On March 8th, International Women’s Day, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that its budget for the 2023 fiscal year will request $2.6 billion USD to advance gender equality globally through foreign assistance programs – more than double the amount requested last year and the highest amount ever requested.
This announcement was made a year after the creation of the White House Gender Policy Council via Executive Order. The funding requested in the FY23 budget will support the Biden administration in meeting its commitments to gender equality and the strategic priorities set forth in the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality released in October 2021.
Women for Women International welcomes this announcement which will provide the much needed resources to act on the critical issues affecting women and girls worldwide including addressing barriers to economic participation, equal opportunity and equity in education, eliminating gender-based violence and advancing women’s participation and inclusion. We look forward to supporting the National Strategy through our work, including our holistic programming advancing social and economic power for marginalized women in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
Women for Women International has observed first-hand how COVID-19 has threatened years of progress made toward gender equality worldwide. We applaud this critical step by the Biden-Harris administration to reinforce the US strategy and commitment to global gender equity and equality with the political will and the budget to follow through.
