WB: GOVERNMENT REFORMS ENHANCE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN, BUT GREATER STRIDES NEEDED
ARKA
Sep 27, 2011
YEREVAN, September 27. /ARKA/. A new report from the World Bank and
IFC released today finds that women still face legal and regulatory
hurdles to fully participating in the economy.
The WB Yerevan Office’s press service told ARKA News Agency on
Tuesday that Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to
Economic Inclusion report finds 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 also identifies 41 law
and regulatory reforms enacted between June 2009 and March 2011 that
could enhance women’s economic opportunities.
Globally, women represent 49.6 percent of the population but only
40.8 percent of the workforce in the formal sector. Legal differences
between men and women may explain this gap. The report shows that
economies with greater legal differentiation between men and women
have, on average, lower female participation in the formal labor 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. “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.”
The report measures such things as a woman’s ability to sign a
contract, travel abroad, manage property, and interact with public
authorities and the private sector. In all economies, 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.
“Every region includes economies with unequal rules for men and women,
although the extent of the inequality varies widely,” the report says.
“On average, high-income economies have fewer differences than middle-
and low-income economies. The Middle East and North Africa have the
most legal differences between men and women, followed by South Asia
and Africa. In Africa, a notable exception is Kenya, which leads
globally with the most gender-parity reforms during the past two
years. Regionally, the most improvements in gender parity occurred
in Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.”
The report finds that Eastern Europe and Central Asian economies do
not impose many legal restrictions on women. None of these economies
restrict a woman’s ability to sign a contract, open a bank account,
travel abroad or manage her property. In these economies only labor
regulations are gender differentiated. However, gender differentiated
retirement ages are very prevalent in this region. Out of the 23
economies in the region, only Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo,
and Latvia do not have gender differentiated retirement ages. This
region is also more likely to give better access to justice through
small claims courts and better access to credit, by having credit
bureaus and registries with wider coverage; only Tajikistan does not
have a credit bureau or registry in this region that covers at least
0.1 percent of the adult population.
Seven economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia made changes over
the past year and a half that affected the indicators in Women,
Business and the Law. Those economies are: Albania, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia, Moldova and Romania.
The report shows how regulations and institutions differentiate between
women and men in ways that may affect women’s incentives or capacity
to work or to set up and run a business.
Women, Business and the Law objectively measures such legal
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. While the project provides a clear picture of gender gaps
based on legal differences in each economy, it is a simple snapshot
measuring only legal differentiation. It does not capture the full
extent of the gender gap, nor does it indicate the relative importance
of each aspect covered.
The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding
and knowledge for developing countries. It comprises five closely
associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association
(IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance
Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA);
and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
(ICSID).
From: Baghdasarian