Keeping Girls in School Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. HOULAHAN. Madam Speaker, when I rise for women and girls around the world, I do so with the awareness that the barriers that we face do not exist in a vacuum, that a woman's right to education, to bodily autonomy, and to self-determination are all connected. To combat these barriers, we must enact comprehensive legislation that relies on years of data, studies, and advocacy efforts to establish a truly equal world across gender lines.

According to UN Women, every additional year of primary school increases girls' eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. It also encourages them to marry later, to have fewer children, and leaves them less vulnerable to violence.

In our effort to achieve gender parity, it is crucial that we work with international partners and global organizations that are making great progress on this issue. Initiatives like the U.N. Joint Program to End Child Marriage are looking at this issue holistically, with the understanding that social protection, health, education, and social and behavioral change must all be addressed in order to spark sustainable changes for women and girls around the world. That is why I cosponsored the Keeping Girls in School Act, which would empower girls by increasing their educational opportunities and economic security.

Girls and women deserve to be educated, to be economically independent, and to be the deciders of their own fate, and that is what we believe in the United States, and that is what we need to fight for in all corners of this world. I encourage all of my colleagues on both sides of this aisle to join me and to take a stand for women and girls across the globe.

The first step on the path to a more peaceful world starts with the empowerment of women and girls. A vote for the Keeping Girls in School Act is a vote for equality, for empowerment, and for a safer and more prosperous world for us all.

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