How Ivanka Trump and W-GDP Helped 12 million Women In One Year

“Within one year, the Trump Administration’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative has reached an astounding 12 million women, making progress towards our goal of economically empowering 50 million women by 2025.  W-GDP strives to remove foundational legal barriers that prevent women from fully and freely participating in their local economies. Without unleashing the potential of women, countries that receive US foreign assistance will never realize the desired goal of becoming a self-sustaining trading partners. Along with our colleagues at the State Department, I look forward to continuing to spearhead these life-impacting programs to advance women’s economic empowerment for our collective economic prosperity and global stability.”

Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump co-hosted an anniversary event at the State Department celebrating the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative. At the event, they announced that 12 million women were reached within its first year. Nearly 2 million women participated in the United States Government-supported workforce training and development programs. More than 9,000 women-led businesses received more than $1.6 billion in U.S Government-backed loans.

The housing of the W-GDP within the State Department and the Administration support the introduction of bipartisan legislation by Senators Shaheen and Gram codifying the prioritization of women’s economic empowerment within U.S foreign policy. The Women’s Global Empowerment, Development and Prosperity Act would authorize the W-GDP Initiative, elevating these efforts at the Department of State and establishing for the first time in legislation an Office of Women’s Empowerment, led by an Ambassador-at-Large.  In doing so, the legislation would ensure that United States foreign policy permanently prioritizes the role of women.

The focus of the W-GDP Index is to remove the 5W-GDP legal barriers: accessing institutions, building credit, owning and managing property, traveling freely and removing employment restrictions. The CEA estimates that addressing the 5 W-GDP legal barriers to women’s economic growth and activity could increase annual global Gross Domestic Product(GDP) by $ 7.7 trillion which would account for an 8.3 percent increase in the global economy.

If all countries had a 100 W-GDP index, female labor force participation relative to male labor force participation would have been 5.55 percentage points higher in 2018. Women’s economic empowerment increases human capital investment. Over the long term, greater human capital can help to drive the process of economic development and the transition from traditional economies to modern economies. 

Statements of Support:

 “Congratulations to the W-GDP Initiative on a successful first year. The initiative has secured important public-private partnerships and mobilized funding to help women across the globe gain access to economic opportunities. Promoting women’s economic empowerment is closely aligned with the goals of the IMF, and our work shows that it matters greatly for economic growth, poverty reduction, and economic resilience. But there is still much to do. Opportunity gaps between men and women remain significant in many developing countries, with women bearing disproportionately the burden of unpaid work. Together, we can make a difference in eliminating the institutional, social, and cultural constraints that continue to inhibit women’s full participation in the economy. We look forward to collaborating with the W-GDP Initiative to overcome these challenges and achieving our shared goal to strengthen global prosperity.”  – Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund

“The Trump Administration’s W-GDP Initiative is an extraordinarily powerful way to boost global economic development, and, at the same time, to bolster the dignity and worth of women by pushing for the economic rights and tools they should be afforded under the rule of law. Give women the legal right to enter into contracts and to own property, and they will help bring the economies in their developing countries to new and exciting heights!” – Leonard Leo, The Federalist Society

“The economic empowerment of all women is critical to achieving gender equality across the globe. It is one of the most important things we can do to advance an open, inclusive, accessible economy for everyone, everywhere. I am proud of the work Visa is doing to promote gender equality and empower women and girls and I applaud the accomplishments of the Women’s Global Development & Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative under the leadership of Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump. Addressing the challenges to the economic empowerment of women and girls will require multi-stakeholder, public-private partnerships. It will also require an innovative and sustained focus on improving equal access to funding, networks, and skills for women entrepreneurs. As an example of our work in this area, the Visa Foundation partnered with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Gender Equality Initiative, and W-GDP, to support investment for women-led small & growing businesses (SGBs) in select countries across South and Southeast Asia. Visa is committed to helping promote economic empowerment for women across the globe and is pleased to be able to collaborate with W-GDP.” – Al Kelly, Chairman, and CEO, Visa Inc.