Women across the globe are currently enjoying only 77 per cent of their legal rights.
This is according to the World Bank’s latest report, Women, Business and the Law, which has tracked laws and regulations on women’s economic participation in 190 economies in the past 52 years (1970 to 2022).
The analysis was based on eight indicators, including mobility, workplace and pay. Others are marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets, and pension.
It shows that nearly 2.4 billion women of working age around the world live in economies that do not grant them the same rights as men, yet economies have adopted more than 2,000 laws enhancing legal gender parity.
In retrospect, this has translated into a rise in the global average score on gender parity from 45.8 points in 1970 to 77.1 in 2022.
However, in the past year, countries made near zero progress in instituting reforms on equal treatment of women as the index rose just half a point to 77.1 from 2021 to 2022.
This means that while men enjoy 100 per cent of the legal rights, women only have access to 77.1 per cent.
The report, which was compiled courtesy of the input of more than 2,400 lawyers, judges, academics, civil society representatives, and public officials from 190 economies, raises concern about the current pace of gender equality reforms.
It notes that it would take at least 50 years to approach legal gender equality.
“In many countries, a woman entering the workforce today will retire before gaining the same rights as men,” it says.
Remarkably, Sub-Saharan Africa made significant reforms in 2022, accounting for more than half of all reforms worldwide, with seven countries enacting 18 positive legal changes.These were Benin, the Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda.
In the East Asia and Pacific region, China, Indonesia and Mongolia are cited to have made significant progress.
While China introduced a parental leave policy, Indonesia enacted legislation protecting women from sexual harassment in employment. And Mongolia mandated equal remuneration for work of equal value and introduced paid paternity leave.
Similar changes were witnessed in the Middle East and North Africa, with Bahrain equalising ages at which women and men can retire, and receive full pension benefits.
Iraq also prohibited gender-based discrimination in financial services as Malta introduced paid parental leave for each parent.
“Denying equal rights to women across much of the world is not just unfair to women; it is a barrier to countries’ ability to promote green, resilient, and inclusive development,” said Indermit Gill, World Bank Group chief economist and senior vice president for development economics, in a statement announcing the release of the report last Thursday.
