The new World Bank Report titled: Women, Business and the Law 2024 has introduces new measurements of progress toward legal gender equality in 190 economies. The, the New Report, the tenth in a series,  presents two sets of data: Women, Business and the Law 1.0 and an expanded version, Women, Business and the Law 2.0. For the first time, the assessment goes beyond the laws on the books—de jure—to examine the frameworks supporting implementation of the law and to gauge experts’ opinions on the outcome of the laws for women—de facto. In doing so, it now covers 10 indicators: Safety, Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Childcare, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.

The gender gap for women in the global workplace is massive—in fact, much wider than previously thought.      

• Although economies have made notable progress over the decades in enacting equal opportunity laws for women, today women enjoy less than two-thirds of the legal rights available to men—not three-quarters as previously estimated. The lower number reflects the major deficiencies revealed once two new indicators were tracked for the first time this year—Safety and Childcare. Deficiencies in these areas discourage women from entering the global workforce. When these additional indicators are taken into consideration, no country provides equal opportunity for women—not even just one high-income economy.
• Thirty-seven economies grant women less than half of the legal rights of men to the detriment of half a billion women.

The gap is even wider in practice than equal opportunity laws on the books suggest.

• Effective implementation of laws depends on an adequate supporting framework—for example, strong enforcement mechanisms, a system for tracking gender-related pay disparities, and the availability of services for women who survive violence. For the first time, Women, Business and the Law now assesses the implementation gap between laws and the frameworks needed to implement them in 190 economies.
• The analysis reveals a shocking implementation gap. Although the laws on the books imply that women enjoy roughly 64 percent of the rights of men, economies have, on average, established less than 40 percent of the systems needed for full implementation. For example, 98 economies have enacted legislation mandating equal pay for women for work of equal value. Yet only 35 economies—fewer than one in five—have adopted pay transparency measures or enforcement mechanisms to address the pay gap. Experts perceive that approximately half of women in the examined economies have equality when it comes to pay and access to high-paying jobs.

Women have the power to turbocharge the global economy, and yet laws and lack of enforcement tend to keep them on the sidelines.

• In an era of persistently slow growth, increasing the participation of women in the global workforce could significantly brighten the outlook.
• Closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could raise the global gross domestic product by more than 20 percent. Eliminating the gender gap over the next decade would essentially double the current global growth rate.

In 2023, governments across the world were especially assertive in advancing three categories of legal equal opportunity reforms—pay, parental rights, and workplace protections.

• Azerbaijan, Jordan, Malaysia, Oman, Sierra Leone, and Uzbekistan together enacted 10 reforms mandating equal pay for work of equal value or lifting restrictions on a woman’s ability to work in industrial or dangerous jobs.
• Cyprus, Malaysia, Oman, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, the Slovak Republic, and Togo together introduced 15 reforms expanding maternity and paternity leave or prohibiting the workplace dismissal of a pregnant woman.
• Armenia, Equatorial Guinea, Jordan, Moldova, and Suriname enacted eight reforms prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace.

Nearly all economies performed poorly in two the two indicators being tracked for the first time—Safety and Childcare.

• The weakness is greatest in women’s safety. The global average score is just 36, meaning women enjoy barely a third of the legal protections they need from domestic violence, sexual harassment, child marriage, and femicide. Although 151 economies have laws in place prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace, just 39 have laws prohibiting it in public spaces. Women do, then, face perils in using public transportation to travel to work. Overall, 139 economies lack adequate legislation prohibiting child marriage, which typically quashes a girl’s future educational and economic opportunities.
• Most economies also score poorly on laws pertaining to childcare. Women spend on average 2.4 hours a day more on unpaid care work than men—much of it involving children. Expanding access to childcare tends to increase women’s participation in the labor force by about 1 percentage point initially, with the effect doubling within five years. Only 62 economies—fewer than a third—have established quality standards governing childcare services. As a result, in 128 economies women may think twice about going to work while they have children in their care.

Women also face significant obstacles in a variety of other areas.

Entrepreneurship

• Globally, only 44 percent of the legal provisions that support the entrepreneurship of women are in place.
• Across the world, women hold just one out of every five corporate board positions.
• Only one in five economies mandate gender-sensitive criteria for public procurement processes, meaning women are largely cut out of a US$10 trillion a year economic opportunity.

Pay

• Women earn just 77 cents for every dollar paid to men.
• In all, 92 economies lack provisions mandating equal pay for work of equal value; 20 prohibit a woman from working at night; and 45 prohibit a woman from working in jobs deemed dangerous.

Ability to travel freely

• In 28 economies, a woman cannot pass her nationality to children in the same way as a man.
• In 50 economies, a woman does not enjoy an equal right to confer citizenship on her foreign spouse.
• Such discriminatory provisions in nationality laws harm a woman’s economic opportunities, limiting her inheritance and property rights and employment opportunities.

Retirement

• In 62 economies, the age at which men and women can retire is not the same, with women retiring earlier than men.
• In 81 economies, a woman’s pension benefits do not account for periods of work absences related to childcare.

This edition of Women, Business and the Law highlights what governments can do to accelerate progress toward gender equality in business and the law. 

• Accelerate efforts to reform laws and enact public policies that empower women to work and start a business.
• Improve laws related to women’s safety, access to childcare, and business opportunities.
• Establish frameworks that support the effective implementation of laws promoting gender equality.
• Enact legal reforms that mandate equal pay for work of equal value and lift restrictions on a woman’s ability to work in industrial jobs.
• Expand maternity and paternity leave provisions and prohibit the firing of pregnant women.
• Prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace, in public spaces, at universities, and online.
• Provide financial support for parents with young children and establish quality standards for childcare services.
• Implement legally binding quotas for women on corporate boards of publicly listed companies and mandate gender-sensitive criteria for public procurement processes.
• Ensure equal retirement benefits for women, accounting for periods of work absences related to childcare.

 Copy right –Printed in the Expo Times News on MONDAY, April 8th, 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)