I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9497 
To prevent international violence against women, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 12, 2022 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. GREEN of 
Texas, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. CARSON, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. 
BROWN of Maryland, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. MCCOL-
LUM, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. 
SCHNEIDER, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. HIGGINS
of New York, Ms. 
BOURDEAUX, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. PINGREE, 
Mr. ALLRED, Ms. TITUS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SOTO, Mr. 
PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. TRONE, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. WASSERMAN 
SCHULTZ, Ms. ROSS, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. BEYER, Ms. MAT-
SUI, Mr. EVANS, Mr. CASE, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
CLEAVER, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. 
MENG, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. JOHNSON of Geor-
gia, Ms. OMAR, Ms. SPEIER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. RASKIN, 
Ms. WEXTON, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. PANETTA, 
Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. SARBANES, 
Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. CHU, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. KAHELE, 
Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. MANNING, 
Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. ROY-
BAL-ALLARD, Ms. DEAN, Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. POCAN, 
Mr. TAKANO, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. 
JONES, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. TORRES of California, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. 
DEFAZIO, Mr. WELCH, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. TLAIB, 
Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. TORRES of 
New York, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 
Mr. KIND, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, 
Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. BROWN of Ohio, 
Mr. LYNCH, Mr. COHEN, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. LIEU, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. 
SUOZZI, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, 
Mr. KEATING, and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
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A BILL 
To prevent international violence against women, 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 AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘International Violence Against Women Act of 2022’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Statement of policy. 
Sec. 4. Definitions. 
TITLE I—STRATEGY, POLICY, AND PROGRAMS 
Sec. 101. United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Vi-
olence Globally. 
Sec. 102. Implementation of the United States Strategy to Prevent and Re-
spond to Gender-Based Violence Globally. 
Sec. 103. Monitoring the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to 
Gender-Based Violence Globally. 
TITLE II—OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY 
Sec. 201. Office of Global Women’s Issues. 
Sec. 202. Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. 
Sec. 203. Briefing and assessment. 
Sec. 204. Addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, 
peacekeeping, conflict, and postconflict settings. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) An estimated one out of every three women 
throughout the world will be beaten, coerced into 
sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. 
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(2) Up to 70 percent of women in some coun-
tries report experiencing gender-based violence at 
some point in their lives. 
(3) Intimate partner violence is the most preva-
lent form of violence against women, preventing 
them from playing more active roles in the social, 
economic, and political development of their commu-
nities. 
(4) Sexual violence among adolescents and pre- 
adolescents is alarmingly high. National surveys in 
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Haiti 
have found that between 28 and 38 percent of girls 
and between 9 and 18 percent of boys report experi-
encing sexual violence before reaching 18 years of 
age. 
(5) Adult male respondents in six countries who 
had experienced violence as children were signifi-
cantly more likely to report perpetrating intimate 
partner violence themselves according to the Inter-
national Men and Gender Equality Survey dataset. 
Analysis by the International Center for Research on 
Women further shows that men who witnessed vio-
lence against their mothers are consistently and sig-
nificantly more likely to report perpetrating sexual 
violence. Further, sexually aggressive behaviors start 
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young for these men, and overlap significantly with 
other forms of physical violence. 
(6) Gender-based violence harms economies and 
the workers that fuel them. Despite under-reporting, 
striking statistics document prevalent forms of gen-
der-based violence globally that affect the world of 
work. Worldwide, women are concentrated in low- 
wage, insecure jobs in workplaces where they lack 
bargaining power, protections against gender-based 
violence, safe and confidential reporting systems, re-
course to justice, and access to legal, medical, and 
psychosocial services. 
(7) Women living in poverty are particularly 
vulnerable to gender-based violence. Lack of eco-
nomic opportunities often compel women to use des-
perate and dangerous means to provide for them-
selves and their families, risking significant exposure 
to sexual exploitation and abuse. These women often 
cannot afford critical social and medical services. 
(8) Research conducted in India, Colombia, 
South Africa, and Uganda indicates that when 
women have greater control of assets, they are less 
likely to experience intimate partner violence. Addi-
tionally, when women participate in the economy, 
they are able to develop a wider support network, 
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which allows them to more easily escape intimate 
partner violence. 
(9) Gender-based violence impacts livelihoods 
and food security by reducing work capacity and 
productivity, including the ability to grow food for 
consumption. Studies have shown that women af-
fected by gender-based violence are exposed to ill-
nesses and injuries that hamper their ability to work 
productively and care for their families. Diminished 
food production consequently increases hunger and 
women’s vulnerability to further violence. 
(10) Country studies indicate that the risk of 
HIV among women who have experienced violence 
may be up to three times higher than among those 
who have not experienced violence. The World 
Health Organization found that women who experi-
ence intimate partner violence are at more than 50 
percent greater risk of HIV infection, and in some 
instances their risk of HIV infection increases four- 
fold. Women living with HIV are more likely to ex-
perience violence than other women, and fear of vio-
lence can prevent women from accessing HIV/AIDS 
information and receiving treatment and counseling. 
(11) Addressing gender norms and inequities is 
essential to reducing HIV risk and increasing access 
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to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services for 
women and men. 
(12) Prevalence of sexual and physical violence 
is higher among persons with disabilities, particu-
larly for adolescents and intimate partners with dis-
abilities, and for men and women with intellectual 
impairments living in institutions. The World Health 
Organization reports that rates of gender-based vio-
lence are between 4 and 10 times greater among 
persons with disabilities compared to non-disabled 
persons. 
(13) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women 
and girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict set-
tings, and natural disasters face extreme violence 
and threats, including— 
(A) being forced to exchange sex for food 
and humanitarian supplies; and 
(B) being at increased risk of rape, sexual 
exploitation, and abuse. 
(14) Rape and sexual assault against women 
and girls are used to torture, intimidate, and ter-
rorize communities. Rape and sexual assault are 
used as tools of war in conflict zones, including the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Syria, Af-
ghanistan, El Salvador, and South Sudan. UNFPA, 
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the United Nation’s reproductive health and rights 
agency, leads the Gender Based Violence Area of 
Responsibility, which is responsible for global coordi-
nation and collaboration on GBV prevention and re-
sponse in humanitarian settings and is a leading 
provider of post-rape care and other reproductive 
health services and commodities in humanitarian 
settings. 
(15) Child and forced marriage of girls— 
(A) is a harmful practice that deprives 
girls of their dignity and rights and creates bar-
riers to development for communities and coun-
tries; 
(B) is projected to affect more than 
150,000,000 girls who will become brides be-
tween 2019 and 2030; 
(C) can prematurely end girls’ education, 
increase vulnerability to gender-based violence, 
and significantly raise the risk of maternal and 
infant morbidity or mortality, including the risk 
of obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted dis-
eases, including HIV/AIDS; 
(D) is perpetuated by poverty, a lack of 
educational or employment opportunities for 
girls, a lack of legal policies and enforcement of 
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laws, and religious, cultural, and social factors 
related to girls’ perceived lack of value, factors 
which become particularly acute in conflict and 
disaster settings where fears of sexual violence 
and overstretched coping mechanisms often 
drive child and forced marriage; and 
(E) child marriage is estimated to con-
tribute, on average, to a loss in earnings of 
about nine percent for women who married 
early, which translates into a loss of about one 
percent in earnings for the entire labor force 
when factoring in all working adults. 
(16) Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/ 
C) is carried out most often on girls between infancy 
and 15 years of age and has impacted more than 
200,000,000 girls and women who are alive today. 
FGM/C can cause long-term health problems, includ-
ing infertility, complications in childbirth, and in-
creased risk of newborn deaths. Mental health is one 
of the least explored domains of impact of gender- 
based violence; indeed, self-harm and suicide is the 
leading cause of death globally for adolescent girls 
aged 15–19. 
(17) World Bank data shows that gender in-
equality directly corresponds to increased levels of 
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political and economic instability within states. Gen-
der-based violence impedes women’s meaningful par-
ticipation in social, political, and economic spheres, 
which is essential to the stability and democratiza-
tion of a country. Since women disproportionately 
experience gender-based violence during conflict and 
post-conflict reconstruction, they can play a pivotal 
role in preventing, mitigating, and resolving conflict, 
and countering extremism. 
(18) Gender-based violence is a contributing 
factor to human trafficking. Experts in the field 
have reported that women and girls who have experi-
enced gender-based violence and live in societies that 
tolerate severe gender discrimination appear to be 
more vulnerable to being trafficked. Comprehensive 
efforts to reduce human trafficking must include ef-
forts to prevent and respond to gender-based vio-
lence due to the intertwined relationship of the two 
crimes. 
(19) Health services are among the first places 
survivors of violence seek assistance. Health focused 
nongovernmental organizations and United Nations 
agencies like UNFPA, the Reproductive Health and 
Rights Agency, has critical opportunities to reach af-
fected women and girls. 
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(20) Gender-based violence also manifests on-
line; gender-based cyberviolence is a growing con-
cern, with women and girls disproportionately af-
fected and targeted based on their appearance, activ-
ism and sexuality. 
(21) Taking meaningful action to address gen-
der-based violence is an imperative acknowledgment 
of a woman’s agency and personal right to leading 
a dignified life. 
(22) Addressing gender norms and inequities is 
essential to reducing HIV risk and increasing access 
to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services for 
women and men. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to take effective action to prevent and re-
spond to violence against women and girls around 
the world as a matter of basic human rights and to 
promote gender equality, economic growth, and im-
proved public health; 
(2) to systematically integrate and coordinate 
efforts to prevent and respond to violence against 
women and girls internationally into United States 
foreign policy and foreign assistance programs, in-
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cluding peace-building efforts and humanitarian re-
lief and recovery; 
(3) to support and build local capacity in devel-
oping countries, including the capacity of govern-
ments at all levels and nongovernmental organiza-
tions, especially women-led organizations to prevent 
and respond to violence against women and girls; 
(4) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and col-
laborate with a wide variety of nongovernmental 
partners with demonstrated experience in preventing 
and responding to violence against women and girls, 
including faith-based organizations and women-led 
organizations; 
(5) to employ a multisectoral approach to pre-
venting and responding to violence against women 
and girls internationally, including activities in the 
economic, education, health, nutrition, legal, and ju-
dicial sectors; 
(6) to work at all levels, from the individual to 
the family, community, local, national, and inter-
national levels, to prevent and respond to violence 
against women and girls around the world; 
(7) to enhance training by United States per-
sonnel of professional foreign military and police 
forces and judicial officials, including specific and 
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thorough instruction on preventing and responding 
to violence against women and girls around the 
world; 
(8) to engage men and boys as partners, as an 
essential element of making sustained reductions in 
violence against women and girls; 
(9) to include the prevention of child and forced 
marriage as an important part of United States 
Government efforts to prevent violence against girls 
and promote gender equality and global health; 
(10) to require that all United States contrac-
tors and grantees establish appropriate policies and 
take effective measures to prevent violence against 
women and girls and sexual exploitation and abuse 
within their workforce; 
(11) to exert sustained international leadership 
to prevent and respond to violence against women 
and girls, including in bilateral and multilateral fora; 
and 
(12) to implement the United States Strategy 
to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence 
Globally. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
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(1) AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE.—The term ‘‘Am-
bassador-at-Large’’ means the Ambassador-at-Large 
for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of 
State appointed by the President pursuant to section 
201(a). 
(2) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate. 
(3) GENDER
ANALYSIS.—The term ‘‘gender 
analysis’’ means the examination of the differential 
impact of policies on different genders. 
(4) 
GENDER-BASED
VIOLENCE.—The 
term 
‘‘gender-based violence’’— 
(A) means any harmful threat or act di-
rected at an individual or group based on actual 
or perceived biological sex, gender identity or 
expression, sexual orientation, or lack of adher-
ence to varying socially constructed norms 
around masculinity and femininity; 
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(B) is rooted in structural gender inequal-
ities, patriarchy, and power imbalances; and 
(C) includes the use or threat of physical, 
psychological, sexual, economic, legal, political, 
social and other forms of control or abuse. 
(5) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of-
fice of Global Women’s Issues established by the 
Secretary of State pursuant to section 201(a). 
(6) SENIOR COORDINATOR.—The term ‘‘Senior 
Coordinator’’ means the Senior Coordinator for Gen-
der Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the 
United States Agency for International Development 
appointed pursuant to section 202. 
(7) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.— 
The term ‘‘violence against women and girls’’— 
(A) means any act of violence against 
women or girls that results in, or is likely to re-
sult in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm 
or suffering to women or girls, including threats 
of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations 
of liberty, whether occurring in public or private 
life; and 
(B) includes— 
(i) physical, sexual, and psychological 
violence occurring in the family, including 
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after, the Ambassador-at-Large, in consultation with the 
Senior Coordinator, shall— 
(1) develop or update, in consultation with civil 
society, including service providers, a United States 
global strategy to prevent and respond to violence 
against women and girls, using evidence-based inter-
ventions and standards that address the root causes 
of, and provide comprehensive responses to, violence 
against women and girls; 
(2) submit the strategy under paragraph (1) to 
the appropriate congressional committees for com-
ment and review; and 
(3) make the strategy publicly available on the 
internet. 
(b) INITIAL STRATEGY.—For the purposes of this 
section, the ‘‘United States Strategy to Prevent and Re-
spond to Gender-Based Violence Globally’’, issued in Au-
gust 2012 and updated in 2016, shall be deemed to fulfill 
the initial requirement of subsection (a). 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not later than 60 
days after submission of the strategy under subsection (a), 
the Ambassador-at-Large, in consultation with the Senior 
Coordinator, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees an implementation plan detailing how the 
strategy will be implemented in the upcoming 4 fiscal 
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years, including the budget resources requested, and the 
specific activities to be supported, by each executive agen-
cy under the strategy. 
(d) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—In devel-
oping the strategy under subsection (a), the Ambassador- 
at-Large and the Senior Coordinator shall consult with— 
(1) the heads of relevant Federal agencies; 
(2) the Senior Policy Operating Group on Traf-
ficking in Persons; and 
(3) representatives of civil society, including 
nongovernmental organizations, faith-based organi-
zations, multilateral organizations, local and inter-
national civil society groups, and local service pro-
viders and beneficiaries with demonstrated experi-
ence in addressing violence against women and girls 
or promoting gender equality internationally. 
(e) CONTENT.—The implementation plan required 
under subsection (c) shall— 
(1) identify eligible low-income and lower-mid-
dle income countries with significant levels of vio-
lence against women and girls, including within dis-
placed communities, that have the governmental or 
nongovernmental organizational capacity to manage 
and implement gender-based violence prevention and 
response program activities and should, when pos-
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sible, be geographically, ethnically, and culturally di-
verse from one another; 
(2) select 5 to 20 of the eligible countries iden-
tified under paragraph (1) in which to develop com-
prehensive and holistic individual country plans that 
incorporate at least two of the program activities 
listed in section 102(b); 
(3) assess and describe the current or potential 
capacity of the government of each eligible country 
selected under paragraph (2) and civil society orga-
nizations in each such eligible country to address 
and respond to violence against women and girls; 
(4) identify coordination mechanisms with Fed-
eral agencies that— 
(A) have existing programs relevant to the 
strategy; 
(B) will be involved in new program activi-
ties; and 
(C) are engaged in broader United States 
strategies around development; 
(5) describe the monitoring and evaluation 
mechanisms established for each eligible country, 
and their intended use in assessing overall progress 
in prevention and response; 
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(6) project general levels of resources needed to 
achieve the stated objectives in each eligible country, 
including an accounting of— 
(A) activities and funding already ex-
pended by the Department of State, the United 
States Agency for International Development, 
and other Federal agencies, donor country gov-
ernments, and multilateral institutions; and 
(B) leveraged private sector resources; 
(7) integrate gender analysis into the strategy 
for each country; and 
(8) include, as appropriate, strategies designed 
to accommodate the needs of stateless, disabled, in-
ternally displaced refugees and religious or ethnic 
minority women and girls. 
SEC. 102. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED STATES 
STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RESPOND TO 
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOBALLY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 
Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development are authorized to provide assistance 
to prevent and respond to violence against women and 
girls internationally. 
(b) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance 
provided under this section shall be used to carry out, in 
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each of the countries identified in the strategy required 
pursuant to subsection 101(e)(2), two or more of the fol-
lowing program activities: 
(1) Increasing legal and judicial protections 
by— 
(A) supporting programs that strengthen a 
coordinated community response to violence 
against women and girls, including through co-
ordination between judges, police, prosecutors, 
and legal advocates to enhance prospects for 
perpetrator accountability; 
(B) supporting efforts and providing re-
sources to provide training and technical assist-
ance to police, prosecutors, forensic physicians, 
lawyers, corrections officers, judges, and judi-
cial officials, and where appropriate, to non-
lawyer advocates and traditional community au-
thorities on violence against women and girls; 
(C) supporting efforts to reform and revise 
criminal and civil laws to prohibit violence 
against women and girls and create account-
ability for perpetrators; 
(D) enhancing the capacity of the justice 
sector, including keeping official records of all 
complaints, collecting and safeguarding evi-
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dence, systematizing and tracking data on cases 
of violence against women and girls, and under-
taking investigations and evidence gathering ex-
peditiously; 
(E) helping women and girls who are vic-
tims of violence gain access to the justice sector 
and supporting them throughout the legal proc-
ess, including establishing victim and witness 
units for courts and promoting support for sur-
vivor services, including hotlines and shelters; 
(F) promoting civil remedies in cases of 
domestic violence that— 
(i) prioritize victim safety and con-
fidentiality and offender accountability; 
(ii) grant women and children re-
straining, protection, or removal orders 
with appropriate criminal sanctions for vio-
lations against perpetrators of violence; 
(iii) strengthen and promote women’s 
custodial rights over children and protect 
children; and 
(iv) grant courts authority to provide 
specific relief pursuant to a restraining or 
removal order, including restitution, spous-
al maintenance, child support, payment of 
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debt, or return or equitable distribution of 
property; 
(G) reducing the incidence of violence 
against women and girls committed by govern-
ment officials by developing confidential mecha-
nisms for reporting violence against women and 
girls committed by government officials and in-
stitutions and developing laws to punish the 
perpetrators and remove immunity from state 
officials; 
(H) promoting broader legal protection for 
women and girls against all forms of violence 
against women and girls, such as female infan-
ticide and female genital mutilation, and prac-
tices that are associated with higher rates of vi-
olence against women and girls, such as child 
and forced marriage; and 
(I) increasing the number of women advo-
cates trained to respond to violence against 
women and girls at police stations, including 
the creation of domestic violence units and in-
creasing the number of women police. 
(2) Carrying out health care initiatives, includ-
ing— 
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(A) promoting the integration of programs 
to prevent and respond to violence against 
women and girls into existing programs ad-
dressing child survival, women’s health, repro-
ductive health, family planning, mental health, 
and HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment; 
(B) training of health care providers, in-
cluding traditional birth attendants, on methods 
to safely and confidentially assess women and 
girls seeking health services for intimate part-
ner, family, and sexual violence; 
(C) developing and enforcing national and 
operational women’s health, reproductive health, 
children’s health, and HIV/AIDS policies that 
prevent and respond to violence against women 
and girls, with accompanying resources, includ-
ing through cooperative efforts with ministries 
of health; 
(D) developing information gathering sys-
tems within the health care sector that, con-
sistent with safety and confidentiality concerns, 
collect and compile data on the type of violence 
against women and girls, access to care, age of 
victims, and relationship of victims to perpetra-
tors; 
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(E) working with governments to develop 
partnerships with civil society organizations to 
create referral networks systems for psycho-
social, legal, economic, or other support serv-
ices; and 
(F) integrating screening and assessment 
for gender-based violence into HIV/AIDS pro-
gramming and other health programming into 
all country operation plans, and increasing 
women’s access to information, strategies, and 
services to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. 
(3) Conducting public awareness programs to 
change social norms and attitudes, including— 
(A) supporting women survivors of violence 
to educate their communities on the impacts of 
violence; 
(B) engaging men, including faith and tra-
ditional leaders; 
(C) providing funding and programmatic 
support for mass media social change cam-
paigns; and 
(D) supporting community efforts to 
change attitudes about harmful traditional 
practices, including child marriage, female gen-
ital mutilation, and so-called ‘‘honor killings’’. 
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(4) 
Improving 
economic 
opportunities 
for 
women and girls, including— 
(A) supporting programs to help women 
meet their economic needs and to increase their 
economic opportunities, in both rural and urban 
areas, including through support for— 
(i) the establishment and development 
of businesses (micro, small, and medium- 
sized enterprises) through access to finan-
cial and nonfinancial services; and 
(ii) education, literacy, and numeracy 
programs, leadership development and job 
skills training, especially in nontraditional 
fields and expected growth sectors; 
(B) supporting programs to help increase 
property rights, social security, and home own-
ership and land tenure security for women by— 
(i) promoting equitable extension of 
property and inheritance rights, particu-
larly rights to familial and marital prop-
erty; 
(ii) promoting legal literacy, including 
among faith and traditional leaders, about 
women’s property rights; and 
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(iii) helping women to make land 
claims and protecting women’s existing 
claims and advocating for equitable land ti-
tling and registration for women, including 
safeguards for women title-holders in the 
case of domestic violence disputes; 
(C) integrating activities to prevent and re-
spond to violence against women and girls into 
existing economic opportunity programs by— 
(i) integrating education on violence 
against women and girls into women’s 
microfinance, microenterprise, and job 
skills training programs; and 
(ii) training providers of economic op-
portunity services and programs in sensi-
tivity to violence against women and girls; 
and 
(D) addressing violence against women and 
girls in the workplace. 
(5) Improving educational opportunities for 
women and girls, including— 
(A) supporting efforts and providing re-
sources to provide training for all teachers and 
school administrators on school-related violence, 
in particular increasing awareness of violence 
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against women and girls, and to improve re-
porting, referral, and implementation of codes 
of conduct; 
(B) working to ensure the safety of girls 
during their travel to and from school and on 
school grounds; 
(C) supporting programs for girls and boys 
on the unacceptability of violence against 
women and girls; 
(D) comprehensive sexuality education pro-
grams which include consent education; and 
(E) conducting national and baseline sur-
veys to collect data on school-related violence 
against women and girls. 
(c) BUILDING LOCAL CAPACITY.—Not less than 10 
percent of the amount of assistance provided to an eligible 
country under this section should be provided to commu-
nity-based nongovernmental or faith-based organizations, 
with priority given to nongovernmental organizations led 
by women. 
SEC. 103. MONITORING THE UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO 
PREVENT AND RESPOND TO GENDER-BASED 
VIOLENCE GLOBALLY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In each strategy submitted under 
section 101(a), the Ambassador-at-Large and Senior Co-
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ordinator shall include an analysis of best practices for 
preventing and addressing violence against women and 
girls internationally, which shall include— 
(1) a description of successful efforts by foreign 
governments, multilateral institutions, nongovern-
mental organizations, educational organizations, and 
faith-based organizations in preventing and respond-
ing to violence against women and girls; 
(2) recommendations related to best practices, 
effective strategies, and improvements to enhance 
the impact of prevention and response efforts; and 
(3) the impact of activities funded by the strat-
egy in preventing and reducing violence against 
women and girls internationally. 
(b) AMENDMENTS.—The Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961 is amended— 
(1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))— 
(A) in paragraph (11)(C), by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(B) in paragraph (12)(C)(ii), by striking 
the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
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‘‘(13) wherever applicable, the nature and ex-
tent of violence against women and girls (as such 
term is defined in section 4 of the International Vio-
lence Against Women Act of 2022).’’; and 
(2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304)— 
(A) by redesignating the second subsection 
designated as subsection (i) as subsection (j); 
and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(k) INCLUSION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO VI-
OLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.—The report re-
quired by subsection (b) shall include, wherever applicable, 
the nature and extent of violence against women and girls 
(as such term is defined in section 4 of the International 
Violence Against Women Act of 2022).’’. 
(c) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.—In coordination 
with relevant officials, and consistent with the monitoring 
and evaluation policies of their respective agencies, the 
Ambassador-at-Large and the Senior Coordinator shall 
develop a plan for monitoring and independent evaluation 
of programs, projects, and activities carried out under this 
Act. The plan shall— 
(1) apply rigorous monitoring and evaluation 
methodologies to focus on learning, accountability, 
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and policymaking, choosing from among a wide vari-
ety of qualitative, quantitative, summative, and 
formative methods common in the field of social sci-
entific inquiry, including impact evaluations; and 
(2) be included in the implementation plan re-
quired under section 101(c). 
(d) RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION.—The Sec-
retary of State and the Administrator of the United States 
Agency for International Development shall— 
(1) produce original research or analysis of ef-
fective interventions to prevent or respond to vio-
lence against women and girls internationally; 
(2) collect and analyze new or existing data on 
the scope and extent of all forms of violence against 
women and girls internationally, including under 
documented forms of violence and violence against 
marginalized groups; 
(3) conduct research on effective interventions 
to respond to violence against women and girls inter-
nationally, including efforts to scale up effective pro-
gramming; and 
(4) support systemic data collection using inter-
nationally comparable indicators, norms, and meth-
odologies for measuring the scope, prevalence, and 
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incidence of violence against women and girls inter-
nationally. 
TITLE II—OVERSIGHT AND 
ACCOUNTABILITY 
SEC. 201. OFFICE OF GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of State shall 
establish in the Office of the Secretary of the Department 
of State the Office of Global Women’s Issues. The Office 
shall be headed by an Ambassador-at-Large for Global 
Women’s Issues, who shall be appointed by the President, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The 
Ambassador-at-Large shall report directly to the Secretary 
and shall have the rank and status of Ambassador-at- 
Large. 
(b) PURPOSE.—In addition to the duties described in 
subsection (c) and duties determined by the Secretary of 
State, the Ambassador-at-Large shall coordinate efforts of 
the United States Government as directed by the Sec-
retary regarding approaches that promote equality and ad-
vance the status of women and girls in United States for-
eign policy. 
(c) DUTIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Ambassador-at-Large— 
(A) in consultation with the Senior Coordi-
nator, shall direct activities, policies, programs, 
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and funding relating to gender equality and the 
advancement of women and girls internation-
ally, including those intended to prevent and re-
spond to violence against women and girls, for 
all bureaus and offices of the Department of 
State and in the international programs of all 
other Federal agencies; 
(B) shall actively promote and advance the 
integration of gender analysis into the pro-
grams, structures, processes, and capacities of 
bureaus and offices of the Department of State 
and in the international programs of other Fed-
eral agencies; 
(C) shall direct United States Government 
resources, as appropriate, to respond to needs 
for promoting gender equality and the em-
powerment of women in United States Govern-
ment foreign policies and international pro-
grams, including to prevent and respond to vio-
lence against women and girls internationally; 
(D) may design, support, and implement 
activities regarding empowerment of women 
internationally, including for the prevention of 
and response to violence against women and 
girls internationally; 
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(E) shall conduct regular consultation with 
civil society organizations working to prevent 
and respond to violence against women and 
girls internationally; 
(F) shall ensure that programs, projects, 
and activities designed to prevent and respond 
to violence against women and girls internation-
ally are subject to rigorous monitoring and eval-
uation, and that there is a uniform set of indi-
cators and standards for such monitoring and 
evaluation that is used across all Federal agen-
cies; 
(G) shall serve as the principal advisor to 
the Secretary of State regarding gender equal-
ity, 
women’s 
empowerment, 
and 
violence 
against women and girls as a foreign policy 
matter; and 
(H) is authorized to represent the United 
States in diplomatic and multilateral fora on 
matters relevant to the status of women and 
girls, including violence against women and 
girls internationally. 
(2) 
INFORMATION
SHARING
AND
TRANS-
PARENCY.—The Office— 
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(A) shall be the central repository of data 
on all United States programs, projects, and ac-
tivities that relate to prevention and response to 
violence against women and girls; and 
(B) shall produce a full accounting of 
United States Government spending on such 
programs, projects, and activities. 
SEC. 202. SENIOR COORDINATOR FOR GENDER EQUALITY 
AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 
United States Agency for International Development the 
position of Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and 
Women’s Empowerment. The Senior Coordinator shall— 
(1) report to the Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development; and 
(2) conduct the activities of the Administrator 
under this Act. 
(b) DUTIES.—The Senior Coordinator— 
(1) in consultation with the Ambassador-at- 
Large, shall direct activities, policies, programs, and 
funding of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development relating to gender equality 
and women’s empowerment, including those intended 
to prevent and respond to violence against women 
and girls; 
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(2) shall actively promote and advance the inte-
gration of gender analysis into the programs, struc-
tures, processes, and capacities of all bureaus and 
offices of the United States Agency for International 
Development as required by the Agency’s Gender 
Equality and Female Empowerment Policy; 
(3) shall direct United States Agency for Inter-
national Development resources for gender equality 
and women’s empowerment, including to prevent and 
respond to violence against women and girls inter-
nationally; 
(4) may design, support, and implement activi-
ties led by the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development regarding gender equality and 
women’s empowerment, including for the prevention 
and response to violence against women and girls 
internationally; 
(5) shall conduct regular consultation with civil 
society organizations working to prevent and re-
spond to violence against women and girls inter-
nationally; 
(6) shall serve as the principal advisor to the 
Administrator regarding gender equality, women’s 
empowerment, and violence against women and girls; 
and 
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(7) shall track and analyze monitoring and eval-
uation data and findings on international prevention 
and response programs of the United States Agency 
for International Development, consistent with 
Agency-wide monitoring and evaluation activities, to 
assist in the preparation of the strategy developed 
under section 101(a). 
SEC. 203. BRIEFING AND ASSESSMENT. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Ambas-
sador-at-Large and the Senior Coordinator shall provide, 
to the appropriate congressional committees— 
(1) a briefing on international violence against 
women and girls prevention and response strategies, 
programming, and associated outcomes; and 
(2) an assessment of human and financial re-
sources necessary to fulfill the purposes and duties 
under this Act. 
SEC. 204. ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND 
GIRLS IN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF, PEACE-
KEEPING, CONFLICT, AND POSTCONFLICT 
SETTINGS. 
(a) ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
WITH USAID.—The Secretary of State and the Adminis-
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trator of the United States Agency for International De-
velopment shall ensure that— 
(1) bilateral and multilateral assistance made 
available for humanitarian relief, conflict mitigation, 
and post-conflict reconstruction including funds 
made available through Safe from the Start and 
other programs and efforts— 
(A) prevents and responds to violence 
against women and girls from the very onset of 
and throughout a crisis; 
(B) builds the capacity of humanitarian 
actors, including multilateral agencies and those 
leading relevant humanitarian cluster responses 
and Areas of Responsibility (AOR), such as the 
GBV AOR; 
(C) builds the capacity of local partners to 
address the special protection needs of women 
and children; 
(D) supports survivors of violence through 
education, essential medical and psychosocial 
assistance, trauma counseling, family and com-
munity reinsertion and reunification, and eco-
nomic opportunity programs; and 
(E) provides legal services for women and 
girls who are victims of violence; 
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(2) specialists in violence against women and 
girls are designated and deployed, as appropriate, as 
an integral part of Disaster Assistance Response 
Teams to ensure the integration of prevention and 
response to violence against women and girls inter-
nationally in strategies and programming; and 
(3) contractors, grantees, and governments that 
carry out programs with United States assistance— 
(A) train humanitarian workers in pre-
venting and responding to violence against 
women and girls, including in the use of mecha-
nisms to report violence against women and 
girls; 
(B) conduct appropriate public outreach to 
make known to the host community the mecha-
nisms to report violence against women and 
girls; and 
(C) promptly and appropriately respond to 
reports of violence against women and girls and 
treat survivors in accordance with best practices 
regarding confidentiality. 
(b) EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO CREDIBLE REPORTS 
OF
CRITICAL
OR
WIDESPREAD
VIOLENCE
AGAINST 
WOMEN AND GIRLS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, act-
ing through the heads of relevant bureaus and of-
fices of the Department of State, shall— 
(A) identify critical or widespread incidents 
of violence against women and girls in situa-
tions of armed conflict when such incidents 
occur, through consultation with other Federal 
departments and agencies, the United Nations, 
international organizations, and nongovern-
mental organizations; 
(B) determine emergency response meas-
ures not later than 45 days after such identi-
fication; and 
(C) brief Congress, upon request, on the 
implementation of such emergency response 
measures and outcomes not later than 90 days 
after such determination. 
(2) CONTENT.—The emergency measures devel-
oped under paragraph (1) shall include a description 
of bilateral diplomatic efforts with— 
(A) the government of the country in 
which the violence is occurring; 
(B) governments in the region in which the 
violence is occurring; and 
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(C) other donor governments. 
Æ 
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