Title: Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018
This bill modifies U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) programs to provide targeted assistance for women.
USAID strategies and projects shall be shaped by analysis to address gender differences, including how results may be different for men and women due to issues such as gender roles and structural barriers.
The President is authorized to provide programs in developing countries for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, particularly those owned, managed, and controlled by women. Previously, authorization for such programs was largely limited to microenterprises. The President is also authorized to provide targeted assistance programs that promote economic empowerment of women, including through increased access to financial resources, improving property and inheritance rights, and other legal protections.
For sustainable poverty-focused programs, half of resources targeting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises shall be for activities that reach the very poor. Half of resources for programs for small and medium-sized enterprises shall be for activities targeting enterprises owned, managed, or controlled by women.
The bill directs USAID to modify its system for monitoring its programs to include outcomes broken down by gender, when feasible.
The President is authorized to expand the micro and small business development credit program to provide such assistance to medium-sized businesses as well.
The bill also directs USAID to break down various information in its annual report by gender and income level. USAID shall also report to Congress on the implementation of this bill. The Government Accountability Office shall report to Congress an assessment of the effect of development assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries, and the extent to which such aid benefits women and the very poor.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3247 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3247

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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 19, 2018

  Mr. Boozman (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Rubio) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Women's Entrepreneurship and 
Economic Empowerment Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Because women make up the majority of the world's poor 
        and gender inequalities prevail in incomes, wages, access to 
        finance, ownership of assets, and control over the allocation 
        of resources, women's entrepreneurship and economic empowerment 
        is important to achieve inclusive economic growth at all levels 
        of society. Research shows that when women exert greater 
        influence over household finances, economic outcomes for 
        families improve, and childhood survival rates, food security, 
        and educational attainment increase. Women also tend to place a 
        greater emphasis on household savings which improves families' 
        financial resiliency.
            (2) A 2016 report by the McKinsey Global Institute 
        estimated that achieving global gender parity in economic 
        activity could add as much as $28,000,000,000,000 to annual 
        global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.
            (3) Lack of access to financial services that address 
        gender-specific constraints impedes women's economic inclusion. 
        More than 1,000,000,000 women around the world are currently 
        left out of the formal financial system, which in turn causes 
        many women to rely on informal means of saving and borrowing 
        that are riskier and less reliable. Among other consequences, 
        this hampers the success of women entrepreneurs, including 
        those seeking to run or grow small and medium-sized enterprises 
        (SMEs). The International Finance Corporation has estimated 
        that 70 percent of women-owned SMEs in the formal sector are 
        unserved or underserved in terms of access to credit, amounting 
        to a $285,000,000,000 credit gap.
            (4) Women's economic empowerment is inextricably linked to 
        a myriad of other women's human rights that are essential to 
        their ability to thrive as economic actors across the 
        lifecycle. This includes living lives free of violence and 
        exploitation, achieving the highest possible standard of health 
        and well-being, enjoying full legal and human rights such as 
        access to registration, identification, and citizenship 
        documents, benefitting from formal and informal education, and 
        equal protection of and access to land and property rights, 
        access to fundamental labor rights, policies to address 
        disproportionate care burdens, and business and management 
        skills and leadership opportunities.
            (5) Discriminatory legal and regulatory systems and banking 
        practices are hurdles to women's access to capital and assets, 
        including land, machinery, production facilities, technology, 
        and human resources. Often, these barriers are connected to a 
        woman's marital status, which can determine whether she is able 
        to inherit land or own property in her name. These constraints 
        contribute to women frequently running smaller businesses, with 
        fewer employees and lower asset values.
            (6) Savings groups primarily comprised of women are 
        recognized as a vital entry point, especially for poor and very 
        poor women, to formal financial services and there is a high 
        demand for such groups to protect and grow their savings with 
        formal financial institutions. Evidence shows that, once linked 
        to a bank, the average savings per member increases between 40 
        to 100 percent and the average profit per member doubles. Key 
        to these outcomes is investing in financial literacy, business 
        leadership training, and mentorship.
            (7) United States support for microenterprise and 
        microfinance development programs, which seek to reduce poverty 
        in low-income countries by giving small loans to small-scale 
        entrepreneurs without collateral, have been a useful mechanism 
        to help families weather economic shocks, but many microcredit 
        borrowers largely remain in poverty. The vast majority of 
        microcredit borrowers are women who would like to move up the 
        economic ladder but are held back by binding constraints that 
        create a ``missing middle''--large numbers of microenterprises, 
        a handful of large firms or conglomerates, and very few SMEs in 
        between, which are critical to driving economic growth in 
        developing countries.
            (8) According to the World Bank, SMEs create four out of 5 
        new positions in emerging markets but about half of formal SMEs 
        don't have access to formal credit. The financing gap is even 
        larger when micro and informal enterprises are taken into 
        account. Overall, approximately 70 percent of all micro, small 
        and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets lack 
        access to credit.

SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO IMPROVE GENDER POLICIES OF THE UNITED STATES AGENCY 
              FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) Development Cooperation Policy.--It shall be the development 
cooperation policy of the United States--
            (1) to reduce gender disparities in access to, control 
        over, and benefit from economic, social, political, and 
        cultural resources, wealth, opportunities, and services;
            (2) to strive to eliminate gender-based violence and 
        mitigate its harmful effects on individuals and communities 
        through efforts to develop standards and capacity to reduce 
        gender-based violence in the workplace and other places where 
        women conduct work;
            (3) to support activities that secure private property 
        rights and land tenure for women in developing countries, 
        including legal frameworks to give women equal rights to own, 
        register, use, profit from, and inherit land and property, 
        legal literacy to exercise these rights, and capacity of law 
        enforcement and community leaders to enforce such rights; and
            (4) to increase the capability of women and girls to 
        realize their rights, determine their life outcomes, assume 
        leadership roles, and influence decisionmaking in households, 
        communities, and societies.
    (b) Actions.--In order to advance the policy described in 
subsection (a), the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development shall ensure that--
            (1) strategies, projects, and activities of the Agency are 
        shaped by a gender analysis and, when applicable, use standard 
        indicators to provide one measure of success of such 
        strategies, projects, and activities; and
            (2) gender equality and female empowerment is integrated 
        throughout the Agency's Program Cycle and related processes for 
        purposes of strategic planning, project design and 
        implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
    (c) Gender Analysis Defined.--In this section, the term ``gender 
analysis''--
            (1) means a socioeconomic analysis of available or gathered 
        quantitative and qualitative information to identify, 
        understand, and explain gaps between men and women which 
        typically involves examining--
                    (A) differences in the status of women and men and 
                their differential access to and control over assets, 
                resources, opportunities, and services;
                    (B) the influence of gender roles, structural 
                barriers, and norms on the division of time between 
                paid employment, unpaid work (including subsistence 
                production and care for family members), and volunteer 
                activities;
                    (C) the influence of gender roles, structural 
                barriers, and norms on leadership roles and 
                decisionmaking; constraints, opportunities, and entry 
                points for narrowing gender gaps and empowering women; 
                and
                    (D) potential differential impacts of development 
                policies and programs on men and women, including 
                unintended or negative consequences; and
            (2) includes conclusions and recommendations to enable 
        development policies and programs to narrow gender gaps and 
        improve the lives of women and girls.

SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED 
              ENTERPRISES.

    (a) Findings and Policy.--Section 251 of the Foreign Assistance Act 
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``microenterprise'' and inserting 
                ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
                    (B) by striking ``and in the development'' and 
                inserting ``, in the development''; and
                    (C) by inserting ``, and in the economic 
                empowerment of the poor, especially women'' before the 
                period at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by striking ``microenterprise'' and inserting 
                ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``, particularly enterprises 
                owned, managed, and controlled by women'' before the 
                period at the end;
            (3) in paragraph (3), by striking ``microenterprises'' and 
        inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
            (4) in paragraph (4), by striking ``microenterprise'' and 
        inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise'';
            (5) in paragraph (5)--
                    (A) by striking ``should continue'' and inserting 
                ``should continue and be expanded''; and
                    (B) by striking ``microenterprise and microfinance 
                development assistance'' and inserting ``development 
                assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized 
                enterprises''; and
            (6) in paragraph (6)--
                    (A) by striking ``have been successful'' and 
                inserting ``have had some success'';
                    (B) by striking ``microenterprise programs'' and 
                inserting ``development assistance for micro, small, 
                and medium-sized enterprises''; and
                    (C) by striking ``, such as countries in Latin 
                America''.
    (b) Authorization; Implementation; Targeted Assistance.--Section 
252 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``credit, savings, and other services to 
                microfinance and microenterprise clients'' and 
                inserting ``credit, including the use of innovative 
                credit scoring models, savings, financial technology, 
                financial literacy, insurance, property rights, and 
                other services to micro, small, and medium-sized 
                enterprise clients'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``microfinance 
                and microenterprise clients'' and inserting ``micro, 
                small, and medium-sized enterprise clients, 
                particularly clients owned, managed, and controlled by 
                women'';
                    (C) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by striking ``microenterprises'' and 
                        inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized 
                        enterprises''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``to acquire United 
                        States goods and services,'' after ``United 
                        States markets,'';
                    (D) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) by striking ``microfinance and 
                        microenterprise institutions'' and inserting 
                        ``financial intermediaries'';
                            (ii) by striking ``microfinance and 
                        microenterprise clients'' and inserting 
                        ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises''; 
                        and
                            (iii) by striking ``and'' at the end;
                    (E) in paragraph (4)--
                            (i) by striking ``microfinance and 
                        microenterprise clients and institutions'' and 
                        inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized 
                        enterprises, financial intermediaries, and 
                        capital markets''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``the poor and very 
                        poor.'' and inserting ``the poor and very poor, 
                        especially women;''; and
                    (F) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) assistance for the purpose of promoting the economic 
        empowerment of women, including through increased access to 
        financial resources and improving property rights, inheritance 
        rights, and other legal protections; and
            ``(6) assistance for the purpose of scaling up evidence-
        based graduation approaches, which include targeting the very 
        poor and households in ultra-poverty, consumption support, 
        promotion of savings, skills training, and asset transfers.'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be established 
        within the Agency an office to support the Agency's efforts to 
        broaden and deepen local financial markets, expand access to 
        appropriate financial products and services, and support the 
        development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The 
        Office shall be headed by a Director who shall possess 
        technical expertise and ability to offer leadership in the 
        field of financial sector development.'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as 
                        follows:
                    ``(B) Use of central funding mechanisms.--In order 
                to ensure that assistance under this title is 
                distributed effectively and efficiently, the office 
                shall provide coordination and support for field-
                implemented programs, including through targeted core 
                support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises 
                and local financial markets.''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), in the matter 
                        preceding clause (i)--
                                    (I) by inserting ``, particularly 
                                by protecting the use and funding of 
                                local organizations in countries in 
                                which the Agency invests,'' after ``and 
                                sustainability''; and
                                    (II) by inserting ``, especially 
                                women'' after ``the poor and very 
                                poor''; and
                    (C) by striking paragraph (3); and
            (3) in subsection (c), by striking ``subsection (a), 50 
        percent of all microenterprise resources'' and all that follows 
        and inserting the following: ``subsection (a)--
            ``(1) 50 percent of all micro, small, and medium-sized 
        enterprise resources shall be targeted to activities that reach 
        the very poor; and
            ``(2) 50 percent of all small and medium-sized enterprise 
        resources shall be targeted to activities that reach 
        enterprises owned, managed, and controlled by women.''.
    (c) Monitoring System.--Section 253(b) of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211b(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``, including goals on a 
        gender disaggregated basis, such as improvements in employment, 
        access to financial services, enterprise development, earnings 
        and control over income, and property and land rights,'' after 
        ``performance goals'';
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``include performance 
        indicators to be used in measuring or assessing the 
        achievement'' and inserting ``incorporate Agency planning and 
        reporting processes and indicators to measure or assess the 
        achievement''; and
            (3) by striking paragraph (4).
    (d) Poverty Measurement Methods.--Section 254 of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211c) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 254. POVERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS.

    ``The Administrator of the Agency, in consultation with financial 
intermediaries and other appropriate organizations, should have in 
place at least one method for implementing partners to use to assess 
poverty levels of their current incoming or prospective clients.''.
    (e) Additional Authorities.--Section 255 of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211d) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``assistance for microenterprise 
        development assistance'' and inserting ``development assistance 
        for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises''; and
            (2) by striking ``and, to the extent applicable'' and all 
        that follows and inserting a period.
    (f) Microenterprise Development Credits.--Section 256 of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2212) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``microenterprise 
        development credits'' and inserting ``development credits for 
        micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
            (2) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``micro- and 
                small enterprises'' and inserting ``micro, small, and 
                medium-sized enterprises''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking 
                ``microenterprises'' and inserting ``micro, small, and 
                medium-sized enterprises'';
            (3) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``microenterprise households lacking full 
                access to credit'' and inserting ``micro, small, and 
                medium-sized enterprises and households lacking full 
                access to credit and other financial services''; and
                    (B) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking 
                ``microfinance institutions'' each place such term 
                appears and inserting ``financial intermediaries'';
            (4) in subsection (c), in the matter preceding paragraph 
        (1), by striking ``microfinance institutions'' and inserting 
        ``financial intermediaries''; and
            (5) in subsections (c) and (d), by striking 
        ``microenterprise households'' each place such term appears and 
        inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises and 
        households''.
    (g) United States Microfinance Loan Facility.--Section 257 of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2213) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``United States-
        supported microfinance institutions'' and inserting ``United 
        States-supported financial intermediaries''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``United States-
                supported microfinance institutions'' each place such 
                term appears and inserting ``United States-supported 
                financial intermediaries''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``microfinance 
                institutions'' and inserting ``financial 
                intermediaries''.
    (h) Contents of Report.--Section 258(b) of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2214(b)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Contents.--To the extent practicable, the report submitted 
under subsection (a) should contain the following:
            ``(1) Information about assistance provided under section 
        252, including--
                    ``(A) the amount of each grant or other form of 
                assistance;
                    ``(B) the name and type of each intermediary and 
                implementing partner organization receiving assistance;
                    ``(C) the name of each country receiving 
                assistance; and
                    ``(D) the methodology used to ensure compliance 
                with the targeted assistance requirements under 
                subsection (c) of such section.
            ``(2) The percentage of assistance provided under section 
        252, disaggregated by income level, including for the very 
        poor, and by gender.
            ``(3) The estimated number of individuals that received 
        assistance under section 252, disaggregated by income level, 
        including for the very poor, by gender, and by type of 
        assistance, including loans, training, and business development 
        services.
            ``(4) The results of the monitoring system required under 
        section 253.
            ``(5) Information about any method in place to assess 
        poverty levels under section 254.''.
    (i) Definitions.--Section 259 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
(22 U.S.C. 2214a) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``Committee on 
        International Relations of the House of Representatives'' and 
        inserting ``Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives'';
            (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ``microenterprises'' and 
        inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
            (3) in paragraph (6)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
                ``microenterprise institution'' and inserting ``micro, 
                small, or medium-sized enterprise institution''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``microfinance 
                institution'' and inserting ``financial intermediary'';
            (4) by striking paragraphs (7) and (8) and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(7) Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise 
        institution.--The term `micro, small, and medium-sized 
        enterprise institution' means an entity that provides services, 
        including finance, training, or business development services, 
        for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in foreign 
        countries.
            ``(8) Financial intermediary.--The term `financial 
        intermediary' means the entity that acts as the intermediary 
        between parties in a financial transaction, such as a bank, 
        credit union, investment fund, a village savings and loan 
        group, or an institution that provides financial services to a 
        micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise.'';
            (5) by striking paragraph (9);
            (6) by redesignating paragraphs (10) through (14) as 
        paragraphs (9) through (13), respectively;
            (7) in paragraph (9), as redesignated, by striking ``of 
        microenterprise development'';
            (8) by amending paragraph (10), as redesignated, to read as 
        follows:
            ``(10) Practitioner institution.--The term `practitioner 
        institution' means a not-for-profit entity, a financial 
        intermediary, an information and communications technology firm 
        with a mobile money platform, a village and savings loan group, 
        or any other entity that provides financial or business 
        development services authorized under section 252 that benefits 
        micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise clients.'';
            (9) in paragraph (12), as redesignated--
                    (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking ``United 
                states-supported microfinance institution'' and 
                inserting ``United states-supported financial 
                intermediary''; and
                    (B) by striking ``United States-supported 
                microfinance institution'' and inserting ``United 
                States-supported financial intermediary''; and
            (10) in paragraph (13), as redesignated, by amending 
        subparagraph (B) to read as follows:
                    ``(B) living below the international poverty line 
                (as defined by the International Bank for 
                Reconstruction and Development and the International 
                Development Association (collectively referred to as 
                the `World Bank')).''.
    (j) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--Title VI of chapter 2 of 
part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211 et seq.) 
is amended in the title heading by striking ``MICROENTERPRISE 
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE'' and inserting ``DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR 
MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES''.

SEC. 5. REPORT AND BRIEFING BY UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL 
              DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States Agency 
for International Development shall provide a briefing and submit a 
report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 
the Senate on the implementation of this Act and the amendments made by 
this Act, including actions to improve the gender policies of the 
United States Agency for International Development pursuant to section 
3.
    (b) Public Availability.--The report required under subsection (a) 
shall be posted and made available on a text-based, searchable, and 
publicly available internet website.

SEC. 6. REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 
the Senate on development assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized 
enterprises administered by the United States Agency for International 
Development.
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection 
(a) shall include an assessment of the following:
            (1) What is known about the impact of such development 
        assistance on the economies of developing countries.
            (2) The extent to which such development assistance is 
        targeting women and the very poor, including what is known 
        about how such development assistance benefits women.
            (3) The extent to which the United States Agency for 
        International Development has developed a methodology to ensure 
        compliance with the targeted assistance requirement under 
        section 252(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as 
        amended by section 4, and the quality of such methodology.
            (4) The monitoring system required under section 253(b) of 
        the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended by section 4, 
        including the quality of such monitoring system.
                                 <all>