The White House Gender Policy Council convened a virtual roundtable of young women and adolescent girls from around the world earlier this week to get their insights as it works to create the government’s gender policy strategy.
Local leaders and those who may benefit from foreign aid programs often lack a voice in decision-making processes — but not in this case.
“It was really exciting, and it was a space where we were able to air out our problems and the recommended solutions,” said Cleopatra Makura, a 24-year-old Zimbabwean who participated.
New USAID gender policy driven by politics, not best practice, advocates say
After USAID released a new gender policy, advocates said the effort taking place in the waning days of the Trump administration was politically motivated and could set back U.S. gender equality efforts.
Typically, local advocates like her just hope that their recommendations will reach those involved in forming U.S. policy, but she was able to speak directly to them this week, she said, adding that it is important for women and girls to be at decision-making tables because it helps them develop self-worth and helps create tailor-made programs that young women are more likely to use.
Makura told the group that the U.S. should take a proactive approach to gender policy and health programs for women and girls; increase funding for and expand the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe — or DREAMS — initiative; ensure a minimum package of health programs; and advance an integrated approach, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, she told Devex.
More than 15 young women and girls met with the council and discussed a range of issues including health, nutrition, education, and safety.
The council has reached out to civil society and sought voices of young women around the world in an “organic process,” said Serra Sippel, chief global advocacy officer for the CHANGE Global Advocacy Unit at International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region. Advocacy organizations have long pushed for governments to speak to the people who will be impacted by the strategies they create, and this was a “positive step,” she said.
This strategy is different because it will offer a governmentwide approach that applies to both domestic and foreign policy, Sippel said. The policy’s breadth should allow the government to look at issues in a more integrated way that meets the needs of adolescent girls and young women, she added.
USAID gender policy faces backlash from advocates, lawmakers
A USAID draft gender equality policy, which advocates were told would be a technical update, instead stirred controversy with what were seen as politically motivated, rather than evidence-based, changes.
The council has a deadline in late September to present its plan to President Joe Biden. When he established the White House Gender Policy Council through an executive order in March, he charged it with creating a governmentwide strategy for gender equity and equality within 200 days.
Once the strategy is in place, Sippel said she hopes individual agencies will align with the broad approach. Many gender advocates were concerned about a U.S. Agency for International Development gender policy that was pushed through at the end of the previous presidential administration, and it remains somewhat unclear if the Biden administration will seek to redo that process.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
