Washington, D.C. – Tomorrow at 10 a.m., House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) will convene a hearing to explore the opportunities and benefits of increasing women’s economic participation and empowerment in developing countries.  The hearing, entitled “Beyond Microfinance: Empowering Women in the Developing World,” is part of a series of hearings to examine the challenges facing women and girls around the globe.

Chairman Royce on the hearing: “Despite significant progress in recent years, more than one billion women remain excluded from the formal financial system, and more than half the world’s countries limit women’s ownership or management of property.  This harms entire communities, economies, and U.S. interests.  This hearing will explore the barriers to women’s economic participation in the developing world, and new technologies that hold tremendous promise for women’s empowerment and economic growth.” 

What:
Hearing: Beyond Microfinance: Empowering Women in the Developing World

When:
10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 12

Where:
2172 Rayburn House Office Building

Witnesses:
Ms. Mary Ellen Iskenderian
President and Chief Executive Officer
Women’s World Banking          

Tavneet Suri, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Applied Economics
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Honorable Melanne Verveer
Executive Director
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Georgetown University

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