Keeping Girls in School Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2276 To support empowerment, economic security, and educational opportunities for adolescent girls around the world, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2021 Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To support empowerment, economic security, and educational opportunities for adolescent girls around the world, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Keeping Girls in School Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Appropriate congressional committees defined. Sec. 3. Findings. Sec. 4. Sense of Congress. Sec. 5. Secondary education for adolescent girls. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2276 IS Sec. 6. Global strategy requirement. Sec. 7. Transparency and reporting to Congress. SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- 1 FINED. 2 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 3 mittees’’ means— 4 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 5 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 6 resentatives; and 7 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 8 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 9 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 10 Congress finds the following: 11 (1) Adolescence is a critical period in a girl’s 12 life, when significant physical, emotional, and social 13 changes shape her future. 14 (2) Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable 15 to HIV/AIDS, child, early and forced marriage, and 16 other forms of violence which are detrimental to 17 their futures, as evidenced by the following statistics: 18 (A) Each year, 380,000 adolescent girls 19 and young women become newly infected with 20 HIV, more than 1,000 every day, and comprise 21 the fastest-growing demographic for new infec- 22 tions in sub-Saharan Africa. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2276 IS (B) Each year, 12,000,000 adolescent girls 1 around the world are married before their 18th 2 birthday, and more than 650,000,000 women 3 alive today were married as children. 4 (C) Child marriages often interrupt school- 5 ing, limit opportunities, and impact the phys- 6 ical, psychological and social well-being of such 7 girls. Significant levels of lockdown-related dis- 8 ruption and economic crisis due to the COVID– 9 19 pandemic could lead to at least 4,000,000 10 more girls married before the age of 18 in the 11 next two years. 12 (D) One-quarter to one-half of girls in de- 13 veloping countries become mothers before the 14 age of 18, and girls under 15 are five times 15 more likely to die during childbirth than women 16 in their 20s. As many as 1,000,000 girls across 17 sub-Saharan Africa may be blocked from re- 18 turning to school due to pregnancy during 19 COVID–19 school closures. 20 (3) Before the pandemic, approximately 21 130,000,000 girls around the world were not in 22 school, and millions more failing to acquire basic 23 reading, writing, and numeracy skills. With COVID– 24 19 school closures affecting nearly 91 percent of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2276 IS world’s student population, over 743,000,000 girls 1 have had their education disrupted and will face tre- 2 mendous barriers to returning to school when it is 3 safe. 4 (4) Girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are 5 three times more likely than boys to be kept out of 6 school, particularly in countries affected by conflict. 7 (5) Due to discriminatory gender norms and ex- 8 pectations, disparities in access to safe and quality 9 education manifest early in a girl’s life and continue 10 to become more pronounced throughout adolescence. 11 (6) Girls living with disabilities are less likely to 12 start school and transition to secondary school than 13 boys living with disabilities and other children, and 14 just 1 percent of women with disabilities are literate 15 globally. 16 (7) While two-thirds of all countries have 17 achieved gender parity in primary education, only 40 18 percent have achieved gender parity in secondary 19 education. 20 (8) Adolescent girls who remain in school are 21 more likely to live longer, marry later, and have 22 healthier children. 23 (9) Investing in holistic programming that en- 24 sures all girls complete secondary education could 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2276 IS lift gross domestic product (GDP) in developing 1 economies by an average of 10 percent and every $1 2 spent on such programming would generate a $2.80 3 return—equivalent to billions of dollars in extra 4 GDP. 5 (10) Children born to women who completed 6 secondary schooling or higher have 17.5 percent re- 7 duced odds of being off track for healthy develop- 8 ment. 9 (11) Since July 2015, more than 100 public- 10 private partnerships have been formed between the 11 United States Government and external partners to 12 support innovative and community-led solutions in 13 targeted countries, including Malawi and Tanzania, 14 to ensure adolescent girls receive a quality edu- 15 cation. 16 (12) The United States Global Strategy to Em- 17 power Adolescent Girls, published in March 2016, 18 has brought together the Department of State, the 19 United States Agency for International Develop- 20 ment, the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Chal- 21 lenge Corporation, as well as other agencies and pro- 22 grams such as the President’s Emergency Fund for 23 AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of 24 challenges preventing adolescent girls from attaining 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2276 IS an inclusive and equitable quality education leading 1 to relevant learning outcomes. 2 (13) Adopted in 2015, the 2030 Agenda for 3 Sustainable Development renews the commitment to 4 creating a world where all girls are healthy and pro- 5 tected, learning and have a fair chance to succeed. 6 This agenda also states that empowering girls will 7 require scaling up investments in holistic program- 8 ming models to end gender-based violence, child 9 marriage, and female genital mutilation (FGM) and 10 adolescent girls’ education and skills are essential to 11 address gender divides, particularly in secondary 12 school. 13 (14) PEPFAR, through its DREAMS (Deter- 14 mined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, 15 and Safe) Initiative, has worked to address a num- 16 ber of the specific barriers to education that adoles- 17 cent girls face. 18 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 19 It is the sense of Congress that— 20 (1) every child, regardless of place of birth, de- 21 serves an equal opportunity to access quality edu- 22 cation; 23 (2) the United States has been a global leader 24 in efforts to expand and improve access to quality 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2276 IS basic education for all, particularly marginalized and 1 vulnerable populations, including women and girls; 2 (3) gains with respect to girls’ secondary edu- 3 cation and empowerment have been proven to cor- 4 relate strongly with progress in gender equality and 5 women’s rights, a stated priority of United States 6 foreign policy and national security; 7 (4) achieving gender parity in both access to 8 and quality of educational opportunity contributes 9 significantly to economic growth and development, 10 thereby lowering the risk for violence and instability; 11 and 12 (5) education is a lifesaving humanitarian inter- 13 vention that protects the lives, futures, and well- 14 being of girls. 15 SEC. 5. SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS. 16 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator of the United 17 States Agency for International Development shall enter 18 into agreements, including agreements across sectors, to 19 address the barriers described in subsection (b) that ado- 20 lescent girls face in accessing a quality secondary edu- 21 cation in countries where adolescent girls are significantly 22 more likely to drop out of school than boys. Such activities 23 shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2276 IS (1) seek to support the needs of adolescent girls 1 holistically to achieve positive life and learning out- 2 comes; 3 (2) use existing United States Government 4 strategies and frameworks relevant to international 5 basic education and gender equality to— 6 (A) integrate new technologies, digital 7 learning enhancements and multi-sectoral ap- 8 proaches to girl’s education such as distance 9 learning and accelerated education for out-of- 10 school youth; 11 (B) apply evidence-based approaches; 12 (C) promote inclusive, equitable and sus- 13 tainable educational achievement; and 14 (D) support a responsible transition to 15 education systems that are sustainably financed 16 by domestic governments; and 17 (3) ensure that schools provide safe and quality 18 educational opportunities and create empowering en- 19 vironments, so that girls can enroll in and regularly 20 attend school, successfully transition from primary 21 to secondary school, and eventually graduate having 22 achieved learning outcomes and positioned to make 23 healthy transitions into adulthood. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2276 IS (b) SPECIFIC BARRIERS.—The barriers described in 1 this subsection are— 2 (1) harmful social and cultural norms; 3 (2) lack of safety at school or traveling to 4 school and online, including harassment and other 5 forms of physical, sexual, or psychological violence; 6 (3) child, early, and forced marriage; 7 (4) female genital mutilation; 8 (5) distance from a secondary school; 9 (6) cost of secondary schooling, including fees, 10 clothing, and supplies; 11 (7) inadequate sanitation facilities and products 12 available at secondary schools; 13 (8) prioritization of boys’ secondary education; 14 (9) poor nutrition; 15 (10) early pregnancy and motherhood; 16 (11) HIV infection; 17 (12) disability; 18 (13) discrimination based on religious or ethnic 19 identity; 20 (14) heavy workload due to household tasks or 21 care burdens; and 22 (15) inequitable access to digital resources. 23 (c) COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2276 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Agency 1 for International Development Senior Coordinator 2 for International Basic Education Assistance, in co- 3 ordination with the United States Agency for Inter- 4 national Development Senior Coordinator for Gender 5 Equality and Women’s Empowerment and the Am- 6 bassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the 7 Department of State, shall be responsible for the 8 oversight and coordination of all activities of the 9 United States Government carried out under this 10 section. 11 (2) DEVELOPMENT OF AGREEMENTS.—In the 12 development of agreements described in subsection 13 (a), the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and 14 Women’s Empowerment and the Senior Coordinator 15 for International Basic Education Assistance at the 16 United States Agency for International Development 17 shall consult with representatives across Federal de- 18 partments and agencies implementing the global 19 strategy described in section 6. 20 (3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER STRATE- 21 GIES.—Activities carried out under this section shall 22 also be carried out in coordination with— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2276 IS (A) the United States Global Strategy to 1 Empower Adolescent Girls described in section 2 6; and 3 (B) the United States Government Strat- 4 egy on International Basic Education, including 5 its objective to expand access to quality basic 6 education for all, particularly marginalized and 7 vulnerable populations. 8 (d) ACCEPTANCE OF SOLICITATIONS FOR AWARDS.— 9 The Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter- 10 national Development shall seek to accept solicitations for 11 awards, pursuant to the authority in subsection (a), to 12 conduct activities under this section beginning not later 13 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 14 (e) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.—The Adminis- 15 trator of the United States Agency for International De- 16 velopment shall seek to ensure that activities carried out 17 under this section— 18 (1) employ rigorous monitoring and evaluation 19 methodologies to ensure that such activities demon- 20 strably close the gap in gender parity for secondary 21 education and improve the quality of education of- 22 fered to adolescent girls; 23 (2) disaggregate all data collected and reported 24 by age, gender, marital and motherhood status, dis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2276.IS S2276 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2276 IS ability, and urbanity, to the extent practicable and 1 appropriate; and 2 (3) use, to the extent possible, indicators and 3 methodologies identified by the Interagency Working 4 Group for the Strategy on International Basic Edu- 5 cation. 6 SEC. 6. GLOBAL STRATEGY REQUIREMENT. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 8 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 5 years there- 9 after for not less than 10 years, the Ambassador-at-Large 10 for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State, 11 in consultation with the Senior Coordinator for Gender 12 Equality and Women’s Empowerment and the Senior Co- 13 ordinator for International Basic Education A [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]