance for the purpose of promoting 

19 the economic empowerment of women, including 

20 through increased access to financial resources and 

21 improving property rights, inheritance rights, and 

22 other legal protections; and 

23 ‘‘(6) assistance for the purpose of scaling up 

24 evidence-based graduation approaches, which include 

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1 erty, consumption support, promotion of savings, 

2 skills training, and asset transfers.’’. 

3 (2) In subsection (b)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1) to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

6 established within the Agency an office to support 

7 the Agency’s efforts to broaden and deepen local fi8 nancial markets, expand access to appropriate finan9 cial products and services, and support the develop10 ment of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. 

11 The Office shall be headed by a Director who shall 

12 possess technical expertise and ability to offer lead13 ership in the field of financial sector development.’’; 

14 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

15 (i) in subparagraph (B)— 

16 (I) by striking ‘‘USE OF CEN17 TRAL FUNDING MECHANISMS.—’’ and 

18 all that follows through ‘‘In order to 

19 ensure’’ and inserting ‘‘USE OF CEN20 TRAL FUNDING MECHANISMS.—In 

21 order to ensure’’; 

22 (II) by striking ‘‘the office shall’’ 

23 and all that follows through ‘‘and 

24 other practitioners’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘the office shall provide coordination 


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1 and support for field-implemented 

2 programs, including through targeted 

3 core support for micro, small and me4 dium-sized enterprises and local finan5 cial markets’’; and 

6 (III) by striking clause (ii); 

7 (ii) in subparagraph (C)— 

8 (I) by inserting ‘‘, particularly by 

9 protecting the use and funding of 

10 local organizations in countries in 

11 which the Agency invests,’’ after ‘‘and 

12 sustainability’’; and 

13 (II) by inserting ‘‘, especially 

14 women’’ after ‘‘the poor and very 

15 poor’’; and 

16 (C) by striking paragraph (3). 

17 (3) In subsection (c)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘all microenterprise re19 sources’’ and inserting ‘‘all micro, small and 

20 medium-sized enterprise resources’’; and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘clients who are very 

22 poor.’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘activi23 ties that reach the very poor, and 50 percent of 

24 all small and medium-sized enterprise resources 

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1 prises owned, managed, and controlled by 

2 women.’’. 

3 (c) MONITORING SYSTEM.—Section 253(b) of the 

4 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211b(b)) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, including 

7 goals on a gender disaggregated basis, such as im8 provements in employment, access to financial serv9 ices, enterprise development, earnings and control 

10 over income, and property and land rights,’’ after 

11 ‘‘performance goals’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘include per13 formance indicators’’ and all that follows through 

14 ‘‘the achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘incorporate Agen15 cy planning and reporting processes and indicators 

16 to measure or assess the achievement’’; and 

17 (3) by striking paragraph (4). 

18 (d) POVERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS.—Section 

19 254 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

20 2211c) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 254. POVERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS. 

22 ‘‘The Administrator of the Agency, in consultation 

23 with financial intermediaries and other appropriate orga24 nizations, should have in place at least one method for 


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1 implementing partners to use to assess poverty levels of 

2 their current incoming or prospective clients.’’. 

3 (e) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES.—Section 255 of the 

4 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211d) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘assistance for microenterprise 

7 development assistance’’ and inserting ‘‘development 

8 assistance for micro, small and medium-sized enter9 prises’’; and 

10 (2) by striking ‘‘and, to the extent applicable’’ 

11 and all that follows and inserting a period. 

12 (f) MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS.— 

13 Section 256 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

14 U.S.C. 2212) is amended— 

15 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘MICRO16 ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS’’ and in17 serting ‘‘DEVELOPMENT CREDITS FOR MICRO, 

18 SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES’’; 

19 (2) in subsection (a)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘micro21 and small enterprises’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, 

22 small and medium-sized enterprises’’; and 

23 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘micro24 enterprises’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, small and 

25 medium-sized enterprises’’; 


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1 (3) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 

2 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and other financial 

3 services’’ after ‘‘credit’’; 

4 (4) by striking ‘‘microenterprise households’’ 

5 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘micro, small 

6 and medium-sized enterprises and households’’; and 

7 (5) by striking ‘‘microfinance institutions’’ each 

8 place it appears and inserting ‘‘financial inter9 mediaries’’. 

10 (g) UNITED STATES MICROFINANCE LOAN FACIL11 ITY.—Section 257 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

12 (22 U.S.C. 2213) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘United 

14 States-supported microfinance institutions’’ and in15 serting ‘‘United States-supported financial inter16 mediaries’’; and 

17 (2) in subsection (b)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘United States-supported 

19 microfinance institutions’’ each place it appears 

20 and inserting ‘‘United States-supported finan21 cial intermediaries’’; and 

22 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘micro23 finance institutions’’ and inserting ‘‘financial 

24 intermediaries’’. 


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1 (h) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Subsection (b) of sec2 tion 258 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

3 2214) is amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—To the extent practicable, the re5 port should contain the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) Information about assistance provided 

7 under section 252, including— 

8 ‘‘(A) the amount of each grant or other 

9 form of assistance; 

10 ‘‘(B) the name and type of each inter11 mediary and implementing partner organization 

12 receiving assistance; 

13 ‘‘(C) the name of each country receiving 

14 assistance; and 

15 ‘‘(D) the methodology used to ensure com16 pliance with the targeted assistance require17 ments in subsection (c) of such section. 

18 ‘‘(2) The percentage of assistance provided 

19 under section 252 disaggregated by income level, in20 cluding for the very poor, and gender. 

21 ‘‘(3) The estimated number of individuals that 

22 received assistance provided under section 252 

23 disaggregated by income level, including for the very 

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1 ing loans, training, and business development serv2 ices. 

3 ‘‘(4) The results of the monitoring system re4 quired under section 253. 

5 ‘‘(5) Information about any method in place to 

6 assess poverty levels under section 254.’’. 

7 (i) DEFINITIONS.—Section 259 of the Foreign As8 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2214a) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Committee 

10 on International Relations’’ and inserting ‘‘Com11 mittee on Foreign Affairs’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘microenter13 prises’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, small and medium14 sized enterprises’’; 

15 (3) in paragraph (6)— 

16 (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘mi17 croenterprise institution’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, 

18 small and medium-sized enterprise institution’’; 

19 and 

20 (B) in subparagraph (F), by striking 

21 ‘‘microfinance institution’’ and inserting ‘‘finan22 cial intermediary’’; 

23 (4) in paragraph (7) to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(7) MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED EN25 TERPRISE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘micro, small 


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1 and medium-sized enterprise institution’ means an 

2 entity that provides services, including finance, 

3 training, or business development services, for micro, 

4 small and medium-sized enterprises in foreign coun5 tries.’’; 

6 (5) in paragraph (8) to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(8) FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY.—The term ‘fi8 nancial intermediary’ means the entity that acts as 

9 the intermediary between parties in a financial 

10 transaction, such as a bank, credit union, investment 

11 fund, a village savings and loan group, or an institu12 tion that provides financial services to a micro, small 

13 or medium-sized enterprise.’’; 

14 (6) by striking paragraph (9); 

15 (7) by redesignating paragraphs (10) through 

16 (14) as paragraphs (9) through (13), respectively; 

17 (8) in paragraph (9) (as redesignated), by strik18 ing ‘‘of microenterprise development’’; 

19 (9) in paragraph (10) to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(10) PRACTITIONER INSTITUTION.—The term 

21 ‘practitioner institution’ means a not-for-profit enti22 ty, financial intermediary, information and commu23 nications technology firm with a mobile money plat24 form, a village and savings loan group, or any other 

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1 ment services authorized under section 252 that ben2 efits micro, small and medium-sized enterprise cli3 ents.’’; 

4 (10) in paragraph (12) (as redesignated)— 

5 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘UNITED

6 STATES-SUPPORTED MICROFINANCE INSTITU7 TION’’ and inserting ‘‘UNITED STATES-SUP8 PORTED FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY’’; and 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘United States-supported 

10 microfinance institution’’ and inserting ‘‘United 

11 States-supported financial intermediary’’; 

12 (11) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (13) (as 

13 redesignated) to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(B) living below the International Poverty 

15 Line, as defined by the International Bank for 

16 Reconstruction and Development and the Inter17 national Development Association (collectively 

18 referred to as the ‘World Bank’).’’. 

19 (j) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

20 Title VI of chapter 2 of part I of the Foreign Assistance 

21 Act of 1961 is amended in the title heading by striking 

22 ‘‘MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ASSIST23 ANCE’’ and inserting ‘‘DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 

24 FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM–SIZED EN25 TERPRISES’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. REPORT AND BRIEFING BY UNITED STATES AGEN2 CY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 

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

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

5 the United States Agency for International Development 

6 shall provide a briefing and submit to the Committee on 

7 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 

8 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report 

9 on the implementation of this Act and the amendments 

10 made by this Act, including actions to improve the gender 

11 policies of the United States Agency for International De12 velopment pursuant to section 3. 

13 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report required 

14 under paragraph (1) shall be posted and made available 

15 on a text-based, searchable, and publicly-available internet 

16 website. 

17 SEC. 6. REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE 

18 UNITED STATES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

21 of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 

22 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 

23 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report 

24 on development assistance for micro, small and medium25 sized enterprises administered by the United States Agen26 cy for International Development. 


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1 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re2 quired under subsection (a) shall include an assessment 

3 of the following: 

4 (1) What is known about the impact of such de5 velopment assistance on the economies of developing 

6 countries. 

7 (2) The extent to which such development as8 sistance is targeting women and the very poor, in9 cluding what is known about how such development 

10 assistance benefits women. 

11 (3) The extent to which the United States 

12 Agency for International Development has developed 

13 a methodology used to ensure compliance with the 

14 targeted assistance requirement in section 252(c) of 

15 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended by 

16 section 4 of this Act, and the quality of such meth17 odology. 

18 (4) The monitoring system required in section 

19 253(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as 


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1 amended by section 4 of this Act, including the qual2 ity of such monitoring system. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 17, 2018. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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