Tempers are flaring these days from both sides of the aisle, so it’s a rare relief to see both sides come together for a higher purpose. Here’s one of those times: Democrats and Republicans leaders signed on to support a women’s economic empowerment initiative launching this week called the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP). Led by Ivanka Trump, W-GDP’s target is to empower 50 million women in the developing world by 2025. It’s aiming to be a whole-of-government approach (e.g. State Department, Treasury Department, Congress, etc.) focused on advancing women’s full and free participation in the global economy. This week President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum and directed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to allocate an initial $50 million for the new W-GDP Fund. The W-GDP Initiative has three pillars of focus: 1) Helping women’s access to quality education and skills training 2) Funding and in-kind support for women’s entrepreneurship and access to capital, markets, technical assistance, and mentorship 3) Working to identify and reduce the policy, legal, and regulatory barriers to women’s participation in the global economy and promote improved practices. Sadly, women are legally restricted from working in specific jobs in 104 countries, preventing more than 2.7…
See original post: OP-ED: W-GDP Is A Bipartisan Approach To Empower Women in Developing Countries