Democracy and Governance Economic Growth and Agricultural Development Environment, Energy and Urban Development Human Capacity Development Population, Health and Nutrition Women in Development Program Development and Strategic Planning Development Credit Programs Glossary Abbreviations & Acronyms Last updated: Monday, 18-Sep-2000 11:58:16 EDT

Special Concerns

Women in Development (G/WID)

Recognizing that the inferior status of women in most developing countries and economies in transition is a key constraint to overall social and economic development, USAID has been in the forefront of formulating policies and institutional structures to target improvements in the status of women in developing countries since 1974. More recently, the Secretary of State strongly reaffirmed U.S. commitment to recognizing and reinforcing the human rights of women around the world as a fundamental tenet of U.S. foreign policy. And, in 1996, USAID adopted the Gender Plan of Action (GPA), spelling out a series of gender considerations for incorporation into all aspects of the Agency's work. USAID's unfaltering commitment to addressing women in development issues is evident throughout its programs and policies, supported with the technical assistance and leadership of the Agency's central Office of Women in Development (WID). For the past several years, USAID has funded the WID Office's activities at $10 million per year, and plans to continue at this level in FY 2001. The Agency's GPA continues to be a key component in the institutionalization of gender throughout the Agency. In the past year under the GPA: (1) program assistance guidance has been revised to better reflect the key role of gender issues in "managing for results"; (2) requirement for evaluating gender issues in competitive solicitations has been provided to all Agency procurement officers; and (3) a highly successful women-in-development Fellows program has been reestablished. In addition, central programs are funding activities in four critical areas.

941-001. Gender-based constraints to economic growth policies and programs increasingly addressed.

U.S. Financing Table for 941-001 (Microsoft Excel Document - 28 kb)

More than 800 million women are economically active worldwide. Over 70% of these women live in the developing regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and their numbers have nearly tripled since 1950. While women increasingly are economically active, their unemployment rates remain high relative to those of men; when employed, their wages are about 60% of men's. Yet, studies have demonstrated that women are more likely than men to use their income for child-rearing and household maintenance, and have shown that, for the entire household, increases in women's incomes correlate more directly with higher education, literacy, and life expectancy rates, and lower infant mortality, morbidity, and fertility rates, than do increases in men's incomes. Hence, improvements in women's employment are critical for the large numbers of women now living in poverty and for the well-being of the children and often the elderly they support. The success and sustainability of economic growth policies and programs clearly depend on full incorporation of women as well as men into country development activities. Women's capacity to participate fully and lead as members of democratic societies, and their ability to control their lives and decisions and to improve their health and education status are directly linked to their opportunities to earn and control income. Activities in support of this objective increase African women's role in agricultural production and research; strengthen formulation and implementation of development policy through gender-focused research on intra-household allocation processes; and develop model partnership agreements with selected international agribusiness firms to explore women's employment issues in agribusiness in developing countries.

941-002. Broad-based, informed constituencies mobilized to improve girls' education in emphasis countries.

U.S. Financing Table for 941-002 (Microsoft Excel Document - 28 kb)

Research over the past 30 years has established that female education and literacy are key factors in a country's development and that investments in female education yield high returns in terms of social and economic gains. Yet, girls' educational opportunities in most developing countries are limited, both in absolute terms and relative to those of boys. Differences in male and female enrollment as a proportion of total enrollment are striking at both the primary and secondary levels in South Asia and Africa. At issue, also, in most regions are girls' higher dropout rates -- and thus lower educational attainment. It is axiomatic that individuals and organizations invest in products or services that they see as integral to their development. For efforts to become sustainable, it is critical that a country's citizens recognize the importance of girls' education for the country's development and that they become committed to its improvement. Activities under this objective enable missions to create initiatives that mobilize community leaders, including leaders in government, business, religion, the media, and non-governmental organizations, to take a multi-sector approach to addressing the barriers to girls' education. Central WID programs will continue to work with field missions and partners to ensure full commitment of host-country human and financial resources to create and sustain such initiatives to improve girls' education. Examples of practices that address specific barriers are: economic incentive programs (e.g., scholarships) that address family resource barriers, village committees to promote culturally acceptable female education, national media campaigns that address policy reform barriers, and community school programs that address education system barriers.

941-003. Women's legal rights increasingly protected.

U.S. Financing Table for 941-003 (Microsoft Excel Document - 28 kb)

The legal rights of women and their enforcement comprise a critical development issue in all regions. Without the most basic building block of democracy in place -- the rule of law and respect for human rights -- women can never be fully incorporated into the development process. Issues such as property ownership, access to credit, and gender-based violence have been highlighted by the international community as major priorities for development programs. Compelling evidence demonstrates that women's control of land leads to decreased environmental degradation and improved food security, women's access to credit has a striking impact on household well-being, and domestic violence has been cited as the most pervasive human rights violation in the world today. Activities under this objective support missions' efforts to address women's rights through their Rule of Law and Civil Society portfolios. Programs underway support NGOs to inform women of their rights and launch effective national and regional advocacy campaigns. Central programs will continue to work with others in USAID/W, missions, and the NGO community to strengthen these programs. Examples of successful approaches include multi-sector projects on domestic violence resulting in legal reform; national class-action suits protecting the rights of women industry workers; a community-wide ban of the practice of female-genital cutting which has resulted in a prohibitory law in Senegal; and national media campaigns to highlight the barriers faced by women as they strive to fully participate in the development of their countries.

941-004. Greater reflection of gender considerations in the Agency's work.

U.S. Financing Table for 941-004 (Microsoft Excel Document - 28 kb)

The ultimate objective of USAID development assistance is the promotion of equitable and sustainable social and economic development. There is a considerable body of evidence to suggest that the pace of social and economic development will be slowed if gender issues have not been integrated into the planning, implementation, and assessment of activities and programs. Gender integration is a key element in central programs' approach to achieving all of its objectives. The key distinction is that this objective is not linked to a specific sector, allowing the WID Office the flexibility and the ability to work with diverse partners in the Agency and in the wider development world. Examples of the highly successful technical assistance offered under this objective include: in Angola, assessing the constraints to women's participation in civil society and economic reconstruction; in Sierra Leone, in collaboration with USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives, assisting in the design of a civic education and women's leadership program and strengthening a new ministry dealing with gender issues; in Uganda, supporting incorporation of gender considerations in the agriculture and private sector programs, and exploring opportunities for mission participation in the Africa Food Security Initiative; in Guatemala, involving gender integration in HIV/AIDS programming and health advocacy activities and in girls' and women's education initiatives; and in Ukraine, integrating women's economic concerns into a public education project that provides information through radio and television, and assisting at a training workshop addressing gender issues in journalism.