I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2153 
To support empowerment, economic security, and educational opportunities 
for adolescent girls around the world, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 9, 2019 
Ms. FRANKEL (for herself, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. 
FITZPATRICK, Mr. BERA, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Ms. 
KELLY of Illinois, Mr. RUTHERFORD, and Ms. HOULAHAN) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
A BILL 
To support empowerment, economic security, and educational 
opportunities for adolescent girls around the world, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Keeping Girls in School Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Appropriate congressional committees defined. 
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Sec. 3. Findings. 
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress. 
Sec. 5. Secondary education for adolescent girls. 
Sec. 6. Global strategy requirement. 
Sec. 7. Transparency and reporting to Congress. 
SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Adolescence is a critical period in a girl’s 
life, when significant physical, emotional, and social 
changes shape her future. 
(2) Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable 
to HIV/AIDS, child, early and forced marriage, and 
other forms of violence which are detrimental to 
their futures, as evidenced by the following statistics: 
(A) Each year, 380,000 adolescent girls 
and young women become newly infected with 
HIV, more than 1,000 every day, and comprise 
the fastest-growing demographic for new infec-
tions in sub-Saharan Africa. 
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(B) Each year, 12,000,000 adolescent girls 
around the world are married before their 18th 
birthday, and more than 650,000,000 women 
alive today were married as children. 
(C) Child marriages often interrupt school-
ing, limit opportunities, and impact the phys-
ical, psychological and social well-being of such 
girls. If there is no reduction in child marriage, 
the global number of women married as chil-
dren is projected to increase by 150,000,000 by 
2030. 
(D) One-quarter to one-half of girls in de-
veloping countries become mothers before the 
age of 18, and girls under 15 are five times 
more likely to die during childbirth than women 
in their 20s. 
(3) Approximately 130,000,000 girls around the 
world are not in school, and millions more are failing 
to acquire basic reading, writing, and numeracy 
skills. 
(4) Girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are 
three times more likely than boys to be kept out of 
school, particularly in countries affected by conflict. 
(5) Due to discriminatory gender norms and ex-
pectations, disparities in access to safe and quality 
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education manifest early in a girl’s life and continue 
to become more pronounced throughout adolescence. 
(6) Girls living with disabilities are less likely to 
start school and transition to secondary school than 
boys living with disabilities and other children, and 
just 1 percent of women with disabilities are literate 
globally. 
(7) While two-thirds of all countries have 
achieved gender parity in primary education, only 40 
percent have achieved gender parity in secondary 
education. 
(8) Adolescent girls who remain in school are 
more likely to live longer, marry later, have healthier 
children, and, as adults, earn an income to support 
their families, thereby contributing to the economic 
advancement of communities and nations. 
(9) Since July 2015, more than 100 public-pri-
vate partnerships have been formed between the 
United States Government and external partners to 
support innovative and community-led solutions in 
targeted countries, including Malawi and Tanzania, 
to ensure adolescent girls receive a quality edu-
cation. 
(10) The United States Global Strategy to Em-
power Adolescent Girls, published in March 2016, 
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has brought together the Department of State, the 
United States Agency for International Develop-
ment, the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Chal-
lenge Corporation, as well as other agencies and pro-
grams such as the President’s Emergency Fund for 
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of 
challenges preventing adolescent girls from attaining 
an inclusive and equitable quality education leading 
to relevant learning outcomes. 
(11) According to the United States Global 
Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, which is the 
first foreign policy document in the world solely 
dedicated to the rights and empowerment of girls 
globally, ‘‘[w]hile the Millennium Development Goals 
improved outcomes for girls in primary education, 
they also highlighted the need for a targeted focus 
on adolescents and young adults, particularly re-
garding the transition to and completion of sec-
ondary school’’. 
(12) PEPFAR, through its DREAMS (Deter-
mined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, 
and Safe) Initiative, has worked to address a num-
ber of the specific barriers to education that adoles-
cent girls face. 
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SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) every child, regardless of place of birth, de-
serves an equal opportunity to access quality edu-
cation; 
(2) the United States has been a global leader 
in efforts to expand and improve educational oppor-
tunities for those who have been traditionally 
disenfranchised, particularly women and girls; 
(3) gains with respect to girls’ secondary edu-
cation and empowerment have been proven to cor-
relate strongly with progress in gender equality and 
women’s rights, as well as economic and social 
progress, and achieving gender equality should be a 
priority goal of United States foreign policy; 
(4) achieving gender parity in both access to 
and quality of educational opportunity contributes 
significantly to economic growth and development, 
thereby lowering the risk for violence and instability; 
and 
(5) education is a lifesaving humanitarian inter-
vention that protects the lives, futures, and well- 
being of girls. 
SEC. 5. SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS. 
(a) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development may enter 
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into acquisition, assistance, or results-based financing 
agreements, including agreements combining more than 
one such feature, for activities addressing the barriers de-
scribed in subsection (b) that adolescent girls face in ac-
cessing a quality secondary education. Such activities 
shall— 
(1) set outcome-based targets to demonstrate 
qualitative gains; 
(2) use existing United States Government 
strategies and frameworks relevant to international 
basic education and gender equality, including evi-
dence-based interventions, to— 
(A) integrate new technologies and ap-
proaches, including to establish or continue 
public-private partnerships or to pilot the use of 
development impact bonds (the results of which 
are verified by an independent evaluation); 
(B) to the greatest extent possible, apply 
quasi-experimental and scientific, research- 
based approaches; 
(C) promote inclusive, equitable and sus-
tainable educational achievement; and 
(D) support a responsible transition to 
education systems that are sustainably financed 
by domestic governments; and 
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(3) ensure that schools provide safe and quality 
educational opportunities and create empowering en-
vironments, so that girls can enroll in and regularly 
attend school, successfully transition from primary 
to secondary school, and eventually graduate having 
achieved learning outcomes and positioned to make 
healthy transitions into adulthood. 
(b) SPECIFIC BARRIERS.—The barriers described in 
this subsection include— 
(1) harmful societal and cultural norms; 
(2) lack of safety at school or traveling to 
school, including harassment and other forms of 
physical, sexual, or psychological violence; 
(3) child, early, and forced marriage; 
(4) female genital mutilation; 
(5) distance from a secondary school; 
(6) cost of secondary schooling, including fees, 
clothing, and supplies; 
(7) inadequate sanitation facilities and products 
available at secondary schools; 
(8) prioritization of boys’ secondary education; 
(9) poor nutrition; 
(10) early pregnancy and motherhood; 
(11) HIV infection; 
(12) disability; 
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(13) discrimination based on religious or ethnic 
identity; and 
(14) heavy workload due to household tasks. 
(c) COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Agency 
for International Development Senior Coordinator 
for International Basic Education Assistance, in co-
ordination with the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development Senior Coordinator for Gender 
Equality and Women’s Empowerment and the Am-
bassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the 
Department of State, shall be responsible for the 
oversight and coordination of all activities of the 
United States Government carried out under this 
section. 
(2) DEVELOPMENT OF AGREEMENTS.—In the 
development of results-based financing agreements 
described in subsection (a), the Senior Coordinators 
shall consult with the United States Agency for 
International Development Innovation, Technology, 
and Research Hub or any successor center that is 
responsible for developing innovative tools and ap-
proaches to accelerate development impact. 
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