Publication: Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform
Loading...
Files in English
326,717 downloads
Other Files
4,829 downloads
4,043 downloads
510 downloads
5,412 downloads
Date
2019-02-27
ISSN
Published
2019-02-27
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law examines laws and regulations affecting women’s prospects as entrepreneurs and employees across 187 economies. Its goal is to inform policy discussions on how to remove legal restrictions on women and promote research on how to improve women’s economic inclusion. Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform introduces a new index measuring legal rights for women throughout their working lives in 187 economies. The index is composed of 35 data points grouped into eight indicators. The data covers a 10-year period not only to understand the current situation but to see how laws affecting women’s equality of opportunity have evolved over time. The index assesses economic rights at milestones spanning the arc of a woman’s working life: the ability to move freely; starting a job; getting paid; legal capacity within marriage; having children; running a business; managing assets; and getting a pension.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank Group. 2019. Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31327 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Women, Business, and the Law 2014 : Removing Restrictions to Enhance Gender Equality(London: Bloomsbury, 2013)In the past 50 years women's legal status has improved all over the world. But many laws still make it difficult for women to fully participate in economic life whether by getting jobs or starting businesses. Discriminatory rules bar women from certain jobs, restrict access to capital for women-owned firms and limit women's capacity to make legal decisions. Gender differences in laws affect both developing and developed economies, and women in all regions. Women, business, and the law measures restrictions on women s employment and entrepreneurship as well as incentives for women s employment in 143 economies. Women, business, and the law and the World Bank's global financial inclusion global findings database show that in economies with a default full community of property regime, there are on average 10 percentage points more female owned accounts at formal financial institutions than in economies with a default separation of property regime. This report has shown that although much progress has been made in recent decades in gradually dismantling many of the legal restrictions which have hampered women from more fully contributing to national prosperity, there is a large unfinished agenda of reform. Gender equality is important not only for fairness and equity, but also for economic efficiency and is at the center of creating a more prosperous world.Publication Women, Business and the Law 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-02)“Women, Business and the Law 2023” is the ninth in a series of annual studies measuring the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. The project presents eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they move through their lives and careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension. The 2023 edition identifies barriers to women’s economic participation and encourages reform of discriminatory laws. This year, the study also includes research, a literature review, and analysis of 53 years of reforms for women’s rights. Examining the economic decisions that women make throughout their working lives as well as tracking regulatory changes from 1970 to today, the study makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic opportunities. By presenting powerful examples of change and highlighting the gaps still remaining, “Women, Business and the Law 2023” is a vital tool in ensuring economic empowerment for all. Data in “Women, Business and the Law 2023” are current as of October 1, 2022.Publication Women, Business and the Law 2012(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011)Women, business and the law focuses on this critical piece of the puzzle, objectively highlighting differentiations on the basis of gender in 141 economies around the world, covering six areas: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit and going to court. Women, business and the law describes regional trends and shows how economies are changing across these six areas, tracking governments' actions to expand economic opportunities for women. For men and women throughout the developing world, the chance to start and run a business or get a good job is the surest hope for a way out of poverty. It also requires good business regulation, suited to the purpose, streamlined and accessible, so that the opportunity to build a business or have a good job is dependent not on connections, wealth or power, but on an individual's initiative and ability. The doing business report has led the way in providing data to countries about creating a sounder and more streamlined business environment. Women, Business, and the Law 2012 are the second in this series of reports. This edition retains the same basic structure of the 2010 pilot edition, while significantly expanding the depth of data covered. While the number of topics covered is the same, there has been a significant expansion of the data collected within these topics, thus addressing some of the initial shortcomings of the pilot edition. The number of economies covered has also been expanded from 128 to 141.Publication Women, Business and the Law 2021(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-02-23)Women, Business and the Law 2021 is the seventh in a series of annual studies measuring the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. The project presents eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they move through their lives and careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension. This year’s report updates all indicators as of October 1, 2020 and builds evidence of the links between legal gender equality and women’s economic inclusion. By examining the economic decisions women make throughout their working lives, as well as the pace of reform over the past 50 years, Women, Business and the Law 2021 makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic empowerment. Prepared during a global pandemic that threatens progress toward gender equality, findings on government responses to COVID-19 and pilot research related to childcare and women’s access to justice.Publication Mongolia : Gender Disparities in Labor Markets and Policy Suggestions(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-01)Mongolia has made strong progress on key gender-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in recent years. Gender indicators in education and health are also better in many respects than in comparator countries in the East Asia and Pacific region. Women have a limited presence in higher level managerial positions and in entrepreneurial work, and working women also have to shoulder most of the household and care duties compared to men. These inequalities can have large impacts on development, growth and productivity as well as pervasive intergenerational social costs. Removing impediments to full and equal participation for women in the economy, providing equal access to economic resources and opportunities and eliminating discrimination can boost productivity and competitiveness for firms with wider benefits for the economy and within the household. A range of potential policy actions can be considered, including improving employment outcomes (wages, career progression) for women in the public sector, introducing more friendly parental leave policies that cover both fathers and mothers, improving child care services and introducing affirmative action policies in sectors where women are acutely under-represented such as mining. In addition, business regulations can be streamlined to make it easier to start and operate businesses for both men and women. Other policies that may be helpful include promoting awareness of and encouraging the development of (appropriately regulated and supervised) micro-lending institutions.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018-10-17)The World Bank Group has two overarching goals: End extreme poverty by 2030 and promote shared prosperity by boosting the incomes of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each economy. As this year’s Poverty and Shared Prosperity report documents, the world continues to make progress toward these goals. In 2015, approximately one-tenth of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, and the incomes of the bottom 40 percent rose in 77 percent of economies studied. But success cannot be taken for granted. Poverty remains high in Sub- Saharan Africa, as well as in fragile and conflict-affected states. At the same time, most of the world’s poor now live in middle-income countries, which tend to have higher national poverty lines. This year’s report tracks poverty comparisons at two higher poverty thresholds—$3.20 and $5.50 per day—which are typical of standards in lower- and upper-middle-income countries. In addition, the report introduces a societal poverty line based on each economy’s median income or consumption. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle also recognizes that poverty is not only about income and consumption—and it introduces a multidimensional poverty measure that adds other factors, such as access to education, electricity, drinking water, and sanitation. It also explores how inequality within households could affect the global profile of the poor. All these additional pieces enrich our understanding of the poverty puzzle, bringing us closer to solving it. For more information, please visit worldbank.org/PSPPublication Doing Business 2020(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)Doing Business 2020 is the 17th in a series of annual studies investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. It provides quantitative indicators covering 12 areas of the business environment in 190 economies. The goal of the Doing Business series is to provide objective data for use by governments in designing sound business regulatory policies and to encourage research on the important dimensions of the regulatory environment for firms.Publication Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-10-07)Previous Poverty and Shared Prosperity Reports have conveyed the difficult message that the world is not on track to meet the global goal of reducing extreme poverty to 3 percent by 2030. This edition brings the unwelcome news that COVID-19, along with conflict and climate change, has not merely slowed global poverty reduction but reversed it for first time in over twenty years. With COVID-19 predicted to push up to 100 million additional people into extreme poverty in 2020, trends in global poverty rates will be set back at least three years over the next decade. Today, 40 percent of the global poor live in fragile or conflict-affected situations, a share that could reach two-thirds by 2030. Multiple effects of climate change could drive an estimated 65 to 129 million people into poverty in the same period. “Reversing the reversal” will require responding effectively to COVID-19, conflict, and climate change while not losing focus on the challenges that most poor people continue to face most of the time. Though these are distinctive types of challenges, there is much to be learned from the initial response to COVID-19 that has broader implications for development policy and practice, just as decades of addressing more familiar development challenges yield insights that can inform responses to today’s unfamiliar but daunting ones. Solving novel problems requires rapid learning, open cooperation, and strategic coordination by everyone: from political leaders and scientists to practitioners and citizens.Publication Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-10-02)Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016 is the first of an annual flagship report that will inform a global audience comprising development practitioners, policy makers, researchers, advocates, and citizens in general with the latest and most accurate estimates on trends in global poverty and shared prosperity. This edition will also document trends in inequality and identify recent country experiences that have been successful in reducing inequalities, provide key lessons from those experiences, and synthesize the rigorous evidence on public policies that can shift inequality in a way that bolsters poverty reduction and shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. Specifically, the report will address the following questions: • What is the latest evidence on the levels and evolution of extreme poverty and shared prosperity? • Which countries and regions have been more successful in terms of progress toward the twin goals and which are lagging behind? • What does the global context of lower economic growth mean for achieving the twin goals? • How can inequality reduction contribute to achieving the twin goals? • What does the evidence show concerning global and between- and within-country inequality trends? • Which interventions and countries have used the most innovative approaches to achieving the twin goals through reductions in inequality? The report will make four main contributions. First, it will present the most recent numbers on poverty, shared prosperity, and inequality. Second, it will stress the importance of inequality reduction in ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity by 2030 in a context of weaker growth. Third, it will highlight the diversity of within-country inequality reduction experiences and will synthesize experiences of successful countries and policies, addressing the roots of inequality without compromising economic growth. In doing so, the report will shatter some myths and sharpen our knowledge of what works in reducing inequalities. Finally, it will also advocate for the need to expand and improve data collection—for example, data availability, comparability, and quality—and rigorous evidence on inequality impacts in order to deliver high-quality poverty and shared prosperity monitoring.Publication Unrealized Potential(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018-05-01)This first note in the series on the cost of gender inequality focuses on the losses in national wealth due to gender inequality in earnings. There is a substantial literature on the impact of gender inequality on economic growth and performance. By focusing on wealth, the approach usedfor measurement in this note is different. Wealth is the assets base that enables countries to produce income Gross Domestic Product or GDP). A country’s wealth includes various types of capital. Produced capital comes from investments in assets such as factories, equipment, or infrastructure. Natural capital includes assets such as agricultural land and other renewable and non-renewable natural resources. However, the largest component of countries’ wealth typically resides in their people. As noted in the recent World Bank study on the Changing Wealth of Nations, human capital measured as the present value of the future earnings of the labor force accounts for two thirds of global wealth. If gender equality in earnings were achieved, countries could increase their human capital wealth, and thereby their total wealth substantially. This would enable them to strengthen the sustainability of their development path. Gender inequality has major economic implications forwomen, communities, and countries in a range of areas. While the cost of gender inequality – in terms of human capital losses - for development is not solely due to losses in earnings, the impact of gender inequality on earnings is key. This is the area on which this note focuses.