literacy among poor women represent a major bar-
rier to women’s use of information technology.
(b) AMENDMENTS TO FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF
1961.—
(1) MICRO- AND SMALL ENTERPRISE DEVELOP-
MENT CREDITS.—Section 108 of the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961 is amended—
(A) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting after
‘‘training programs for microentrepreneurs’’ the
following: ‘‘, with an emphasis on women,’’; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(g) REPORTING
REQUIREMENT.—The Adminis-
trator of the United States Agency for International De-
velopment shall, as part of the annual congressional pres-
entation documents of the Agency, submit to Congress a
report that contains—
‘‘(1) indicators on the number of women living
below the national poverty line that have secured
loans or received training through the programs de-
scribed in this Act; and
‘‘(2) the percentage of women borrowers in pro-
grams funded by the Agency, the percentage of total
loan funds received by women borrowers, and the
impact of such loans on the economic status of such
women.’’.
(2) MICROENTERPRISE
DEVELOPMENT
GRANT
ASSISTANCE.—Section 131 of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 is amended—
(A) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by inserting at
the end before the period the following: ‘‘, in-
cluding programs to eliminate legal and institu-
tional barriers to women’s ownership of assets,
access to credit, and engagement in business
activities within or outside of the home’’;
(B) in subsection (b)(2)(C), by inserting at
the end before the period the following: ‘‘, in-
cluding women’s organizations’’;
(C) in subsection (b)(3), in the first sen-
tence, by striking ‘‘as established by the na-
tional government of the country’’; and
(D) in subsection (c), by adding at the end
the following: ‘‘All goals, reports, analyses and
recommendations required by this section shall
be disaggregated by sex.’’.
(c) SUPPORT FOR WOMEN’S SMALL- AND MEDIUM-
SIZED BUSINESSES.—
(1) USAID.—The Administrator of the United
States Agency for International Development, work-
ing closely with the Deputy Assistant Administrator
for Women in Development, shall incorporate the
following activities into existing and future programs
of the Agency to promote small businesses and me-
dium-sized businesses in developing countries:
(A) Work with developing country govern-
ments to enhance or create laws, regulations,
and other practices that promote the growth of
banking and financial services for small busi-
nesses and medium-sized businesses, and to
eliminate or reduce regulatory barriers that
may exist in this regard. In particular, promote
specific policy or regulatory measures that in-
crease access to these services for women-owned
small businesses and medium-sized businesses.
(B) Strongly encourage developing country
governments to reduce corruption at the na-
tional, regional, and local levels, which women’s
businesses report as one of the leading barriers
to their growth.
(C) Promote access to information tech-
nology (IT) with training in IT for women-
owned small businesses and medium-sized busi-
nesses.
(D) Provide training, through local asso-
ciations of women-owned businesses and gov-
ernment programs, in financial and personnel
management, international trade, business plan-
ning, marketing, and policy advocacy.
(E) Provide resources to establish and en-
hance local, national, and international net-
works and associations of women-owned small
businesses and medium-sized businesses.
(2) DEPARTMENT
OF
COMMERCE.—The Sec-
retary of Commerce shall encourage United States
business participants on trade missions to developing
and transitional countries to meet with women-
owned small businesses and medium-sized businesses
in such countries.
(d) ACCESS
TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)
AND TRAINING.—The Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development, working closely
with the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Women in
Development, shall incorporate the following activities into
existing and future information technology programs of
the Agency:
(1) Assist and encourage developing countries
to include gender analysis and activities to promote
the use of information technology among women in
their national information technology policies.
(2) Assist developing countries in building in-
frastructure in wireless and commercial satellite
communications, particularly for rural and peri-
urban areas.
(3) Include the use of information technology in
programs in basic education and literacy training.
(4) Develop programs to increase the number of
girls and women studying information technology-re-
lated subjects.
(5) Provide assistance to nongovernmental or-
ganizations working with poor women to deliver in-
formation technology hardware and training to their
beneficiaries.
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this title:
(1) 
MICROCREDIT
PROGRAM.—The 
term
‘‘microcredit program’’ means a program that pro-
vides small loans and other financial services such as
savings to very poor microentrepreneurs.
(2) MICROENTERPRISE.—The term ‘‘micro-
enterprise’’ means a business with 10 or fewer em-
ployees from among individuals who are poor or dis-
advantaged.
(3) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘small busi-
ness’’ means a business enterprise with approxi-
mately 10 to 100 employees.
SEC. 203. IMPROVING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF
WOMEN’S WORK.
(a) FINDINGS
AND DECLARATIONS
OF POLICY.—
Congress makes the following findings and declarations of
policy:
(1) Women work for pay in two primary and
overlapping fields of activity—the formal sector
(that set of activities in private or publicly owned en-
terprise or in the civil service which conform gen-
erally to tax and labor laws and other state regula-
tions) and the informal sector (that set of economic
activities characterized by relative ease of entry, reli-
ance on indigenous resources, family ownership,
small scale of operations, labor intensity, and un-
regulated markets).
(2) Once expected to dwindle with economic
growth, the informal sector today provides the ma-
jority of employment in many developing countries.
In Africa, this sector creates 93 percent of new jobs
in the economy and as much as 80 percent of non-
agricultural employment is in the informal sector.
(3) Street vending is a global phenomenon. In
cities and towns throughout the world millions of
people earn their living by selling a wide range of
goods and services on the streets. Despite a general
belief that street vending recedes as economies de-