World Bank says women’s economic-opportunity laws are only half-enforced globally
Just 4% of women live in economies with nearly full legal equality
Safety from violence, childcare and access to credit remain major gaps
Report warns enforcement failures are holding back growth and job creation
Laws designed to ensure equal economic opportunities for women are only half-enforced on average across the world, according to a new report from the World Bank Group, highlighting what it calls “huge opportunity gaps” that are holding back growth.
The latest Women, Business and the Law report finds that even if laws were fully enforced, women would still enjoy barely two-thirds of the legal rights of men. Only 4% of women worldwide live in economies that provide nearly full legal equality.
For the first time, the report assesses not only the degree of equality in laws on the books, but also the extent to which those laws are enforced. Legal experts surveyed estimated that laws encouraging full economic participation by women are only half-enforced. Economies, on average, have in place fewer than half of the policies and services needed for enforcement.
That shortfall, the report warns, is keeping economies from reaching their full potential to grow and create jobs.
“On paper, most countries are doing reasonably well: the average country scores 67 out of 100 on the adequacy of laws to enable economic equality between women and men,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “But when it comes to enforcing the laws, the average score drops to 53. And when the systems needed to implement those rights are assessed, the adequacy score is just 47. These numbers reflect huge opportunity gaps— and the findings of this report provide policymakers with intelligence to reverse the decline in the growth potential of developing economies.”
The report evaluates women’s economic participation across 10 areas, including safety from violence, access to childcare, entrepreneurship, employment protections, asset ownership and retirement security.
It identifies safety from violence as a major shortcoming. “True equality begins with safety. Whether at home, at work, or in public, women deserve protection to thrive,” said Norman Loayza, Director of the World Bank’s Policy Indicators Group. “Globally, we’re falling short. We have only a third of the safety laws we need, and even then, enforcement is failing 80% of the time.”
Entrepreneurship is another low-scoring area. Although women can start businesses on the same legal terms as men in nearly all economies, only about half promote equal access to credit, leaving many women entrepreneurs without financing.
Childcare also remains a significant gap. Less than half of the 190 economies covered have laws providing financial or tax support for families. Among those, only 30% of policies needed to support affordable and high-quality childcare services are in place. In low-income economies, just 1% of childcare support mechanisms exist.
Tea Trumbic, Manager for the Women, Business and the Law project and the report’s lead author, said: “Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people—half of them girls—will enter the workforce. Many will come of age in regions where women face the biggest barriers, and where the GDP boost that would result from their participation is most needed. Ensuring equal opportunity for women here—and everywhere—benefits societies as a whole, not just women. It’s an economic must-have, in short, not just a nice-to-have.”
Despite the enforcement gaps, the report notes progress in laws on the books. Over the past two years, 68 economies enacted 113 positive legal reforms across most areas of women’s economic life. Sub-Saharan Africa implemented 33 reforms, the largest number of any region, while Egypt was identified as the world’s top reformer, increasing its legal equality score by nearly 10 points.