Married women face more legal challenges than the unmarried in fully participating in countries’ economies – World Bank
Women still face legal and regulatory hurdles that hinder them from fully participating in the global economy, says a new report from the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) released September 26, 2011.
Findings from the report titled “Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion” shows that “while 36 economies reduced legal differences between men and women, 103 out of 141 economies studied still impose legal differences on the basis of gender” in at least one of the report’s key indicators.”
The report measures a woman’s ability to sign a contract, travel abroad, manage property, and interact with public authorities and the private sector.
In all economies, the report said married women face more legal differentiations than unmarried women. In 23 economies, married women cannot legally choose where to live, and in 29 they cannot be legally recognized as head of household.
It also noted that 41 law and regulatory reforms were enacted between June 2009 and March 2011 and that could enhance women’s economic opportunities.
The World Bank and the IMF said globally, women represent 49.6% of the population but only 40.8% of the workforce is in the formal sector citing legal differences between men and women may explain the gap.
According to the report, economies with greater legal differentiation between men and women have, on average, lower female participation in the formal labour force.
“Competitiveness and productivity have much to do with the efficient allocation of resources, including human resources,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group in a statement.
“The economy suffers when half of the world’s population is prevented from fully participating. It is certainly no surprise that the world’s most competitive economies are those where the opportunity gap between women and men is the narrowest.”
On average, high-income economies have fewer differences than middle- and low-income economies, said the World Bank with Middle East and North Africa having the most legal differences between men and women, followed by South Asia and Africa.
By Ekow Quandzie