MCC Bares Its Teeth On New Gender Policy; Can It Bite?

On January 11, the Millennium Challenge Corporation announced the adoption of a gender policy to integrate into every aspect of MCC operations an analysis of the social roles and responsibilities assigned to women and men in any society and their ability to access and control resources. And it received high praise from Ritu Sharma Fox, President of Women's Edge Coalition, a leading women's rights NGO:

“The MCC has shown tremendous global leadership by incorporating gender analysis that starts with project conception, consultation and program design, and follows through to all the steps of implementation and evaluation. This is the most comprehensive and practical U.S. policy on gender that I have seen.”

Wow! That's high marks from someone who would know. I'm typically not one to get all excited about "cutting edge" policies because policies mean squat if they're not implemented; if they don't have teeth. The reason the MCC deserves praise in this case is because the good policy formalizes what has already been great practice within MCC operations.Gender is already captured in the MCA country selection process through several indicators and is also a key component of many of its approved programs. But the most interesting testament to the seriousness with which the MCC is taking gender is the case of Lesotho where Parliament just enacted a law ending the minority status of married women, a condition set by the MCC to proceed with compact development. So, before even a dime of MCA funds are spent, major policy change has occurred.The MCC should be congratulated on a good policy, with teeth, and the baring of these teeth to date. There will likely be challenges to the premium MCC places on upholding the policy in light of other priorities during compact implementation. The real test may be faced down the road -- if a country backtracks on its gender commitments, will the MCC bite and suspend or cut them off?