World Bank Report on Women, Business and the Law 2024

The World Bank released the 10th edition of its report, titled Women, Business and the Law 2024 in March 2024. This annual report studies the enabling conditions that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. In 2024, the report introduced two new indicators, Safety and Childcare, in order to present a clearer picture of the global environment which enables socioeconomic participation of women. The study has provided a thorough examination of the barriers preventing women from entering the global workforce, hindering their ability to contribute to prosperity for themselves, their families, and their communities. Globally, not even one of the countries was able to secure a full score in the 2024 Index. This indicates that women do not have equal rights and privileges as enjoyed by men, in any of the countries around the globe.

Two Sets of Data

The current report presents two sets of data: Women, Business and the Law 1.0 and an expanded version, Women, Business and the Law 2.0.

Women, Business and the Law 1.0 updates its index of eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they move through their lives and careers. The eight indicators are Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.

Women, Business and the Law 2.0 presents a new approach to measure the implementation gap between laws and how they function in practice.

The Women, Business and the Law 2.0 has three-tiered approach, which focuses on  (1) legal frameworks (laws and regulations); (2) supportive frameworks public, policy instruments, and access to justice; and (3) expert opinions on the actual state of women’s rights in the sectors being measured. These three indices are studied under ten indicators.

Apart from the eight indicators of report data 1.0, the two new indicators, Safety and Childcare, are added to determine the gap between ‘de jure’ and ‘de facto’ measurements.

The results of this new study could help in policy discussions for ensuring women’s equal participation in the economy. The indicators provide further confirmation of the crucial connection between women’s employment and entrepreneurship and legal gender equality. The data of the 2024 Report is latest as of October 1, 2023.

Highlights of the Report

The gender gap for women in the global workplace has been massive. In the global workplace, the gender gap for women has been very massive, much wider than previously thought. Many nations have made remarkable headway over the years in validating equal opportunity laws for women. Yet, women are allowed less than two-thirds of the legal rights that are available to men. The lower numbers represent the significant flaws that have become apparent after the two new indicators—Safety and Childcare—that were monitored for the first time this year. Shortcomings in these areas deter women from joining the global workforce. Upon evaluation of these additional indicators, it became evident that no nation has been offering women equal opportunities.

Out of the 190 economies, 37 economies grant women less than half of the legal rights of men to the detriment of half a billion women.

In reality, the disparity is even wider than equal opportunity laws in the books indicate. A strong supporting framework, such as robust enforcement procedures, a system for monitoring gender-related pay discrepancies, and the provision of assistance for women who survive violence, is necessary for the effective implementation of laws. The report for the first time, has examined the gaps between laws and their implementation mechanisms in 190 economies.

The analysis has uncovered startling implementation gaps. The laws in the book state that women have about 64 per cent of men’s rights. In reality, economies have only created less than 40 per cent of that is needed for full implementation. For instance, 98 economies have enacted laws that mandate equal pay for women for work of equal value. However, the study reveals that only 35 economies have adopted transparency measures to address the pay gap. According to experts, approximately half of women in the examined economies have equality of pay and access to high-paying jobs. The analysis sheds light on the obstacles that are lying ahead, especially for countries that have implemented equal opportunity laws. For example, Togo’s standout status among Sub-Saharan African countries for having legislation that grant women 77 per cent of men’s rights, the government has only established 27 per cent of the necessary system for their implementation.

Women have the potential to significantly boost the global economy, yet often face barriers due to laws and lack of enforcement.

It is significant that women take part in the global workforce in an era which has been growing slow. Global gross domestic product (GDP) could raise by more than 20 per cent if gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship is eliminated. In order to double the current global growth rate, gender gap should be eliminated by the next decade.

Almost all economies have performed poorly in the indicators, namely, Safety and Childcare. The global average score for women’s safety is 36. Although 151 economies have laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, but only 39 economics have these laws in public places, posing risks for women using public transportation. In addition, 139 economics lack adequate legislation against child marriage, hindering girl’s future educational and economic opportunities.

Most economies struggle with childcare laws with women spending more time on unpaid care work than men. Expanding access to childcare would increase women’s labour force participation. However, only 62 economies have quality standards, making women consider working while caring for children.

Women also face significant obstacles in other areas—

Entrepreneurship Globally, only 44 per cent of the legal provisions supporting women’s entrepreneurship are in place. At the global scale, women hold just one out of every five corporate board positions. Less than one in five economies require gender-sensitive criteria for public procurement, excluding women from a significant economic opportunity worth almost US$ 10 trillion, annually.

Pay Women earn only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. In all, 92 economies lacked provisions mandating equal pay for equal value work. About 20 economies prohibit a woman from working at night, and 45 economies prohibit women from working in jobs deemed hazardous.

Nationality rights In 28 economies, a woman could not pass her nationality to children in the same way as a man. A woman does not have an equal right to confer citizenship to her foreign spouse in 50 economies. Discriminatory provisions in nationality laws negatively impact women’s economic opportunities. Thus, it limits their inheritance, property rights, and employment opportunities.

Retirement In 62 economies, the retirement age varies, with women retiring earlier than men. In 81 economies, a woman’s pension benefits do not account for periods of work absences related to childcare.

Indian Scenario

India has been ranked 113 out of the 190 countries in this report.

According to the report, Indian women have 60 per cent of the legal rights granted to men, which is lower than the global average of 64.2 per cent as cited in the 2024 Report. However, India has fared significantly higher than its South Asian counterparts, where women enjoyed only 45.9 per cent of legal protections as compared to men.

Indicator Scores of India

In terms of supportive frameworks, India scored 54.2 out of 100, which is higher than the global average (39.5) and higher than the South Asia regional average (31.1). In terms of supportive frameworks related to marriage, India obtains a perfect score of 100 out of 100.

In terms of opinion score, India scored 35.6 out of 100, which is lower than the global average (65.7) and lower than the South Asia regional average (65.7) and the South Asia regional average (43.5). India does not attain a perfect score on any of the expert opinion indicators.

The new indicators, Safety and Childcare, which were added in the 2024 analysis propelled India up the rankings. According to the older criterion, India was placed 129th out of the 190 countries in the index. While India’s score has been constant at 74.4 since 2021, its ranking in the index has declined from 122nd in 2021 to 125th in 2022, and 126th in the 2023 Index.

India has received one of the lowest scores in the indicator evaluating laws impacting women’s pay. The World Bank has recommended that to improve this aspect, India might explore policies such as enforcing equal compensation for equal work. Further, women need to be allowed to work at night on par with men and engage in industrial jobs on an equal footing with males.

Recommendations This report highlights what governments could do to accelerate progress towards gender equality in business and the law.

• Expedite the process of reforming laws and implementing public policies that empower women to work and start a business
• Improve laws related to women’s safety, access to childcare and business opportunities
• Develop frameworks to ensure successful implementation of laws promoting gender equality
• Implement legal measures that require equal pay for work of equal value and remove barriers to women’s participation in industrial jobs. Effective implementation of equal opportunity laws requires a comprehensive supporting environment. This would include strong enforcement mechanisms, gender-related pay gap tracking systems and accessible healthcare services for women surviving violence.
• Prohibit firing of pregnant women and expand maternity and paternity leave provisions
• Prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace, public places, in education and online
• Offer financial assistance to parents with young children and set excellent standards for childcare services
• Set legally binding quotas for women on corporate boards and use gender-sensitive criteria in public procurement process
• Ensure equal retirement benefits for women including for periods of work absences due to childcare

Way forward

According to World Bank, closing the gender gap could raise the GDP of a country by more than 20 per cent. This would essentially double the global growth rate over the next decade. However, the reforms have been slowed down.

India has further been trying to raise the female labour force participation rate. In 2022–23, it was 37 per cent which was much lower than some of the advanced economies in the world. The women labour force participation rate in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries was just over 50 per cent, in 2022.

The report highlighted the barriers to entrepreneurship that women have been experiencing, as well as pay disparities and retirement age inequalities. Urgency was stressed in amending laws and establishing public policies to empower women to work and engage in business.

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