Highlights from Women, Business and the Law 2014 

Almost 90% of the 143 economies covered by Women, Business and the Law 2014have at least one legal difference restricting women’s economic opportunities.

Twenty-eight economies have 10 or more legal differences for men and women in the areas covered by Women, Business and the Law. Among these, 25 are in the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The 50 Years of Women’s Legal Rights database has made it possible to take two Women, Business and the Law indicators (Accessing institutions and using property) backward in time for 100 economies for 50 years. The results are striking: more than half of the restrictions in these two indicators in place in 1960 had been removed by 2010.

Over the past 50 years, economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean have reformed the most in Accessing Institutions and using property.

Over the past two years the most reforms have occurred in CȰte d’Ivoire, Mali, the Philippines and the Slovak Republic for the six indicators measured by Women, Business and the Law.

But many restrictions remain. In 15 economies husbands can object to their wives working and prevent them from accepting jobs.

Women, Business and the Law 2014 – Removing restrictions to Enhance Gender Equality