Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018.

The Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018 is a legislative initiative aimed at improving programmes and activities related to women's entrepreneurship and economic empowerment. The Act recognizes the importance of gender equality in achieving inclusive economic growth and seeks to address the lack of access to financial services that specifically cater to women. It emphasizes the need to empower women economically, as research shows that when women have greater control over finances, families benefit and economic outcomes improve. The Act focuses on supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, as well as financial intermediaries that provide services, including finance, training, or business development services, for these enterprises in foreign countries. It also targets activities that reach the very poor and enterprises owned, managed, and controlled by women. Additionally, the Act aims to promote the economic empowerment of women by increasing their access to financial resources and improving property rights, inheritance rights, and other legal protections.
The Act establishes an office within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support 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. This office is headed by a Director with technical expertise and leadership in the field of financial sector development. Furthermore, the Act emphasizes the importance of monitoring and reporting on the achievement of goals related to gender disaggregated performance indicators, such as improvements in employment, access to financial services, education, enterprise development, earnings and control over income, and property and land rights. It also highlights the need for poverty measurement methods that take into account the economic empowerment of women and the targeting of the very poor and households in ultra-poverty. In summary, the Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018 is a comprehensive legislative effort to promote gender equality and economic empowerment by targeting women's entrepreneurship and access to financial resources. The document identifies several entities and institutions, including micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, financial intermediaries, practitioner institutions, and village savings and loan groups. These entities are involved in providing financial and business development services to support women's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship.