Friday, March 08, 2019

Billy Long: President Trump and I are doing everything we can for women

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

I don’t know if Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing it on purpose or if it’s just a function of more and more women serving in Congress, but during the month of March, Women’s History Month, it seems like every time I look up there is a woman in the Speaker's chair serving as Speaker Pro-Tem.

On March 8, Congresswoman Deb Haaland made history by being the first Native American woman to serve as Speaker Pro-Tem. 

This month is a great reminder of the many achievements women have accomplished throughout history. Although we have come a long way, there is still more work that needs to be done to ensure women are empowered in every aspect of life. 

Since being inaugurated, President Trump has signed several bills into law benefiting women along with launching the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative. He has made empowering women a top priority.








Women around the world, specifically women in developing countries, lack basic access to opportunities that have long been available to women in developed countries. 

According to the World Bank, more than 100 countries prohibit women from either working at night or in certain industries. Because of these restrictions, nearly 3 billion women around the world are limited on employment opportunities. Not only are they limited on employment opportunities but 62 million of them are denied access to education.

Through the W-GDP Initiative, the Trump administration aims fix these problems by reaching 50 million women across the developing world by 2025. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been tasked with allocating $50 million for the W-GDP Initiative, which will target three areas: improving women’s access to education and skills training, supporting and increasing women’s access to capital, markets and mentorship and working to break down the barriers that hinder women from being able to participate in the global economy. 






Unlike many issues in Congress, empowering women is a bipartisan issue. In January, President Trump signed the WEEE Act into law, which passed both the House of Representatives and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. This bill builds upon the president’s efforts by highlighting issues that hinder women from being able to participate in the global economy while also providing government resources to help fix these issues by improving current USAID programs and activities that target women’s entrepreneurship.

By investing in women, we have the potential to increase the global economic output by $12 trillion by 2025. Study after study shows that when women are prevented from fully participating in a country’s economy, the more susceptible that country is to violence. This point was driven home to me during a trip I made to Africa in 2015 to study women’s issues. The trip was part of an initiative orchestrated by Microsoft’s Malinda Gates. My colleagues and I will continue to work with the president to find solutions to the pressing problems facing women both domestically and abroad.

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