4 ways the US will strengthen women’s economic security worldwide
Program program yang didukung America Serikat telah membantu para perempuan muda di Honduras menggunakan teknologi modern di restoran lokal. Strategi AS yang pertama tentang Kethanan Ekonomi Perempuan Global aka memperluas upaya seperti ini. (© André Josué Anchecta Oseguera/USAID
Reem Hamdan was one of the few electrical engineers when she started her career as a trainee at the Electricity Distribution Company (EDCO) in Jordan in 1993. Today Hamdan is General Manager of EDCO. She attributes this progress to hard work and Engendering Industries, a US-backed program aimed at increasing the number of women in male-dominated fields.
The success of the US Agency for International Development’s Engendering Industries is just one of several plans the Biden-Harris administration hopes to replicate or expand on as part of the first US strategy on women’s global economic security.
“The strategy we are proposing has a simple vision at its core: to create a world where all women and girls everywhere can contribute to and benefit from economic growth and global prosperity,” Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said during a January 4 press conference State Department event to unveil the plan.
This strategy aligns with the US National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, released in 2021 to advance gender equality in the United States and around the world.
Scaling successful programs
Economic strategy has four components:
Promoting economic competitiveness through high-quality jobs: The strategy plans to do this, among other things, through programs such as WE-Champs, which provide technical assistance and training to chambers of commerce and women’s business organizations in 18 countries across Europe to support small businesses run by women.
Strengthen childcare and care for the elderly and value housework: The US supports programs such as the World Bank’s Invest in Childcare initiative that help improve access to quality and affordable childcare in low- and middle-income countries around the world.
Promotion of women’s entrepreneurship: The strategy will replicate efforts like the US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment, which connects the private sector and civil society to provide Indian women with technical skills and networking opportunities to help them grow their businesses. At the launch of the alliance in 2021, Google India pledged to serve 1 million Indian women entrepreneurs
Breaking down systemic barriers: These include societal, legal and regulatory barriers that stand in the way of a level playing field, such as
Expansion of the Engendering Industries program
The strategy will also expand USAID’s Engendering Industries program, which currently supports 41 organizations in 27 countries to advance gender equality in male-dominated industries, including energy and water. Reem Hamdan and EDCO participated in this program.
Since Hamdan partnered with Engendering Industries, EDCO has increased its female workforce by 21%, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said at the event.
USAID will expand Engendering Industries and similar programs “to advance gender equality in business worldwide — everywhere from agriculture to information technology,” she said.
“Promoting women’s economic security is right, but it’s also smart and necessary,” Blinken said.
