Grant offers free tuition to students who advocate for ‘gender equality’
President Joe Biden’s administration is offering new tuition incentives to encourage Middle Eastern students to enroll in gender studies programs at American universities.
A $15 million initiative through the State Department, the “Tomorrow’s Leaders Gender Scholars Program,” aims to help students “advance and deepen their engagement in gender studies” at the American University in Cairo, Egypt and the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, the Daily Caller reports.
Full-time students who enroll in at least one gender studies class per semester are eligible for full tuition reimbursement through the program, according to the State Department grant.
Additionally, recipients must participate in an “activity or short-term project where students can promote and advocate for gender equality,” and take tests every semester to gauge their “awareness of gender issues,” the grant states.
Students from about a dozen Middle Eastern countries are eligible for the program, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen, West Bank and Gaza, according to the grant.
The American University in Cairo promotes the program on its website as an opportunity to “empower students to become gender-sensitive, civic-minded citizens.”
Benefits not only include free tuition for up to two semesters but also training and mentorship, leadership and career skills, and faculty mentoring, the university states.
At the Beirut university, students in the program also write papers, participate in leadership events and attend “professionalization” workshops, according to its website.
“We envision our Gender Scholars as tomorrow’s leaders who will carry the lessons of social justice and gender equality beyond the walls of the AUB campus and into their future careers,” the Beirut university states.
Through the program, the Biden administration hopes to increase students’ participation in gender studies courses, according to the department.
The grant program is beneficial because “the integration of gender studies in higher education increases the attention given to social, political, and economic interests and outcomes” and “promotes understanding of personal and social values,” the department states.
Teaching gender equity also encourages more women to participate in the workforce, leading to economic growth, according to the department.
MORE: Legislators vote to defund gender studies at University of Wyoming
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