WOMEN,
BUSINESS
AND THE
LAW 2021
WOMEN,
BUSINESS
AND THE
LAW 2021
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iii
vii Foreword
ix Abbreviations
1 Chapter 1: Findings
29 Annex: Summaries of Reforms
35 Chapter 2: Women and COVID-19
53 Chapter 3: New Areas of Research
67 Appendix A: Data Notes
83 Appendix B: Economy Data
89 Appendix C: Acknowledgments
Women, Business and the Law 2021 is
the seventh in a series of annual studies
measuring the laws and regulations that
aect women’s economic opportunity
in 190 economies. The project presents
eight indicators structured around
women’s interactions with the law as
they move through their careers: Mobility,
Work place, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood,
Entre preneur ship, Assets, and Pension.
Amidst a global pandemic that threat-
ens progress toward gender equality,
Women, Business and the Law 2021
identies barriers to women’s economic
participation and encourages reform of
discriminatory laws. This year, the study
also includes important ndings on gov-
ernment responses to the COVID-19 crisis
and pilot research related to childcare
and women’s access to justice.
By examining the economic decisions
women make throughout their working
lives, as well as the pace of reform over
the past 50 years, Women, Business and
the Law makes an important contribution
to research and policy discussions about
the state of women’s economic empower-
ment. The indicators build evidence of the
critical relationship between legal gender
equality and women’s employment and
entrepreneurship.
Data in Women, Business and the Law
2021 are current as of October 1, 2020.
CONTENTS
iii
CONTENTS
Boxes
2 1.1: What’s new in this edition?
24 1.2: How have
Women, Businessandthe Law
data and findings
been used to promote policy reform?
47 2.1: Using code words to escape violence at home
48 2.2: UNDP–UN Women Global COVID-19 Gender Response
Tracker
58 3.1: Existing data on childcare
71 A.1: Assumptions used to ensure comparability
Figures
3 1.1: Laws affect women throughout their working lives
7 1.2: A comparison of two indexes by region: Legal gender
equality (WBL index) versus equality in opportunities and
outcomes (WEF index)
8 1.3: Legal gender equality and female labor force participation
9 1.4: Legal gender equality and the proportion
of seats in parliament held by women
11 1.5: Among regions, OECD high-income economies
score the highest on the WBL index
12 1.6: Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa have
large variation in WBL index scores
13 1.7: Economies have the lowest scores
on the Parenthood indicator
15 1.8: Differences in the retirement age of men
and women still exist in all regions
16 1.9: The Middle East and North Africa and OECD
high-income regions reformed the most in 2019/20
20 1.10: Economies across all regions made progress toward
gender equality over the last 50 years, but at different rates
21 1.11: Economies are reforming laws in the right direction
22 1.12: Since 1970, scores on the Workplace and Parenthood
indicators have shown the greatest improvement
23 1.13: Economies have enacted few reforms
affecting the Assets indicator since 1970
iv
CONTENTS
v
36 2.1: COVID-19 has led to a larger drop in female
employment, selected economies
37 2.2: Select measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic
41 2.3: Economies across all regions allowed remote access
to family courts during the COVID-19 pandemic
56 3.1: Types of childcare
61 3.2: Other global justice data
67 A.1: The eight
Women, Business and the Law
indicators
69 A.2: Ecuador scores 89.4 on the
Women,Business and the Law
index
Map
14 1.1: Ninety economies mandate equal
remuneration for work of equal value
Tables
4 1.1: Example of how the
Women, Business and
the Law
index is constructed, Ecuador
10 1.2:
Women, Business and the Law 2021
index
17 1.3: Economies across all regions undertook
reforms toward gender equality in2019/20
39 2.1: Examples of childcare measures introduced
during the COVID-19 pandemic
42 2.2: Examples of family court system
responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
45 2.3: Examples of services provided to survivors of
gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic
55 3.1: Childcare policies and corresponding economic
outcomes:A literature summary
60 3.2: Access to justice and corresponding economic
outcomes:Aliterature summary
68 A.1:
Women, Business and the Law
indicators
70 A.2: Methodological strengths and limitations
CONTENTS
vii
FOREWORD
The unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed and deep-
ened global inequality. For many women around the world, this could mean not
only economic insecurity, but also threats to their health and safety. In times like
these, a legal environment that encourages women’s economic inclusion can make
them less vulnerable in the face of a crisis.
Yet in dicult moments many women start at a disadvantage. Women, Business
and the Law 2021 identies the laws and regulations that restrict women’s economic
opportunity in 190 economies. From the basics of movement in the community to
the challenges of working, parenting, and retiring, the data oer objective, measur-
able benchmarks for global progress toward gender equality. They also emphasize
the policy actions that c
ould be taken to improve economic opportunity for women.
This year’s study is the seventh in the series, and again the results are
promising. Despite the adversities of the last year, many economies made gender
equality a priority. Every region improved its average score, with economies in the
Middle East and North Africa seeing the greatest increase. Globally, several of the
changes eliminated job restrictions or aimed to reduce the gender wage gap. Other
improvements were good-practice legislation related to marriage and parenthood or
to removing constraints to women’s entrepreneurship.
Still, many laws continue to inhibit women’s ability to enter the workforce or
start a business. On average, women have just three-quarters of the rights of men.
New measures may also be necessary to safeguard their economic opportunities
during this time of crisis. Women, Business and the Law 2021 presents evidence of
the ways in which governments have responded to women’s unique needs through
-
out the pandemic. Many have implemented innovative solutions, ensuring that
w
omen maintain acces
s to childcare, justice systems, and protection from domestic
violence, even during widespread shutdowns. The study also introduces two pilot
projects on childcare and women’s access to justice, both of which are foundational
to women’s success in the labor force.
Gender equality is a fundamental human right. More important, it can boost
economic growth and improve development outcomes. There has never been a
more important time to ensure women’s economic empowerment. As economies
adapt to dicult circumstances, the World Bank Group will continue striving to
improve conditions for their most vulnerable populations. By recognizing barriers
to success and highlighting solutions, Women, Business and the Law 2021 is an
important tool in that eort.
Mari Elka Pangestu
Managing Director, Development Policy and Partnerships
The World Bank
FOREWORD
ix
ABBREVIATIONS
ATM automated teller machine
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (United Nations)
EU European Union
GDP gross domestic product
IFC International Finance Corporation
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
SAR special administrative region
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
WBL Women, Business and the Law
All dollar amounts are US dollars unless otherwise indicated.
ABBREVIATIONS
1
FINDINGS
• Better performance in the areas measured by the Women, Business
and the Law index is associated with a more narrow gender gap in
development outcomes, higher female labor force participation, lower
vulnerable employment, and greater representation of women in national
parliaments.
• On average, women have just three-quarters of the legal rights aorded
to men.
• Ten economies—Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland,
Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Sweden—score 100 on the Women,
Business and the Law index.
• Since 2019, 27 economies from all regions have enacted reforms increas-
ing gender equality.
• Most reforms introduced or amended laws aecting pay and parenthood.
There were no reforms addressing gender dierences in property and
inheritance as measured by the Assets indicator.
• The Middle East and North Africa and Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) high-income economies improved
their laws the most in 2019/20.
• Over the last 50 years, three regions—OECD high income, Latin America
and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa—have seen a record gain in
their average scores of more than 30 points.
Although much progress has been made over the past 50 years, global gender equality
had not yet been achieved when crisis struck in 2020. COVID-19 has directly and
disproportionately jeopardized women’s social and economic capabilities. Because they
make up the majority of health, social service, and unpaid care workers, women are
uniquely susceptible to the eects of the pandemic. In addition, women continue to
earn less than men for the same work, as well as face a higher risk of violence in their
homes.
It may be impossible to fully prepare for such a situation, but governments take
an important step toward safeguarding their economies when the legal environment
encourages and incentivizes women’s work. The importance of legal equality is not
limited to disaster preparedness or mitigating the eects of a pandemic. When women
are given the same opportunities as men, they enter and remain in the labor force,
strengthening economies and enabling development. Gender equality in the law is
also associated with better development outcomes, such as lower rates of vulnerable
employment and extreme poverty among female workers.
1
Findings
CHAPTER 1
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
2
Yet despite progress, discriminatory laws across the world continue to threaten not
only women’s fundamental human rights, but also their economic security. Barriers to
employment and entrepreneurship at every stage of life limit equality of opportunity,
failing to adequately support working women. Women face these challenges in even
the most developed economies. Worldwide they have, on average, just three-quarters
of the rights of men. Governments must take urgent action to close this gap or risk
worsening the eects of the pandemic.
By presenting a data set and an index highlighting opportunities for reform, Women,
Business and the Law 2021 is an important tool in the pursuit of women’s economic
empowerment. The seventh in a series, this study examines progress toward gender
equality by measuring the laws and regulations that restrict women’s economic
inclusion in 190 economies. It also presents compelling ndings on gender-sensitive
government responses to COVID-19, as well as pilot research on both childcare and
enhancing women’s access to justice (box 1.1).
Women, Business and the Law provides policy makers with actionable benchmarks
on women’s economic opportunity and further evidence of the relationship between legal
gender equality and economic outcomes. In particular, this edition nds that in economies
where women face less discrimination under the law, greater progress has been made in
closing the gender gap in such outcomes. Authorities in several economies have taken note
of this nding: despite a global pandemic, 27 economies in all regions and income groups
enacted reforms across indicators and increased good practice legislation in 45 instances.
2
Measuring laws and regulations that aect women’s economic
empowerment
Since its inception in 2009, Women, Business and the Law has collected data on the
laws and regulations that restrict women’s economic opportunities. In 2020, the project
BOX 1.1 WHAT’S NEW IN THIS EDITION?
This edition of Women, Business and the Law updates the data for 190 economies to
October1, 2020. It considers reforms of laws and regulations that occurred over the last year
and presents analysis of new and recurring trends.
Chapter 1 reviews the relevant literature, presents associations with outcomes to make the
case for equality of opportunity, and describes data insights by region and indicator.
Chapter 2 summarizes data collected on how governments and societies have addressed
challenges faced by women during the COVID-19 pandemic. This information does not aect
the Women, Business and the Law index, but instead details measures and services imple-
mented worldwide in response to COVID-19.
Chapter 3 highlights two topics that Women, Business and the Law would like to further
explore for possible addition to the index in future editions. It rst examines access to aord-
able and quality childcare, which is fundamental to ensuring women’s ability to enter and
remain in the labor force. The chapter also presents background research on the importance
of implementing laws through justice sector institutions. Each area has proved critical in
eorts to close persistent gender gaps in women’s economic inclusion. Women, Business
and the Law aims to develop research and collect data that will highlight good practices in
these two areas.
3
FINDINGS
began examining these data by means of an index structured around a woman’s working
life. This perspective aligns dierent areas of the law with the decisions women make as
they begin, progress through, and end their careers.
The eight Women, Business and the Law indicators coincide with the various
milestones a typical woman might experience or achieve in her lifetime (gure 1.1). The
indicators were chosen based on statistically signicant associations with outcomes
related to women’s economic empowerment, such as women’s labor force participation
rates. They measure explicit gender-based dierences in the law, as well as the presence
of certain nondiscrimination and other good practice legislation that incentivizes
women’s employment and entrepreneurship.
The Pay indicator, for example, measures legislation on remuneration and job
restrictions—factors likely to inuence a woman’s decision to enter the workforce and
her choice of career. Each indicator looks at a specic set of regulations and the ways
in which they aect women’s economic participation as entrepreneurs and employees.
Policy makers interested in improving equality of economic opportunity can look at their
economy’s scores on each indicator as a starting point for legal reform.
The Women, Business and the Law index relies on a series of assumptions to ensure
comparability across economies. For example, the woman in question is assumed to reside
in the main business city of her economy and to be employed in the formal sector. To
remain actionable, the data set is also constructed using only laws and regulations in
force. Unless they are codied, religious and customary laws are not considered. Finally,
although it is critical to ensuring women’s economic inclusion, implementation of laws
is also not currently measured. Instead, Women, Business and the Law identies legal
dierences between men and women as one step toward a better understanding of where
women’s economic rights may be restricted in practice. Future Women, Business and the
Law research will consider how to include de facto indicators to complement the set of de
jure indicators developed and presented in this report. (For the complete methodology of
Women, Business and the Law indicators, see the data notes in appendix A.)
In this study, 35 questions are scored across the eight indicators. Overall scores
are then calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 representing the
highest possible score (see table 1.1 for an example using Ecuador). The nal Women,
FIGURE 1.1
|
LAWS AFFECT WOMEN THROUGHOUT THEIR WORKING LIVES
Source: Women, Business and the Law team.
Mobility
Examines constraints on
freedom of movement
Marriage
Assesses legal constraints
related to marriage
Entrepreneurship
Analyzes constraints on women’s
starting and running businesses
Assets
Considers gender dierences
in property and inheritance
Workplace
Analyzes laws aecting
women’s decisions to work
Pay
Measures laws and regulations
aecting women’s pay
Parenthood
Examines laws aecting women’s
work after having children
Pension
Assesses laws aecting the
size of a woman’s pension
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
4
TABLE 1.1 EXAMPLE OF HOW THE WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW INDEX IS CONSTRUCTED, ECUADOR
Indicator Question Answer Indicator
score
WBL economy
score
Mobility
1. Can a woman choose where to live in the same wayas a man? Yes = 1
100
89.4
2. Can a woman travel outside her home in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
3. Can a woman apply for a passport in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
4. Can a woman travel outside the country in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
Workplace
1. Can a woman get a job in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
100
2. Does the law prohibit discrimination in employment based on gender? Yes = 1
3. Is there legislation on sexual harassment in employment? Yes = 1
4. Are there criminal penalties or civil remedies for sexual harassment in employment? Yes = 1
Pay
1. Does the law mandate equal remuneration for work of equal value? Yes = 1
100
2. Can a woman work at night in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
3. Can a woman work in a job deemed dangerous in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
4. Can a woman work in an industrial job in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
Marriage
1. Is there no legal provision that requires a married woman to obey her husband? Yes = 1
100
2. Can a woman be head of household in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
3. Is there legislation specically addressing domestic violence? Yes = 1
4. Can a woman obtain a judgment of divorce in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
5. Does a woman have the same rights to remarry as a man? Yes = 1
Parenthood
1. Is paid leave of at least 14 weeks available to mothers? No = 0
40
2. Does the government administer 100% of maternity leave benets? No = 0
3. Is paid leave available to fathers? Yes = 1
4. Is there paid parental leave? No = 0
5. Is dismissal of pregnant workers prohibited? Yes = 1
Entrepreneurship
1. Does the law prohibit discrimination in access to credit based on gender? No = 0
75
2. Can a woman sign a contract in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
3. Can a woman register a business in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
4. Can a woman open a bank account in the same way as a man? Yes = 1
Assets
1. Do men and women have equal ownership rights to immovable property? Yes = 1
100
2. Do sons and daughters have equal rights to inherit assets from their parents? Yes = 1
3. Do male and female surviving spouses have equal rights to inherit assets? Yes = 1
4. Does the law grant spouses equal administrative authority over assets during marriage? Yes = 1
5. Does the law provide for the valuation of nonmonetary contributions? Yes = 1
Pension
1. Is the age at which men and women can retire with full pension benets the same? Yes = 1
100
2. Is the age at which men and women can retire with partial pension benets the same? Yes = 1
3. Is the mandatory retirement age for men and women the same? Yes = 1
4. Are periods of absence due to childcare accounted for in pension benets? Yes = 1
Source: Women, Business and the Law team.
5
FINDINGS
Business and the Law index score presents the share of good laws in each economy
weighted by the indicators. Thus, the index serves as an easily replicable way to gauge
the regulatory environment for women as entrepreneurs and employees.
By measuring progress toward gender equality over time, Women, Business and
the Law oers policy makers a benchmarking tool that exposes potential challenges,
identies good practices, and presents lessons learned. The narrow focus of the
indicators provides a basis for equality of opportunity in the areas measured that
can be complemented with additional data to t the needs of a particular economy.
By informing research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic
opportunities, Women, Business and the Law emphasizes the work still to be done to
ensure equal economic opportunities for all.
Does equality under the law matter for closing gender gaps?
A signicant body of research links legal reforms aimed at achieving gender equality
to women’s economic outcomes. Women’s economic empowerment benets the
wider economy by reducing income inequality and increasing diversity and economic
resilience.
3
Furthermore, gender gaps in entrepreneurship and employment are
associated with lower levels of income and productivity.
4
Economies at higher levels of
economic development have, in general, greater levels of gender equality. In fact, in the
relationship between economic development and legal gender equality, the causality
likely runs in both directions.
5
As is common in emerging elds of analysis, however, not all studies have found
positive eects. For example, extended periods of family leave for female employees
after childbirth have been associated with a drop in female employment and earnings
in the short run.
6
In India, a legislative reform that granted unmarried daughters equal
inheritance rights has been associated with a range of positive outcomes, including
greater investment in girls’ education, delayed age of marriage, increased nancial
inclusion, and more investment in sanitation.
7
Nonetheless, other studies have uncovered
some unintended consequences of this reform. These include parents circumventing
the law so that daughters will not receive an inheritance, higher female infant mortality
and feticide, and a higher suicide rate driven by a rise in marital conicts.
8
Unintended
consequences can arise in contexts where multiple constraints exist and perpetuate
gender inequality, thereby pointing to the need for a more holistic approach to
addressing such a deep-rooted issue.
9
Another concern that often emerges is that where gendered social norms are deeply
entrenched or where legal reform goes against customary law, changes to the law will
not improve women’s circumstances. Indeed, reforms of discriminatory laws have not
always been well implemented, leaving women to suer the consequences.
10
Moreover,
even when legal reforms are implemented, cultural and economic factors may pose
challenges to women exerting their rights.
11
Ideally, laws reect the values of a society, but both laws and social norms need
to change over time to adapt to their circumstances and contexts. That said, the
relationship between laws and culture is complex. In some cases, laws precede social
norms, and in others social behavior changes rst, while laws are slower to adapt.
Studies have shown that when laws conict strongly with social norms, they do not
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
6
achieve their intended eect and are more dicult to enforce.
12
Some argue that the
importance of informal rules has often been underestimated. The same is true of the
monitoring and transactions costs associated with the codication of formal laws.
13
Thus it is not necessarily true that just one or the other matters. Changing formal
and customary laws may be a mutually reinforcing process.
14
Research suggests that
legal reform can have a magnetic eect, drawing norms in the same positive direction.
15
Analyses of specic legislative changes that granted women more economic rights,
such as India’s 2005 Hindu Succession Amendment Act and Rwanda’s 1999 Succession
Law, have found evidence that legal reform is important.
Indeed, growing research shows that reforms in the areas captured by the Women,
Business and the Law index are associated with a range of better outcomes for women,
including more entrepreneurship, better access to nance, a more abundant female
labor supply, and a reduction in the gender wage gap.
16
Removing barriers that restrict
the ability of women to move freely, sign contracts, and work outside the home has also
been correlated with a larger female labor supply.
17
Fewer legal barriers are associated
with access to better jobs for women, such as those requiring higher skill levels,
oering higher wages, or presenting an opportunity to manage others.
18
It is also well
documented that granting women the right to control assets, most notably land, may
result in more bargaining power for them within their households. The implications of
this include greater agency in household and marital matters
19
and investment in better
agricultural practices.
20
Research has found that women’s ability to own and manage
land is positively associated with their access to nance.
21
More broadly, land rights may
play an important role in establishing more equal gender relations within households
and boosting women’s status in society.
22
New research based on the Women, Business and the Law data provides further
evidence of a positive relationship between women’s economic rights and their
economic inclusion and opportunities.
23
This analysis looks at the relationship between
legal gender discrimination and a range of metrics of women’s economic inclusion and
empowerment. The general pattern of results reveals that where women face fewer
legal barriers, they are more empowered.
Whereas the Women, Business and the Law index tracks progress toward closing
gender-based gaps in legislation, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap
Index tracks progress made by economies in closing gaps between women and men in
opportunities and outcomes.
24
It measures gender-based gaps in economic participation
and opportunity, health outcomes, educational attainment, and political empowerment.
The aggregate index score captures the percentage of gender gaps in opportunities
and outcomes closed to date. According to the most recent results, that percentage is
68.6% globally.
25
Women, Business and the Law data reveal that greater progress has been made
in closing gender gaps in legislation, suggesting that, on average, legal reforms may
precede improvements in women’s opportunities and outcomes. However, the range
of economy scores shows greater variation between achievement of legal gender
parity: the lowest Women, Business and the Law index score is 26.3 and the highest,
100. The Global Gender Gap Index 2020 ranges between 49.4 and 87.7. Correlating
the two measures shows that where women face less discrimination under the law,
greater progress has been made in closing gender gaps in opportunities and outcomes
(gure1.2).
7
FINDINGS
Analysis also shows that greater equality under the law is associated with more women
participating in the labor force (gure 1.3). In the relationship between the Women, Business
and the Law index and specic metrics of women’s economic inclusion and empowerment,
one of the most fundamental outcomes is the female labor force participation rate.
A deeper dive into the relationship between the Women, Business and the Law
index and women’s economic inclusion shows that legal equality is associated not only
with more female employment in the aggregate, but also with fewer female workers
in vulnerable employment.
26
Vulnerable employment refers to those workers who
either are self-employed without any employees or are unpaid family workers. This
is a noteworthy association: vulnerable employees are those who are least likely to
have access to social protection and safety nets or to be able to save, leaving them
exposed to economic shocks and at the greatest risk of poverty. On average, women are
more likely than men to be engaged in vulnerable employment, and women’s relative
risk of vulnerable employment is higher in low- and lower-middle-income economies.
The relationship between legal equality and women in vulnerable employment varies
notably by region and warrants further study.
Women’s political representation may also have important outcomes for women’s
rights. Research has revealed that economies with greater female representation in the
50
60
70
80
20 40 60 80 10
WBL index score
East Asia & Pacic Europe & Central Asia OECD high income
y = 0.25x + 50.28; t-stat(x) = 11.40
FIGURE 1.2
|
A COMPARISON OF TWO INDEXES BY REGION: LEGAL GENDER
EQUALITY (WBL INDEX) VERSUS EQUALITY IN OPPORTUNITIES AND
OUTCOMES (WEF INDEX)
Sources: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database; Global Gender Gap Index (WEF 2019).
Note: The gure presents the correlation between the WBL index score and the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum (WEF) based
on data for 2019. The Global Gender Gap Index score represents the progress made in closing gender-based gaps in opportunities and outcomes.
Each point represents a single economy. A tted regression line is also included. Although the graph presents a simple correlation, the relationship
remains positive and statistically signicant after controlling for income, measured as the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita provided in
the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI) database (https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators), and
economy-level and time xed eects. This statistical relationship should not be interpreted as causal. The regression of the Global Gender Gap
Index on the WBL index includes 151 economies for the period 2006–19, as determined by data availability. OECD = Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development; WEF = World Economic Forum.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
8
national legislature are more likely to pass laws on sexual harassment, rape, divorce,
and domestic violence.
27
According to data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU),
on average 25% of seats in national lawmaking bodies are held by women. In only four
economies are at least half of legislative seats held by women: Rwanda (61%), Cuba
(53%), Bolivia (53%), and the United Arab Emirates (50%).
28
As women’s economic rights increase, so, too, does their representation in national
lawmaking bodies (gure 1.4). However, even in the economies that receive the highest
scores in the Women, Business and the Law index, the average proportion of legislative
seats held by women is only about one-third. The relationship between legal equality
and women’s legislative representation could go in either direction—as noted earlier,
previous research has shown that having more female legislators is associated with an
improved legal environment for women.
In contexts in which multiple constraints perpetuate gender inequality, the need for
a more holistic approach to addressing deep-rooted issues will, of course, be necessary.
More evidence is needed of the role and limitations of the law in aecting women’s
economic outcomes. However, the results presented here highlight some of the ways in
which greater legal equality is correlated with greater empowerment for women. More
research is under way to uncover the pathways through which legal reforms can help
women reach their full potential, as well as to better understand how more progress can
be made in removing legal barriers.
0
20
40
60
80
100
Female labor force participation rate (%)
20
40 60 80
100
y = 0.57x + 15.15; t-stat(x) = 9.51
WBL index score
East Asia & Pacic
Latin America & Caribbean
Europe & Central Asia
Middle East & North Africa
OECD high income
South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
FIGURE 1.3
|
LEGAL GENDER EQUALITY AND FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
Sources: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database; World Development Indicators (WDI) database, World Bank, https://databank.worldbank.org
/source /world-development-indicators; International Labour Organization (ILO), https://ilostat.ilo.org/.
Note: The gure presents the correlation between the WBL index score and the female labor force participation rate for women aged 15–64 in 2019,
according to modeled estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO). Each point represents a single economy. A tted regression line
is also included. Although the graph presents a simple correlation, the relationship remains positive and statistically signicant after controlling for
income, measured as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita provided in the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI) database (https://
databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators), and economy-level and time xed eects. This statistical relationship should not be
interpreted as causal. The regression of the female labor force participation rate on the WBL index includes 176 economies for the period 1991–2019,
as determined by data availability. OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
9
FINDINGS
Data insights
Women, Business and the Law 2021 updates the index presented in its previous edition
by capturing reforms that occurred between September 2, 2019, and October 1, 2020.
In 2020, the average global score is 76.1 out of 100 (above the average 75.5 in 2019),
indicating that the world has achieved about three-quarters of good practice legislation
as measured by the indicators. Up from eight in 2019, ten economies—Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Sweden—score
100, meaning that women are on an equal legal standing with men across all areas
measured (table 1.2). (For the complete Women, Business and the Law data set, please
see the economy data in appendix B.)
Of the 39 economies with scores higher than 90, 28 are OECD high-income economies,
and seven are in Europe and Central Asia. The remaining four are in Latin America and
the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacic, and Sub-Saharan Africa. No economy in the
Middle East and North Africa or South Asia scores 90 or higher.
When economies are classied by income level, high-income ones score the
highest, with an average score of 85.9 out of 100. Upper-middle-income economies
FIGURE 1.4
|
LEGAL GENDER EQUALITY AND THE PROPORTION OF SEATS IN
PARLIAMENT HELD BY WOMEN
Sources: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database; Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Note: The gure presents the correlation between the WBL index score and the percentage of parliamentary seats held by women based on
data for 2019. Each point represents a single economy. A tted regression line is also included. The relationship between the WBL index and the
proportion of seats held by women in parliament remains positive and statistically signicant after controlling for income, measured as gross
domestic product (GDP) per capita provided in the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI) database (https://databank.worldbank
.org / source/world-development-indicators), and economy-level and time xed eects. This statistical relationship should not be interpreted
as causal. The regression of the proportion of seats held by women in parliament on the WBL index includes 183 economies for the period
1997–2019, as determined by data availability. OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
0
20
40
60
80
% of women in parliament
20 40 60 80
100
y = 0.36x – 4.26; t-stat(x) = 7.65
WBL index score
East Asia & Pacic
Latin America & Caribbean
Europe & Central Asia
Middle East & North Africa
OECD high income
South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
10
TABLE 1.2 WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021 INDEX
Economy Score Economy Score Economy Score Economy Score Economy Score
Belgium 100.0 Romania 90.6 Singapore 82.5 Belarus 75.6 Nigeria 63.1
Canada 100.0 Ecuador 89.4 Turkey 82.5 China 75.6 Dominica 62.5
Denmark 100.0 Hong Kong SAR, China 89.4
United Arab Emirates ✔
82.5 Morocco 75.6 Mali 60.6
France 100.0 Bolivia 88.8 Colombia 81.9 Cambodia 75.0 Cameroon 60.0
Iceland 100.0 El Salvador 88.8 Japan 81.9 Ghana 75.0 Papua New Guinea 60.0
Ireland ✔
100.0 Malta 88.8
Vietnam ✔
81.9 Honduras 75.0 Niger 59.4
Latvia 100.0 Mexico 88.8 Bahamas, The 81.3 Trinidad and Tobago 75.0 Myanmar 58.8
Luxembourg 100.0 Uruguay 88.8 Tanzania 81.3 Gambia, The 74.4 Palau 58.8
Portugal ✔
100.0 Lao PDR 88.1 Zambia 81.3 India 74.4 Tonga 58.8
Sweden 100.0
Montenegro ✔
88.1 Grenada 80.6
Madagascar ✔
74.4 Vanuatu 58.1
Estonia 97.5 South Africa 88.1 Israel 80.6 Maldives 73.8 Algeria 57.5
Finland 97.5 Guyana 86.9 Kenya 80.6
Suriname ✔
73.8 Gabon 57.5
Germany 97.5 Zimbabwe 86.9 Nepal 80.6 Angola 73.1 Solomon Islands 56.9
Greece 97.5 Cabo Verde 86.3
Rwanda ✔
80.6 Burundi 73.1
Bahrain ✔
55.6
Italy 97.5 Dominican Republic 86.3
Chile ✔
80.0 Russian Federation 73.1
Pakistan ✔
55.6
Netherlands 97.5 Namibia 86.3 Samoa 80.0 Uganda 73.1 Brunei Darussalam 53.1
New Zealand ✔
97.5 Nicaragua 86.3 San Marino 80.0 Bhutan 71.9 Lebanon 52.5
Spain 97.5 São Tomé and Príncipe 86.3
Saudi Arabia ✔
80.0 St. Kitts and Nevis 71.3 Equatorial Guinea 51.9
United Kingdom 97.5 Georgia 85.6 Belize 79.4 Guatemala 70.6 Libya 50.0
Australia 96.9 Switzerland 85.6 Burkina Faso 79.4
Uzbekistan ✔
70.6 Malaysia 50.0
Austria ✔
96.9 Bosnia and Herzegovina 85.0 Panama 79.4 South Sudan 70.0 Bangladesh 49.4
Hungary 96.9
Brazil ✔
85.0 Ukraine 79.4 Eritrea 69.4 Congo, Rep. 49.4
Norway 96.9 Korea, Rep. 85.0 Azerbaijan 78.8 Kazakhstan 69.4 Mauritania 48.1
Slovenia ✔
96.9 North Macedonia 85.0 Congo, Dem. Rep. 78.8
Sierra Leone ✔
69.4
Jordan ✔
46.9
Peru 95.0
Slovak Republic ✖
85.0 Kiribati 78.8 Djibouti 68.1 Somalia 46.9
Paraguay 94.4 Venezuela, RB 85.0 Philippines 78.8 Jamaica 68.1 Eswatini 46.3
Croatia 93.8 Moldova 84.4 Tajikistan 78.8
Marshall Islands ✔
68.1 Egypt, Arab Rep. 45.0
Czech Republic 93.8 Togo 84.4 Lesotho 78.1
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
68.1 Iraq 45.0
Lithuania 93.8 Liberia 83.8 Thailand 78.1 Tunisia 67.5 Guinea-Bissau 42.5
Poland 93.8
Puerto Rico (US) ✔
83.8
Benin ✔
77.5
Senegal ✔
66.9 Afghanistan 38.1
Serbia 93.8 St. Lucia 83.8 Malawi 77.5 Antigua and Barbuda 66.3 Syrian Arab Republic 36.9
Kosovo 91.9
Costa Rica ✔
83.1 Barbados 76.9 Chad 66.3 Oman 35.6
Mauritius 91.9 Côte d’Ivoire 83.1 Central African Republic 76.9 Sri Lanka 65.6 Iran, Islamic Rep. 31.3
Albania 91.3 Timor-Leste 83.1
Ethiopia ✔
76.9 Comoros 65.0 Qatar 29.4
Cyprus 91.3 Armenia 82.5 Kyrgyz Republic 76.9 Indonesia 64.4 Sudan 29.4
Taiwan, China 91.3
Fiji ✔
82.5 Argentina 76.3 Botswana 63.8
Kuwait ✔
28.8
Unit
ed S
tat
es 91.3 Mongolia 82.5 Guinea 76.3 Haiti 63.8 Yemen, Rep. 26.9
Bulgaria 90.6 Mozambique 82.5 Seychelles 76.3 Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 63.8 West Bank and Gaza 26.3
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Note: Economies with a green check mark (✔) saw an improvement in score due to reforms in one or more areas. The economy with a red X (✖) implemented at least one change reducing its score.
11
FINDINGS
are 10.6 points behind, with an average score of 75.3. Lower-middle- and low-
income economies have average scores of 70.8 and 66.1, respectively. These scores
demonstrate that the average low-income economy has about two-thirds of good
practice legislation identied by the indicators. The gap in the average score between
high-income economies and the rest of the world is 14.3 points.
By region, OECD high-income economies score the highest, followed by Europe
and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and East Asia and the Pacic
(gure1.5). Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa have an average regional score of 71,
while economies in South Asia score 63.7. Economies in the Middle East and North
Africa have the lowest average score, 51.5. The performance of economies within each
region varies. Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa economies have
the largest variation in scores—more than 60 points dierence between the best- and
worst-scoring economies.
More than half of the economies in Sub-Saharan Africa score higher than the regional
average score of 71 (gure 1.6). Mauritius has a score of 91.9, the highest in the Sub-
Saharan Africa region. As of 2020, Mauritius scores 100 in six of the eight Women,
Business and the Law indicators: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Entrepreneurship,
and Assets. The remaining gaps to close are in the Parenthood and Pension indicators.
Under Parenthood, Mauritius is still lacking paid parental leave, and maternity leave
benets are not 100% administered by the government. Under Pension, Mauritius has
not accounted for periods of absence due to childcare in pension benets. Every region
has examples of economies whose governments are implementing good practice laws
and those that still have room to improve. These examples can inspire other governments
in the region looking to reform.
80.0
69.4
62.5
50.0
29.4
38.1
26.3
95.1
83.4
80.1
71.9
71.0
63.7
51.5
100.0
93.8
95.0
91.3
91.9
80.6
88.8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
OECD high
income
Europe &
Central Asia
Latin America &
Caribbean
East Asia &
Pacic
Sub-Saharan
Africa
South Asia
Middle East &
North Africa
WBL index (0–100)
Minimum Average Maximum
FIGURE 1.5
|
AMONG REGIONS, OECD HIGH-INCOME ECONOMIES SCORE THE HIGHEST ON THE WBL INDEX
Source: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database.
Note: OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
12
FIGURE 1.6
|
ECONOMIES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA HAVE LARGE VARIATION IN
WBLINDEX SCORES
Source: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database.
91.9
88.1
86.9
86.3
86.3
86.3
84.4
83.8
83.1
82.5
81.3
81.3
80.6
80.6
79.4
78.8
78.1
77.5
77.5
76.9
76.9
76.3
76.3
75.0
74.4
74.4
73.1
73.1
73.1
70.0
69.4
69.4
66.9
66.3
65.0
63.8
63.1
60.6
60.0
59.4
57.5
51.9
49.4
48.1
46.9
46.3
42.5
29.4
Average WBL index for
Sub-Saharan Africa, 71.0
01020304050 60 70 80 90
100
WBL index score (0–100)
Mauritius
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Cabo Verde
Namibia
São Tomé and Príncipe
Togo
Liberia
Côte d'Ivoire
Mozambique
Zambia
Tanzania
Kenya
Rwanda
Burkina Faso
Congo, Dem. Rep.
Lesotho
Benin
Malawi
Central African Republic
Ethiopia
Guinea
Seychelles
Ghana
Madagascar
Gambia, The
Angola
Burundi
Uganda
South Sudan
Sierra Leone
Eritrea
Senegal
Chad
Comoros
Botswana
Nigeria
Mali
Cameroon
Niger
Gabon
Equatorial Guinea
Congo, Rep.
Mauritania
Somalia
Eswatini
Guinea-Bissau
Sudan
13
FINDINGS
Where do economies stand on each indicator?
The Mobility, Workplace, Marriage, Entrepreneurship, and Assets indicators have an
average global score above 75, meaning economies have implemented many of the
good practices measured by these indicators (gure 1.7). By contrast, average scores
are lower for the Pay, Parenthood, and Pension indicators. Regional performance on
each of these also varies, with OECD high-income economies performing above average
on all indicators. All other regions have more diverse performances and room to improve,
especially economies in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa.
Parenthood, with an average score of 54.8, remains the indicator with the most room
to improve. It measures whether paid maternity leave of at least 14 weeks is available
to mothers, whether maternity benets are 100% administered by the government,
whether any paid leave is available to fathers, whether there is paid parental leave, and
whether dismissal of pregnant women is prohibited.
Although more than half of the economies measured mandate paid leave specically
for fathers, the global median duration of that leave is just seven calendar days in the
economies that have it. Fathers in East Asia and the Pacic, Europe and Central Asia, and
OECD high-income economies receive the longest paid leave. Only 44 economies have
paid parental leave. In 2019, the European Union (EU) passed a new directive aimed at
increasing the amount of leave available to both parents and at redistributing childcare
responsibilities between men and women. EU states now have three years to adopt
legislation complying with the directive. Because of this advance, Women, Business and
the Law expects more reforms in this area among the top-scoring economies.
The second-lowest performance is on the Pay indicator, with an average score
of 67.5. Should a woman successfully enter and remain in the labor force, it is
imperative that she not face job restrictions or receive lower pay than a man holding
88.0
79.6
67.5
80.0
54.8
83.8
82.1
73.0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Mobility Workplace Pay Marriage Parenthood Entrepreneurship Assets Pension
WBL indicator score (0–100)
East Asia & Pacic Europe & Central Asia OECD high income
Latin America & Caribbean Middle East & North Africa South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
FIGURE 1.7
|
ECONOMIES HAVE THE LOWEST SCORES ON THE PARENTHOOD INDICATOR
Source: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database.
Note: OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
14
the same position. Under the Pay indicator, the data reveal that more than half of
the good practice legislation achieved is related to laws that aect women’s pay. Yet
88economies still restrict the jobs women can hold.
Removing laws that prohibit women from working in certain jobs is not the only
legislative approach to tackling the gender pay gap: legally mandating employers to
provide men and women who perform work of equal value with the same remuneration
is also critical. Today, fewer than half of economies worldwide (90) have mandated equal
remuneration for work of equal value. Most of them are OECD high-income economies,
with the fewest mandating equal remuneration for work of equal value in East Asia and
the Pacic, South Asia, and Middle East and North Africa (map 1.1).
Leaving the workforce to take care of family members is one reason women are
left with smaller pensions at the end of their working life. Another reason is laws
that mandate dierent retirement ages for men and women. Retirement ages remain
unequal in close to one-third of the economies covered, with a dierence of ve or more
years between women and men in more than half of the economies in the Middle East
and North Africa, including Algeria, Djibouti, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Libya, Oman,
and the Republic of Yemen (gure 1.8). Despite a signicant eort by governments
to gradually equalize retirement ages between men and women across Europe and
Central Asia, a dierence of ve years remains across 26% of economies in the region,
including Belarus, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and
Uzbekistan. By contrast, of the 44 economies covered with mandatory pension systems
in Sub-Saharan Africa, women’s statutory retirement age is ve years earlier than men’s
only in Cabo Verde and Mozambique.
IBRD 45488 | JANUARY 2021
Yes
No
MAP 1.1
|
NINETY ECONOMIES MANDATE EQUAL REMUNERATION FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
15
FINDINGS
The urgent need for reform is even more glaring today because the COVID-19
pandemic has widened the long-existing gender pay gap. Women are more likely than
men to take leave from work or resign their positions to care for children in the event
of illness or the closure of schools or daycare centers. Even if they manage to hold on
to their positions, women are still at higher risk of having to submit to greater earnings
penalties as a result of the pandemic.
29
Reforming laws to achieve greater gender
equality should remain a priority as governments enact measures to recover from the
shocks imposed by this crisis.
Under what indicators did economies reform in 2019/20?
A surprising number of reforms were recorded even as the pandemic raged throughout
much of the period measured. Since 2019, 27 economies have implemented reforms
aimed at equality of opportunity across seven of the eight indicators measured, leading
to 45 positive data changes. Of these changes, 17 resulted from legal changes enacted
by economies in the Middle East and North Africa region. Although it has the lowest
scores, the region has advanced the most as a result of its reform eorts, with 25% of
the region’s economies implementing at least one reform (gure1.9). Despite having
the highest scores, OECD high-income economies continued to reform, with nearly 20%
of economies changing at least one law toward gender equality. Progress in the rest of
the world was slower during 2020, with other regions recording fewer reforms than in
previous years.
FIGURE 1.8
|
DIFFERENCES IN THE RETIREMENT AGE OF MEN AND WOMEN STILL EXIST IN ALL REGIONS
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Note: The gap in retirement age is calculated as the deduction of a woman’s retirement age from a man’s retirement age. The total number of economies in the sample is 178: East
Asia and Pacic, 23; Europe and Central Asia, 23; Latin America and Caribbean, 32; Middle East and North Africa, 17; OECD high income, 34; South Asia, 5; Sub-Saharan Africa, 44. Twelve
economies have no mandated pension systems. OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
93.2
2.3
4.5
82.6
17.4
76.5
11.8
11.8
75.0
3.1
21.9
60.0
40.0
35.3
64.7
21.7
52.2
26.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Sub-Saharan
Africa
East Asia &
Pacic
OECD high
income
Latin America &
Caribbean
South AsiaMiddle East &
North Africa
Europe &
Central Asia
% of economies
No dierence Dierence of fewer than 5 years Dierence of 5 years or more
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
16
Most reforms were implemented in laws aecting women’s pay
The Pay indicator recorded the most improvement in scores, with changes to 11 data
points indicating reductions in wage inequality as a result of reforms by eight economies
(table 1.3). Bahrain, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam eliminated restrictions on
women’s employment in jobs previously deemed dangerous for women. Montenegro
and Saudi Arabia also eliminated all restrictions on women’s employment in industrial
jobs such as mining, construction, manufacturing, and the water sector, setting men
and women on equal terms in choice of employment opportunities. Costa Rica and
Saudi Arabia lifted bans on women’s night work.
The Marshall Islands, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates reformed their
laws to introduce legislation mandating equal remuneration for men and women who
perform work of equal value. The Equal Pay Amendment Act in New Zealand addresses
historic inequalities in pay for women and provides a mechanism for equal pay for jobs
of equal value, including for dierent jobs of the same value. The act enables workers or
unions to raise a pay equity claim directly with their employer and makes court action
a last resort.
Reforms related to parental leave and marriage remain high on
economies’ agendas
Laws aecting women’s work after having children, as measured by the Parenthood
indicator, remained high on the reform agenda. Five economies made reforms in this
area, leading to improvements in eight data points. Ethiopia increased paid maternity
8.7
12.0
12.5
12.5
12.5
17.6
25.0
0
51015202
530
Europe & Central Asia
East Asia & Pacic
Latin America & Caribbean
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
OECD high income
Middle East & North Africa
% of economies
FIGURE 1.9
|
THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA AND OECD HIGH-INCOME
REGIONS REFORMED THE MOST IN 2019/20
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Note: Figure shows percentage of economies in each region that implemented at least one reform in 2019/20. OECD = Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development.
17
FINDINGS
TABLE 1.3 ECONOMIES ACROSS ALL REGIONS UNDERTOOK REFORMS TOWARD GENDER EQUALITY IN2019/20
Indicator No. of data points
reformed
Economies Example of reform
Mobility 6 Benin, Fiji, Jordan, United Arab Emirates Fiji allowed a woman to apply for a passport in
the same way as a man.
Workplace 5 Marshall Islands, Senegal, Sierra Leone, United Arab
Emirates
Sierra Leone adopted legislation on sexual
harassment in employment.
Pay 11 Bahrain, Costa Rica, Marshall Islands, Montenegro, New
Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam
Costa Rica lifted a ban on women’s night work.
Marriage 7 Chile, Kuwait, Madagascar, Portugal, Puerto Rico (US),
Rwanda, United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates no longer requires a
married woman to obey her husband.
Parenthood 8 Austria, Ethiopia, Ireland, Suriname, United Arab
Emirates
Ireland introduced two weeks of paid parental
leave as an individual entitlement for each parent.
Entrepreneurship 5 Bahrain, Jordan, Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Uzbekistan Pakistan allowed women to register a business in
the same way as men.
Pension 3 Bahrain, Brazil, Slovenia Slovenia equalized the age at which men and
women can retire with full pension benets.
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Note: The Assets indicator is not included this table because no reforms were recorded in the period measured.
leave from 90 to 120 days and guaranteed the right to three days of paid paternity leave
for the rst time. Suriname, which previously was one of only six economies worldwide
without any form of paid leave related to the birth of a child, introduced 16 weeks of
paid maternity leave and eight days of paid paternity leave. Austria also introduced paid
paternity leave, while Ireland and the United Arab Emirates introduced paid parental
leave as an individual entitlement, giving each employee an equal right to paid leave for
the birth of a child. The United Arab Emirates is now the rst and only economy in the
Middle East and North Africa to have paid parental leave.
Paternity leave is one of the most prevalent reforms under the Parenthood indicator
because of growing recognition that gender equality in the home is needed to achieve
gender equality in the workplace.
30
However, research nds that fathers tend to take
paternity leave only when it is highly compensated and specically allocated to them.
31
For that reason, some economies recently changed their leave policies to promote
fathers’ uptake of leave. Estonia, which began the process of gradually reconguring
its leave policies in 2017, abandoned its two-week paternity leave benets policy and
instead introduced one month of paid parental leave for fathers (the “daddy month”).
In Iceland, mothers and fathers are now individually entitled to one more month of paid
leave each, while the amount of shared parental leave has been reduced by a month.
Meanwhile, Spain began gradually increasing paternity leave in 2019 to equalize it with
maternity leave by 2021 at 16 weeks each.
With seven positive changes, the third most frequent area of reform is related to
laws measured by the Marriage indicator, particularly in the area of domestic violence
legislation. Recent studies have emphasized the staggering economic costs of domestic
violence.
32
Kuwait and Madagascar introduced specic and comprehensive legislation
on domestic violence for the rst time. Kuwait’s new law not only prohibits any form
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
18
of physical, psychological, sexual, or nancial domestic abuse, but also provides for
protection orders and services for survivors of violence. Specically, the law calls for
shelters, a hotline, counseling services, and legal assistance for survivors of domestic
violence. Madagascar’s new law establishes criminal penalties for dierent forms of
gender-based violence, such as physical, psychological, emotional, or economic abuse
in the private and public spheres, as well as a process to obtain protection orders.
Furthermore, the new law stipulates that the state must support survivors through
health care, psychological and legal aid services, and allocation of necessary resources.
Also under the Marriage indicator, Chile, Portugal, Puerto Rico (US), and Rwanda
abolished the specied time that a woman had to wait before remarrying after
nalization of a divorce. New civil codes in Chile and Puerto Rico introduced gender-
neutral language allowing both spouses to remarry as soon as a divorce is nalized.
Portugal’s previous civil code provided for internuptial periods for both men and
women. However, the woman’s waiting time was 300 days, whereas the man’s was 180
days. Rwanda equalized a provision in the family law that required widows—but not
widowers—to wait 300 days before remarrying after the death of their spouse. The new
law revokes the internuptial period for both men and women. The previous restriction
on a woman’s ability to remarry was intended to avoid a potential conict of paternity
between her previous husband and future husband.
Economies also reformed under the Mobility, Workplace, and
Entrepreneurship indicators
Four economies improved on six data points under the Mobility indicator. It tracks the
dierences between the rules that govern the rights of men and women to obtain a
passport and travel abroad, choose where to live, and leave their home at will. Mobility
aects every step in a working woman’s life cycle. Limitations in this area reduce
opportunities for women to build networks with other entrepreneurs and exchange
vital information on market opportunities, ultimately preventing them from developing
their full potential as successful entrepreneurs.
33
Increasing women’s mobility, including
the opportunity to freely commute to and from a workplace outside of the home, can
give women access to better employment opportunities.
Benin, Fiji, and Jordan removed procedural requirements that made it more
burdensome for women than men to apply for a passport. In Benin, a 2019 circular
issued by the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security instructed all concerned
departments that in the interest of establishing equal treatment between men and
women, married women were no longer required to provide a copy of their marriage
certicate when applying for an ordinary passport. The United Arab Emirates
abolished provisions imposing legal consequences when a woman abstained from
traveling with her husband or left the marital home without a lawful excuse. It also
removed stipulations that a woman must live with her husband in the home chosen
by him.
The Workplace indicator examines legal protections in the workplace such as the
right to nondiscrimination and freedom from sexual harassment. The United Arab
Emirates removed restrictions on a woman’s right to get a job. Both the Marshall Islands
and Senegal enacted new legislation directly prohibiting gender-based discrimination in
employment. And Sierra Leone adopted legislation on sexual harassment in employment.
19
FINDINGS
The new law introduces comprehensive denitions and penalties for sexual harassment
oenses in the area of employment and other settings, whereas the previous law
contained no specic references to employment. Addressing sexual harassment in the
workplace is key to achieving fundamental labor market goals, including closing the
gender pay gap.
34
Under the Entrepreneurship indicator, ve economies have enacted reforms since
2019. Pakistan allowed women to register a business in the same way as men. Through
their central bank’s regulatory powers, Bahrain and Jordan introduced the right to
nondiscrimination based on gender in access to nance. To comply with Bahrain’s
Central Bank directive, banks and nancial institutions must ensure that all regulated
nancial services are provided without discrimination based on sex. Because Central
Bank directives are not always publicly accessible or widely disseminated, after adoption
of the directive the United Arab Emirates, where a similar provision was introduced
in 2019, launched a dissemination campaign to raise awareness among citizens. The
authorities also issued a message announcing adoption of the provision, in English and
Arabic, on all ATM screens in the country.
The Marshall Islands and Uzbekistan introduced rights to nondiscrimination in
access to nance through broader legislation that also guaranteed gender equality.
The Marshall Islands’ Gender Equality Act of 2019 provides that women are entitled
to access loans, grants, mortgages, credit, or any other nancial service on an equal
basis with men. Similarly, Uzbekistan’s Law on the Guarantees of Equal Rights and
Opportunities for Men and Women of 2019 prescribes nondiscrimination in the provision
of movable and immovable property, land, nancial assets, and loans. Despite these
reforms, 108 economies still lack legal provisions that expressly prohibit gender-based
discrimination in access to nance. For women who become entrepreneurs, access to
nance is likely necessary. Meanwhile, women worldwide still earn, own, and learn less
than their husbands and brothers.
35
Fewer economies undertook reforms related to Pension and Assets
Only three economies announced changes increasing gender equality as measured by
the Pension indicator: Bahrain, Brazil, and Slovenia. Dierences in women’s working
lives relative to those of men can result in unequal economic outcomes in retirement.
To address this issue, Slovenia equalized the age (65 years) at which men and women
can retire and receive full benets, following a gradual-increase schedule introduced by
the Pension and Disability Act in 2013. Bahrain also made strides under this indicator by
accounting for periods of childcare in pension benets for the rst time. Brazil eliminated
retirement with partial pension benets for both men and women. At the same time,
the Slovak Republic implemented a change that widened the legal gender gap. A new
law established dierent ages for men and women to retire with full and partial pension
benets and made the mandatory retirement age for men and women unequal.
Finally, no reforms have been recorded under the Assets indicator since 2019. Strong
property rights can allow women to leverage assets for economic gain, increasing their
nancial security and providing them with the collateral needed to start a business.
Governments in the 75 economies in which men and women still do not have equal
rights to manage and inherit property should consider adopting good practice legislation
in this area.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
20
Fifty years of legal change
Regional patterns have remained similar over the last 50 years, with the OECD high-
income, Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean economies
leading the way toward legal gender equality. In addition, the OECD high-income, Latin
America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa regions have each recorded a gain
in their average score of more than 30 points since 1970—the largest of all regions
(gure 1.10). Over the last 10 years, the pace of reform has picked up in the Middle
East and North Africa and South Asia, with a gain in the average score of more than
10points in each region. The East Asia and the Pacic and Sub-Saharan Africa regions
have each gained more than seven points.
The distribution of economies and their scores on the Women, Business and
the Law index has changed signicantly over time (gure 1.11). Whereas 1970
saw 12economies scoring 25 or below on the index, by 1995 there were only ve
economies in this category. By 2008, there were none. At the same time, in 1970
no economies scored above 75, and the highest score, 71.3, was achieved by only
Denmark and Sweden.
In 1975 the United Nations launched a Decade for Women, and in 1979 the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
known as the international bill of rights for women, was adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly. This decade of action led to many reforms increasing gender equality,
with economies in better standing being among the rst to ratify the convention. By
1986 nine economies were in the highest quartile, and only seven were in the lowest. By
1995 the number of top-scoring economies had grown to 21. Belgium and Luxembourg
were the rst economies to reach a score of 100 in 2011. They were soon followed by
Denmark in 2012, Sweden in 2013, Latvia in 2014, France in 2015, Iceland in 2016,
Canada in 2019, and Ireland and Portugal in 2020.
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
WBL index (0–100)
South Asia
Middle East & North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Asia & Pacic
Latin America & Caribbean
Europe & Central Asia
OECD high income
FIGURE 1.10
|
ECONOMIES ACROSS ALL REGIONS MADE PROGRESS TOWARD GENDER EQUALITY OVER THE
LAST 50 YEARS, BUT AT DIFFERENT RATES
Source: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database.
Note: Figure shows change in the average WBL index score across seven regions between 1970 and 2020. OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
21
FINDINGS
By 2010, when the United Nations established UN Women to dene and promote
global standards for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women,
the number of economies scoring above 75 surpassed those of the other categories.
However, based on the 35 questions measured by Women, Business and the Law, laws
in only 10 economies treat men and women equally today.
Although all economies have improved over the 50-year period, the pace of reform
has been slow. In 20 economies in 2020, women continued to have half or fewer of
the legal rights of men. These economies are mostly in the Middle East and North
Africa, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa regions, where, according to the data,
reform momentum is growing. If the pace of change stays the same, however, at least
another 30 years will be needed to achieve legal gender parity globally. Based on annual
year-to-year increases in the average Women, Business and the Law index by region,
predictions call for OECD high-income economies to be the rst region to reach an
average score of 100 by 2025, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean in 2043 and
Europe and Central Asia in 2044.
The pace of reform has varied between indicators as well (gure 1.12). Even though
the Workplace and Parenthood indicators were at their lowest in 1970, with 17.8% (135of
760) and 16.4% (156 of 950) of positive data points, respectively, these indicators have
demonstrated the strongest performance of all indicators covered by Women, Business
and the Law over the last 50 years. Between 1970 and 2020, 61.8% (470 of 760)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
% of economies
Economies scoring 50–75
Economies scoring 25–50
Economies scoring 0–25
Economies scoring 75–100
1975: UN 1st
World Conference
on Women
(Mexico City)
1995: UN 4th
World Conference
on Women
(Beijing)
1979: CEDAW:
International
bill of rights
for women
1975–85:
UN Decade
for Women
2003:
Maputo
Protocol
2010:
UN Women
established
FIGURE 1.11
|
ECONOMIES ARE REFORMING LAWS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Note: Figure shows percentages of economies in four scoring categories of the WBL index. The Maputo Protocol is the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on
the Rights of Women, adopted by the African Union in 1975. CEDAW = Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (United Nations); UN = United Nations.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
22
of data points were reformed under the Workplace indicator and 38.4% (365 of 950)
under the Parenthood indicator. Despite this progress, however, Parenthood remains
the indicator with the lowest scores. Nearly half of the data points under Parenthood
(429 of 950) need reform, the largest gap of all indicators.
Because of the historically slow pace of progress, the regional distribution of scores
under the Assets indicator has not changed signicantly over time (gure 1.13). The
Europe and Central Asia, OECD high-income, and Latin America and the Caribbean
economies have the highest scores, with almost all economies implementing good
practices related to women’s property ownership and inheritance. Sub-Saharan
Africa has reformed steadily over the last ve decades, and today more than 50%
of economies score 80 or above, meaning they have most of the good legislation
measured.
Other regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia, have seen
little reform in this area. Besides the fact that relatively fewer laws under the Assets
indicator are subject to reform, the slow pace of change may stem from the diculty
in reforming laws governing property ownership and inheritance, especially when
engrained social norms dictate inheritance rules. Even when new legislation is passed,
implementation is often hindered by social norms and women’s lack of awareness of
their rights. These social perceptions play an important role in inuencing whether
women can claim their rights to land and property. Recent research conrms that,
although there is substantial variation, in almost all economies men are more likely
than women to own property. This research also nds that legal frameworks related to
women’s rights to inheritance, immovable property, and marital regimes, as measured
by Women, Business and the Law, are a reliable predictor of women’s actual property
shares. Economies with higher scores on the Assets indicator generally have higher
levels of women’s property ownership.
36
75.5
65.3
61.7
50.8
47.0
35.5
17.8
16.4
12.5
16.8
22.1
29.2
26.1
32.0
61.8
38.4
12.0
17.9
16.2
20.0
27.0
32.5
20.4
45.2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Mobility Assets Entrepreneurship Marriage Pension Pay Workplace Parenthood
% of data points
% of positive data points in 1970 (baseline) % of data points that reformed between 1970 and 2020 % of data points that did not reform
FIGURE 1.12
|
SINCE 1970, SCORES ON THE WORKPLACE AND PARENTHOOD INDICATORS HAVE SHOWN THE
GREATEST IMPROVEMENT
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Note: Scores across the eight indicators are calculated as the simple average of individual data points. Mobility, Entrepreneurship, Pension, Pay, and Workplace reect the simple average
of four individual data points, while Assets, Marriage, and Parenthood reect a simple average of ve individual data points. The maximum possible number of positive data points for
190 economies for Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Entrepreneurship, and Pension is 760; for Marriage, Parenthood, and Assets, 950.
23
FINDINGS
What’s next?
Women, Business and the Law is committed to informing policy discussions on how to
improve women’s economic opportunities and outcomes in all contexts. Policy makers,
international organizations, civil society organizations, gender equality advocates,
investors, and researchers can use its ndings in many ways. For example, the data can
help identify good practices and compare how favorable the regulatory environments
of economies are for women business owners and workers. Data can also assist with
assessing the economic impacts of laws and regulations on women’s prospects as
employees and entrepreneurs, thereby bolstering traditional human rights arguments
with economic research. The ndings can be used to inform legislative change, make
evidence-based decisions on policy reform and private investment, and support research
on institutions and regulation (box 1.2).
Future editions of Women, Business and the Law will strive to maintain these
functionalities, both by rening current methodology to better reect the legal
environment for women worldwide and pursuing new research that complements the
index or provides opportunities to expand it.
Considering this, Women, Business and the Law is proposing a small number of
methodological changes to improve the quality and accuracy of the data presented in
subsequent studies. One change is to measure laws based on their date of enforcement,
rather than enactment, for all questions. Other methodology renements will aect the
Marriage, Parenthood, and Entrepreneurship indicators. These proposed changes are
detailed in the data notes in appendix A.
Women, Business and the Law will also pursue a substantial research agenda.
Although this study details new areas of focus, including childcare and women’s access
to justice, other topics such as girls’ education, elder care, women with disabilities, and
legal identity are being considered. Such research may result in additions to the index, but
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
WBL Assets score (average)
South Asia
Middle East & North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Asia & Pacic
Latin America & Caribbean
Europe & Central Asia
OECD high income
FIGURE 1.13
|
ECONOMIES HAVE ENACTED FEW REFORMS AFFECTING THE ASSETS INDICATOR SINCE 1970
Source: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database.
Note: OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
24
BOX 1.2 HOW HAVE WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW DATA AND FINDINGS BEEN
USED TO PROMOTE POLICY REFORM?
Women, Business and the Law data can provide important evidence to support the design
of policy interventions that promote women’s economic empowerment. Increasingly, World
Bank Group operations are using Women, Business and the Law data and evidence to inform
project design and target discriminatory legal frameworks. The World Bank recently sup-
ported the government of Madagascar with an ambitious agenda to improve human capital.
One of the three main pillars of the development policy operation aimed to strengthen legal
frameworks for the protection of women and girls. Women, Business and the Law data also
helped to identify important legislative gaps, such as lack of legal protection against domestic
violence. In Azerbaijan and Vietnam, the World Bank supported the reform of labor legislation
to remove job restrictions for women as identied by Women, Business and the Law data.
And government demand is increasing for advisory services related to Women, Business
and the Law indicators, with new World Bank and International Finance Corporation opera-
tions supporting legal reforms to improve women’s access to employment in Chad and Sierra
Leone.
Disseminating ndings through in-country events and methodology workshops is also instru-
mental to raising awareness about the importance of legal reform to address gender dispari-
ties. The Women, Business and the Law team has organized workshops with civil society or-
ganizations (CSOs) in 17 Sub-Saharan African economies since 2016. The workshops brought
together CSOs, policy makers, and development actors to discuss barriers to women’s eco-
nomic opportunities and how to use data and evidence to amplify core messages about the
economic consequences of gender equality reforms. In early 2020, the World Bank organized
a peer-to-peer learning event in Libreville, Gabon, to discuss the impact of discriminatory
laws and practices on women’s empowerment and good practice laws that enhance women’s
economic opportunities. The event brought together ministers of women’s aairs, senior
leaders, and policy makers from 14 West and Central African economies, including the First
Ladies of Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon.
Women, Business and the Law data are also used by other institutions to inuence policy
change. For example, together with UN Women and the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development, Women, Business and the Law contributes its data and exper-
tise to inform Sustainable Development Goal 5.1.1 (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/),
“Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and
non-discrimination on the basis of sex.” The Millennium Challenge Corporation (https://www
.mcc.gov/who-we-select/indicator/gender-in-the-economy-indicator) uses Women, Business
and the Law data in its Gender in the Economy Indicator, which is used to assess econo-
mies’ commitments to promoting gender equality. And several other institutions use Women,
Business and the Law data to construct their own indicators, such as the Georgetown
Institute for Women, Peace and Security’s index (https://giwps.georgetown.edu/the-index/),
the International Trade Center’s SheTrades Outlook (https://www.shetrades.com/en/projects
/shetrades-outlook), the Equal Measures 2030’s SDG Gender Index (https://data.em2030
.org/2019-sdg-gender-index/indicators-and-data-sources/), the Global Governance Forum’s
Gender Equality and Governance Index (GEGI) (https://globalgovernanceforum.org/global
-issues/gender-equality/), and others. Arizona State University’s Global SDG 5 Notication
Tool (https://globalfutures.asu.edu/sdg5-training/) also provides users with insight into
country-level progress on legal gender equality and aims to inform parliamentarians about
(continued on next page)
25
FINDINGS
also could lead to the production of case studies or policy briefs that measure outcomes
or present a picture of the implementation of legislation in selected economies.
Rening and building on this work will develop new insight into how women’s
employment and entrepreneurship are aected by discrimination and, in turn, how
discrimination aects economic outcomes such as women’s participation in the labor
market. By staying both relevant and valuable to the eld of gender equality, the data
can serve as an important tool in the pursuit of more resilient and equitable economies.
Notes
1. Hyland, Djankov, and Goldberg 2021.
2. Forty-ve data points changed from “No” to “Yes” as a result of reform eorts. Three data points
changed from “Yes” to “No” because of negative changes in the law.
3. IMF 2018.
4. Cuberes and Teignier 2016.
5. Doepke, Tertilt, and Voena 2012.
6. Lalive and Zweimüller 2009; Schönberg and Ludsteck 2014.
7. Deininger, Goyal, and Nagarajan 2010, 2013; Deininger, Jin, and Nagarajan 2009; Deininger et al. 2019.
8. Anderson and Genicot 2015; Bhalotra, Brulé, and Roy 2020; Rosenblum 2015; Roy 2015.
9. Roy 2015.
10. For example, there is evidence from Ghana that reforms to inheritance laws led to few positive changes in
terms of women’s inheritance (Gedzi 2012). Two studies of legal reform in Pakistan found that a positive
legal change has not allowed women to claim their entitled inheritances because of factors such as lack of
education, patriarchal behaviors, and forced marriages (Ahmad, Batool, and Dziegielewski 2016; Holden
and Chaudhary 2013).
11. A thorough overview of the literature on the eects of reforming gendered land ownership laws in Kenya,
Rwanda, and Uganda is presented by Djurfeldt (2020).
12. Acemoglu and Jackson 2016.
13. Williamson and Kerekes 2011. The authors’ analysis pertains specically to the importance of formal and
informal institutions as they relate to property rights.
14. Williamson and Kerekes 2011.
15. Aldashev et al. 2012.
the status of their laws ahead of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review for
their country.
These are just a few examples of how Women, Business and the Law data have been used
by dierent stakeholders working toward the same goal—removing discriminatory laws that
hinder women’s economic inclusion and promoting nondiscrimination and other good prac-
tice legislation that incentivize women’s economic participation.
BOX 1.2 HOW HAVE WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW DATA AND FINDINGS BEEN
USED TO PROMOTE POLICY REFORM? (CONTINUED)
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
26
16. Hyland, Djankov, and Goldberg 2020; Islam, Muzi, and Amin 2019.
17. Amin and Islam 2015; Htun, Jensenius, and Nelson-Nuñez 2019; Zabalza and Tzannatos 1985. Although
many studies are based on correlations, Field et al. (2016) provide experimental evidence that depositing
wages in a woman’s own bank account (as opposed to that of the male head of household) increases her
labor supply, thereby illustrating that nancial autonomy can exert a causal impact on female labor force
participation rates.
18. Islam, Muzi, and Amin 2019; Zabalza and Tzannatos 1985.
19. Agarwal 2003; Daley, Dore-Weeks, and Umuhoza 2010.
20. Ali, Deininger, and Goldstein 2014.
21. Persha, Greif, and Huntington 2017; Santos et al. 2014.
22. Agarwal 1994.
23. Hyland, Djankov, and Goldberg 2021.
24. Although several data sets provide insight into gender equality and women’s economic opportunities
across economies, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index was chosen for correlation with
the Women, Business and the Law index because of the range of topics it covers, as well as its expansive
coverage across economies and over time.
25. WEF 2019.
26. The relationship between the Women, Business and the Law index and the proportion of female employ-
ees in vulnerable employment was conrmed using panel data regressions on data for 179 economies
covering the period 1991–2019. The relationship is statistically signicant after controlling for income
(measured as GDP per capita) and economy-level and time xed eects.
27. Asiedu et al. 2018.
28. IPU Parline—Global Data on National Parliaments, 2021, Geneva, https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking
?month=10&year=2020.
29. Miller 2020.
30. Haas and Hwang 2019a, 2019b; Unterhofer and Wrohlich 2017.
31. Brandth and Kvande 2019; Marynissen et al. 2019; Patnaik 2014.
32. Aizer 2018; Raghavendra et al. 2019; Senior, Fazel, and Tsiachristas 2020.
33. Jabeen et al. 2020.
34. Deloitte 2019; Lancaster and van der Meulen Rodgers 2020; McLaughlin, Uggen, and Blackstone 2017.
35. Hendriks 2019.
36. Gaddis, Lahoti, and Swaminathan 2020.
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ANNEX: SUMMARIES OF REFORMS
29
In the period from September 2, 2019, to October 1, 2020, Women, Business and the
Law recorded reforms resulting in 36 changes to indicator scores that improved gender
equality in employment and entrepreneurial activity in 27 economies. Over the same
period, one economy implemented a change widening the legal gender gap.
✓ Reform increasing gender parity ✘ Change decreasing gender parity
Austria
✓ Parenthood
Austria introduced 30 days of paid paternity leave.
Bahrain
✓ Pay
Bahrain made job opportunities more equal for men and women by eliminating
discriminatory restrictions on women’s employment in arduous jobs.
✓ Entrepreneurship
Bahrain made access to credit easier for women by prohibiting gender-based
discrimination in nancial services.
✓ Pension
Bahrain explicitly accounted for periods of absence due to childcare in pension benets.
Benin
✓ Mobility
Benin allowed women to apply for a passport in the same way as men.
Brazil
✓ Pension
Brazil eliminated the possibility of retiring with partial pension benets. Previously, the
ages at which men and women could retire with partial pension benets were unequal.
Chile
✓ Marriage
Chile gave women the same rights to remarry as men.
Summaries of Reforms
ANNEX
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
30
Costa Rica
✓ Pay
Costa Rica lifted a ban on women’s night work.
Ethiopia
✓ Parenthood
Ethiopia increased paid maternity leave from 90 to 120 days and introduced three days
of paid paternity leave.
Fiji
✓ Mobility
Fiji allowed women to apply for a passport in the same way as men.
Ireland
✓ Parenthood
Ireland introduced two weeks of paid parental leave as an individual entitlement for each
parent.
Jordan
✓ Mobility
Jordan allowed women to apply for a passport in the same way as men.
✓ Entrepreneurship
Jordan made access to credit easier for women by prohibiting gender-based discrimination
in nancial services.
Kuwait
✓ Marriage
Kuwait enacted legislation protecting women from domestic violence.
Madagascar
✓ Marriage
Madagascar enacted legislation protecting women from domestic violence.
Marshall Islands
✓ Workplace
The Marshall Islands prohibited gender-based discrimination in employment.
ANNEX: SUMMARIES OF REFORMS
31
✓ Pay
The Marshall Islands mandated equal remuneration for work of equal value.
✓ Entrepreneurship
The Marshall Islands made access to credit easier for women by prohibiting gender-based
discrimination in nancial services.
Montenegro
✓ Pay
Montenegro made job opportunities more equal for men and women by eliminating
discriminatory restrictions on women’s employment in industrial jobs such as those in
the mining, construction, manufacturing, and water sectors. It also removed restrictions
on women’s employment in jobs deemed dangerous.
New Zealand
✓ Pay
New Zealand mandated equal remuneration for work of equal value.
Pakistan
✓ Entrepreneurship
Pakistan allowed women to register a business in the same way as men.
Portugal
✓ Marriage
Portugal gave women the same rights to remarry as men.
Puerto Rico (US)
✓ Marriage
Puerto Rico gave women the same rights to remarry as men.
Rwanda
✓ Marriage
Rwanda gave women the same rights to remarry as men.
Saudi Arabia
✓ Pay
Saudi Arabia eliminated all restrictions on women’s employment.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
32
Senegal
✓ Workplace
Senegal prohibited gender-based discrimination in employment.
Sierra Leone
✓ Workplace
Sierra Leone adopted legislation on sexual harassment in employment.
Slovak Republic
✘ Pension
The Slovak Republic established dierent ages for men and women to retire with full
and partial pension benets. The mandatory retirement age for men and women is now
unequal.
Slovenia
✓ Pension
Slovenia equalized the age (65 years) at which men and women can retire with full
pension benets.
Suriname
✓ Parenthood
Suriname introduced 16 weeks of paid maternity leave and eight days of paid paternity
leave.
United Arab Emirates
✓ Mobility
The United Arab Emirates allowed women to choose where to live and to travel abroad in
the same way as men. The United Arab Emirates also allowed a married woman to leave
the home without her husband’s permission.
✓ Workplace
The United Arab Emirates allowed a woman to get a job without permission from her
husband.
✓ Pay
The United Arab Emirates mandated equal remuneration for work of equal value.
✓ Marriage
The United Arab Emirates no longer requires a married woman to obey her husband.
ANNEX: SUMMARIES OF REFORMS
33
✓ Parenthood
The United Arab Emirates introduced ve days of paid parental leave as an individual
entitlement for each parent. Fathers now have paid leave to care for their newborn
children.
Uzbekistan
✓ Entrepreneurship
Uzbekistan made access to credit easier for women by prohibiting gender-based
discrimination in nancial services.
Vietnam
✓ Pay
Vietnam made job opportunities more equal for men and women by eliminating
discriminatory restrictions on women’s employment in jobs deemed dangerous.
35
WOMEN AND COVID-19
• COVID-19 has largely aected sectors in which the share of female
employment is high.
• Since onset of the pandemic, close to 40 economies have introduced leave
or benet policies to help employed parents reconcile their jobs with their
newly expanded childcare obligations.
• For women navigating family law issues, justice systems have imple-
mented novel methods of serving their constituents while maintaining
safety as a priority, including remote hearings where digital infrastructure
allows. At least 72 economies have introduced measures to declare fam-
ily cases urgent or essential during lockdown, and 88 economies have
allowed remote court access.
• The pandemic has had disproportionate impacts on women’s health and
safety. Many governments have acted to mitigate such eects, including
by introducing services dedicated to protecting women from violence.
By early 2020, it had become clear that COVID-19 was not just a public health
emergency; it would also have lasting social and economic impacts. Reports
suggested that it would aect men and women dierently, noting that data
collection and analysis could provide valuable insights into the gender dimensions
of disease outbreak and response. In particular, strong legal frameworks and
justice systems would be critical for maintaining stability, safeguarding citizens’
rights, and providing emergency relief during times of crisis. Information about an
economy’s preparedness in the event of a pandemic and any actions taken after
its outbreakcould aid in creating eective and equitable policies and interventions
in the future.
Indeed, it appears women will bear the brunt of the pandemic’s eects on the global
economy. Evidence has already begun to emerge on its impacts on their economic
opportunity. Although recessions are often associated with a disproportionate impact on
male employment, COVID-19 has largely aected sectors in which the share of female
employment is high.
1
Data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Analysis Unit reveal a larger
drop in the proportion of female full-time employees relative to male full-time employees
(gure 2.1).
2
Collection eorts are still ongoing, but the data reveal that more women
than men have been forced to take leave from or quit their jobs due to illness, childcare
Women and COVID-19
CHAPTER 2
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
36
interruptions, or mobility restrictions. They also suggest that the proportion of male and
female employees who have been laid o or furloughed is similar.
Figure 2.1 is a mere snapshot of the gendered impacts of the pandemic; continued
data collection and evaluation are needed to provide a more complete assessment.
To assist in such eorts, Women, Business and the Law added research questions
related to COVID-19 to its questionnaires (gure 2.2). Questions were not necessarily
based on Women, Business and the Law indicators; rather, they were chosen in
conjunction with the theme of each questionnaire and were based on the ability
of local experts in each respondent pool to provide current information. The data,
collected between April andOctober 2020, were veried with secondary sources. The
new questions were designed to gather information about measures, both legal and
programmatic, provisional and permanent, that governments implemented to address
the unprecedented challenges faced by women employees and entrepreneurs during
the pandemic.
Three distinct themes emerged during collection and analysis of these data. First,
employed parents, and particularly mothers, were facing unprecedented levels of
unpaid care work that were incompatible with the demands of most jobs in the
labor market. Second, stay-at-home orders and other restrictions may also have
been preventing women from safely and eectively accessing justice. And, third,
the crisis was disproportionately threatening women’s health and safety, making
the allocation of resources and services to mitigate any impact vital. Considering
measures implemented across themes, the data show that economies with greater
gender equality were more likely to address these challenges. The average Women,
Business and the Law index score for economies that adopted at least one of the
FIGURE 2.1
|
COVID-19 HAS LED TO A LARGER DROP IN FEMALE EMPLOYMENT,
SELECTED ECONOMIES
–10
Percent
–5
0
% of male employees % of female employees
Source: Enterprise Surveys (database), “COVID-19: Impact on Firms,” World Bank, Washington, DC, https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en
/ covid-19.
Note: The gure shows the average change in male and female permanent full-time employees between December 2019 and the end of the
month prior to which the survey was conducted. Survey weights, which were rescaled to ensure that each economy is given equal weight,
were applied to calculate the averages. The graph presents simple weighted averages and does not account for factors such as the length of
time since onset of the pandemic. The following economies are represented: Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Chad, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
El Salvador, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Niger, North
Macedonia, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
37
WOMEN AND COVID-19
measures tracked is 82.0, compared with 64.5 for economies in which no evidence
was found of action taken.
The following sections explore Women, Business and the Law’s preliminary ndings
in each area. The data are intended to provide examples of measures that governments
may consider implementing should their specic contexts require them during this time.
The evidence presented here encourages further research on the impacts of COVID-19
on gender equality, and should be considered together with other data on the subject
as they become available.
Responding to the childcare crisis
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, droves of women were being forced out of the labor
force.
3
This outcome was in part because women are often concentrated in occupations
most vulnerable to an economic downturn, such as hospitality and services, and so are
subject to greater job losses than men.
4
Women may also nd their childcare responsibilities
increased at the expense of paid work if they are the secondary wage earner in the family.
In large part, however, it was widespread gender inequality in the home and lack
of childcare that continued to aect women’s work.
5
With almost every economy
temporarily or indenitely shutting down schools and childcare centers, mothers were
bearing the brunt of increased childcare, often having to choose between their jobs
and their families.
6
For frontline workers who cannot work from home—the majority
of whom worldwide are women
7
—school closures and childcare shutdowns were
particularly challenging. Even when both parents were fortunate enough to be able
to work from home, men were still not performing the same amount of childcare and
unpaid work as women.
8
Furthermore, many employers were discriminating against
mothers and failed to or could not accommodate their childcare needs.
9
Although exacerbated, this unequal distribution of care work within households and
lack of childcare support for working parents are nothing new. In the prepandemic
world, women were spending 4.5 hours a day on unpaid work, whereas men were
spending less than half of that time.
10
Although men were doing more care work than
before lockdowns began, COVID-19 simply exposed, more than ever, the childcare crisis
across the world that is escalating gender inequality.
FIGURE 2.2
|
SELECT MEASURES INTRODUCED DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Childcare
• Leave and compensation
to care for a child
• Childcare for essential workers
• Childcare assistance
Court systems
• Access to family courts
• Electronic or remote hearings,
ling of claims, and protection
orders
• Automatic extension of
protection orders
Health and safety
• Nondiscrimination in health
insurance premiums
• Services to address violence
against women
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
38
Women, Business and the Law has explored how policy makers addressed this
crisis during the pandemic through social protection measures and changes to labor
and employment law. Specically, it has investigated three categories of new childcare
measures: (1) childcare leave policies, (2) childcare measures for essential workers, and
(3) other forms of childcare assistance available to parents during the pandemic.
Before the onset of COVID-19, less than a quarter of all economies legally guaranteed
employed parents any time o for childcare. These policies are almost exclusively found
in Europe and Central Asia and among the high-income member economies of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Although the exact
details and even the titles of these leave policies dier considerably from one economy
to another, they all provide parents of young and school-age children with time o for
childcare purposes.
11
With the widespread closure of schools and care facilities, however, close to
40economies from all regions, except East Asia and the Pacic and South Asia, ushered
in leave or benet policies to help employed parents reconcile their jobs with newly
expanded childcare obligations. More than three-fourths of these economies are
classied as high-income. Approximately three-fths introduced temporary policies
during school closures, while the remaining economies changed existing ones.
The COVID-19 childcare leave and benet policies examined here vary widely. For
eligibility, the right to leave as well as to any compensation is almost always tied to
formal employment. For example, in Switzerland parents applying for childcare benets
must be covered by the Swiss social security insurance program and must be employed
or engaged in self-employment. Parents working in the informal sector are not eligible.
In lower-income economies where women are largely working informally, governments
considering childcare leave or benet policies should ensure they have access to any
programs implemented in response to the pandemic.
12
In some economies such as Cyprus and Romania an employee must be unable to
work from home to receive childcare leave. In others, such as France, anyone aected
by lack of regular childcare is eligible. Some governments also limit eligibility based on
the age of the child. In Chile and Poland, only parents of children under the age of eight
are eligible, whereas in Bulgaria and Portugal parents with children up to age 12 can
take childcare leave. In a few economies, including Algeria, only mothers are entitled to
childcare leave.
The duration of COVID-era childcare leave and benet policies can also uctuate. In
economies such as Argentina and North Macedonia, the duration of childcare leave or
of the payment of benets is based on the duration of the state of emergency or school
closure. Meanwhile, other economies have established a maximum duration ranging
from about three days (Greece) to three months (the United States). In at least one
economy, Fiji, leave was shortened to maintain the stability of jobs and businesses. The
Employment Relations (Amendment) Act 2020 reduced both paternity and family care
leave from ve to two business days.
When it comes to wage compensation for income lost because of childcare
obligations, benets are typically based on a percentage of the parent’s income. In Italy,
between March and July 2020 parents were jointly entitled to 30 days of leave paid at
50% of the parent’s salary. In France, workers with children aected by school closures
39
WOMEN AND COVID-19
were entitled to up to 70% of wage compensation until they reopened. Leave can also
be unpaid, such as in Canada, or in rare cases, be fully paid, such as in the Seychelles.
In most economies providing such compensation, cash benets are funded by the
government. In Malta, parents unable to work from home but who had to take care
of their children under 16 years of age were eligible for a cash benet during school
closures. Portugal oered an allowance to parents who had children under the age
of 12and who had to miss work because of the closure of schools and day cares. In
Japan, the government oered to partially compensate employers for the special paid
leave they gave employees unable to work because of the closure of their child’s care
or education facility. In other economies such as West Bank and Gaza employers must
pay for all or part of childcare leave.
Many governments also took specic measures to provide childcare for essential
workers on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 20 economies introduced
such measures once the pandemic spread. New Zealand funded home-based childcare
for children of essential workers unable to nd alternative care arrangements during
thelockdown. Similarly, Singapore required preschools to stay open for parents who
provide essential services, with priority given to health care workers unable to work
from home and low-income essential workers.
Other forms of childcare assistance have also proved critical. Although leave and
benets are essential, many parents left without childcare during COVID-19-induced
lockdowns were not eligible or simply could not aord to take leave without full pay
or stopping work. To address these challenges, some economies introduced innovative
childcare assistance measures, such as free childcare or compensation specically
designated for childcare (table 2.1). Such measures are heavily concentrated among
OECD high-income economies.
Supporting the childcare industry itself was also key to ensuring it did not collapse
during and after the pandemic. Some governments provided support to childcare
providers, including allocation of funds and tax relief. In the United Kingdom, eligible
TABLE 2.1 EXAMPLES OF CHILDCARE MEASURES INTRODUCED DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Economy Type of measure Description
Argentina Paid childcare leave Parents were entitled to paid leave for purposes of childcare while schools were closed.
Australia Free childcare Childcare was free for all workers between April 6 and July 12, 2020.
China Childcare support for essential workers The government provided childcare support, such as home-based teaching, if the parents or
other guardians were unable to fully perform their care duties because of needs stemming from
pandemic prevention and antipandemic work.
Estonia Exemption from paying kindergarten
fees
In Tallinn, kindergartens remained open, and the city government suspended payment of fees
until the end of April 2020.
Italy Babysitting vouchers Employees and self-employed persons received support to pay for babysitters via a childcare
voucher of up to €1,200 for families with children under age 12.
United Kingdom Tax credits Parents who had to reduce their working hours were still eligible to oset childcare costs
through tax credits.
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
40
childcare centers will not have to pay any business rates, a type of property tax, from
2020 to 2021. Similarly, in Hong Kong SAR, China, qualied childcare centers are eligible
for a Child Care Centre Special Grant administered by the Social Welfare Department
to help manage nancial diculties arising from suspension of their services due to
COVID-19.
Overall, Women, Business and the Law found that pandemic-related childcare
measures were few and far between. They were also likely insucient to tackle the
motherhood penalty and solve the childcare crisis. Even before the pandemic, fathers’
uptake of paid parental leave compared with mothers’ was abysmally low in the majority
of the 44 economies guaranteeing it.
13
In Japan, only 7.5% of eligible fathers took paid
parental leave in 2019, despite having one of the most generous policies in the world.
14
And in the United Kingdom, it is estimated that only 2–8% of eligible couples made use
of shared parental leave benets in 2016.
15
Long-term strategies to build robust childcare infrastructure, encourage fathers to
share equally in unpaid care work, and reconcile the demands of both childcare and the
workplace are critical to achieving gender equality. To promote fathers’ uptake of leave
and help redistribute unpaid care work in the home, some governments are designing
parental leave policies that are highly compensated, include specic nontransferable
allocations for fathers, or provide sharing bonuses.
16
Other interventions, such as
strengthening nondiscrimination laws, are also needed to ensure that a basic legal
framework enabling women’s economic inclusion is in place. The private sector
can also play a role by allowing exible work arrangements to support parents.
17
Finally, investments in the childcare industry, which also benet children’s cognitive
development,
18
are critical to boost gender equality and improve women’s labor force
participation.
Accessing the court system
Globally, women initiate the majority of family law cases, including formalizing marriage
or divorce, seeking custody of children, and requesting protection from violence.
Access to court is therefore an important component of women’s security, voice, and
agency. Family courts worldwide have taken several approaches to enabling women
to access the justice system during the pandemic. Even and especially during a state
of emergency, it is important to declare certain cases as “urgent” or “essential” ones
that must be addressed. Procedures that oer women a safe alternative to in-person
hearings must also be introduced or expanded.
Although the pandemic has altered the functioning of many economies’ judicial
systems, governments responded to these challenges by enabling women to access
justice in several innovative ways. At least 72 economies introduced measures to
declare family cases urgent or essential during lockdown. Slovenia’s judiciary enacted
a decree in March 2020 calling on courts to hold hearings only for a limited number
of urgent cases, including those related to the upbringing and care of children and
maintenance obligations. In South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of gender-
based violence in Sub-Saharan Africa,
19
the chief justice authorized all heads of court
and magistrates in the superior and lower courts to enable access for urgent matters
such as bail applications, maintenance, domestic violence, and children-related cases.
20
41
WOMEN AND COVID-19
Together with Ethiopia, South Africa also treated domestic violence cases as urgent,
with courts continuing to hear cases.
Procedurally, 88 economies across all regions allowed remote court proceedings
for family law matters. Such measures were most common in the OECD high-income
region, followed by Europe and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean
(gure 2.3). The form and extent of these measures vary, encompassing fully digital
court databases and electronic ling procedures, as well as virtual hearings conducted
via videoconference, phone, or a social media platform. Sometimes, small adjustments
to existing procedures can go a long way toward easing women’s access to justice.
Norway dedicated a phone line to urgent requests for mediation in divorce proceedings
while family welfare oces were closed. In addition, 12 economies—Argentina, Brazil,
France, Greece, India, Ireland, Kenya, Portugal, Puerto Rico (US), Trinidad and Tobago,
the United States, and Uruguay—automatically extended protection orders as a direct
response to the health crisis.
At times, it became essential to create new online portals to meet demands. As part
of their COVID-19 emergency plan, Puerto Rico’s judicial branch launched an online
platform for the submission of protection order applications so the applicant would
not have to go in person to the court or police headquarters. The Barbados judiciary
introduced virtual courts and began conducting hearings by videoconference for urgent
cases, which included violence against women and girls.
21
China also launched online
platforms to facilitate the application process for protection orders. In the Middle
East and North Africa, Lebanon was the only country to introduce hearings to obtain
protection orders via video call. The attorney general of the Court of Cassation also
issued a circular that included an updated procedure for public prosecution of domestic
violence cases.
22
Although some economies were already equipped to conduct remote proceedings,
others enacted new laws to respond to the crisis. At least 79 economies introduced
FIGURE 2.3
|
ECONOMIES ACROSS ALL REGIONS ALLOWED REMOTE ACCESS TO
FAMILY COURTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
10.0
16.7
36.0
37.5
62.5
65.2
91.2
0102030405060708090
100
Middle East & North A
frica
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Asia & Pacic
South Asia
Latin America & Caribbean
Europe & Central Asia
OECD high income
% of economies allowing remote family court access
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Note: OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
42
laws or policies on remote access to courts because of COVID-19 and after lockdowns
were launched worldwide (table 2.2). In Mauritania, the public prosecution oce
created a digital platform via WhatsApp where citizens could le complaints and
submit pictures and documents related to cases. In India, the Delhi High Court allowed
family courts torecord evidence via videoconferencing during the pandemic. Finally,
Ghana accelerated its program on electronic ling and remote case access for judges.
However, it is not yetfully functional countrywide because of a lack of internet access
and network issues.
Marginalized groups, including women and the poor, have faced higher barriers in
accessing the technology and infrastructure they need to receive services during the
pandemic. In developed economies, nearly 87% of people have access to the internet,
whereas in developing economies only 47% benet from such access.
23
Worldwide,
58.3% of men and 48.4% of women have internet access—a gender gap that is
especially prevalent in low-income economies.
24
Flexible approaches can be helpful when addressing multiple gaps such as these.
New technologies and mobile services have proved essential to guaranteeing access
to justice for women during the COVID-19 crisis. For example, because the internet
infrastructure in Guinea-Bissau is not strong enough to support videoconferencing,
court procedures related to child custody and alimony can be carried out by phone.
However, a lack of available resources and insucient infrastructure may make
implementation dicult. In 68 economies, the justice system has not responded to
the crisis, meaning that remote access to family courts is not possible and family cases
were not declared urgent. And in 18 economies where physical access to courts was
TABLE 2.2 EXAMPLES OF FAMILY COURT SYSTEM RESPONSES TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Economy Type of measure Description
Canada Greater use of electronic ling and
remote hearings for family law cases
Although both the Ontario Court of Justice and Superior Court allowed electronic lings and
hearings by phone and videoconferences before onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, including
when ling for divorce, family lawyers noticed an uptake in the use of these means during the
crisis.
India Issuance of ruling on use of technology
for child custody arrangements
In April 2020, the Supreme Court of India prescribed guidelines for the functioning of the courts
through videoconferencing in matters related to family law (among others), and high courts
throughout the country followed suit. The high court in Mumbai also directed a woman to
arrange for videoconferencing between her two children and their father during the lockdown,
having held that the lockdown should not prevent a father from seeing and talking to his
children.
Japan Declaration of urgency for family
matters
Although courts limited their activities to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, in April 2020
the Tokyo Family Court announced that urgent family cases, including urgent child custody
cases, would be processed as usual.
Nigeria Launch of remote hearings and elec-
tronic document submission for divorce
and child custody proceedings
In May 2020, the Lagos judiciary in Nigeria approved hearings via electronic platforms such
as Skype or Zoom for urgent cases related to divorce proceedings and child custody cases.
Documents could be submitted via both email and WhatsApp.
United Kingdom Issuance of protocols on remote hear-
ings of family law matters
In March 2020, the family law division of the courts published detailed protocols on how to
conduct hearings remotely via teleconference, Skype, email, and other means of electronic
communication.
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
43
WOMEN AND COVID-19
completely restricted, seven did not provide any remote proceedings. Such measures
should be introduced and not remain temporary; they should be implemented beyond
the pandemic. Policy makers also need to address gaps in digital literacy and access to
information technology for marginalized groups. Remote access to family courts will help
to alleviate an undue burden on women who are juggling work, mobility constraints,
childcare, and other family responsibilities for years to come.
Protecting women’s health and safety
As new ndings continue to emerge about the eects of the coronavirus, its secondary
impacts on the health and safety of women and girls become clearer. Easier access to
health care and equalization of health insurance premiums paid by women and men
have become especially important as women try, with increasing diculty, to access
vital services in a pandemic.
To combat these disparities, governments and insurance companies could adopt
gender-sensitive responses to meet the needs of women during the COVID-19
pandemic, including by taking into account barriers to women’s digital and nancial
inclusion, acknowledging their increased caretaking responsibilities, and providing
resources to help them cope with the multifaceted challenges of the crisis.
25
For
example, insurers often incorporate information on several factors when determining
premium rates: health status, age, gender, geographic location, occupation, and
family size, among others.
26
Such factors can be used to justify higher premium rates,
especially for women.
Although these rates need not be motivated by a pandemic, a prohibition of
discrimination in this area could protect women when such situations arise. In the
United States, data reveal that women paid more than men for the same health
insurance coverage until 2014 when the Aordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted and
enforced a prohibition on gender rating in the calculation of health insurance premiums
at the federal level.
27
After its enactment, the percentage of women ages 19–64 who
reported delaying or skipping necessary care because of health insurance costs fell to
an all-time low (38%) versus nearly half of women (48%) in 2010.
28
Such a law could
be a helpful tool in preventing gender-based discrimination when accessing health
insurance.
Forty-four out of the 190 economies measured by Women, Business and the Law
legally prohibit discrimination based on gender when calculating health insurance
premiums. The Civil Code of the Czech Republic states that an insurer may not use
pregnancy or maternity “as an aspect in determining the amount of the insurance
premium or in calculating the insurance benet.” Cabo Verde’s Decree-Law No. 35 of
2010 stipulates that “in the signing, execution and termination of the insurance contract,
discriminatory practices based on ancestry, sex, race, language, territory of origin,
religion, political or ideological beliefs, education, economic situation, social condition
or sexual orientation, as well as for people with disabilities or aggravated health risk,
are prohibited.” Iceland uses its gender equality law to eliminate discrimination “when
deciding the amount of benets due to insurance contract or under other related
nancial service.” Such protections against discrimination can ensure that women
remain both healthy and nancially resilient during this time.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
44
Some economies have also acted to reduce the impact of the pandemic on women’s
access to family planning and reproductive health services. In June 2020, the World
Health Organization (WHO) recommended prioritizing access to sexual and reproductive
health services, which can be severely disrupted during virus outbreaks, disempowering
women and girls and exposing them to health risks.
29
Economies have been acting
promptly on these recommendations. Guidelines released by the Indian Ministry of
Health recommend the continuation of routine reproductive health services, including
walk-ins for family planning services.
30
In the United States, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that health care providers oer quality
family planning services while minimizing in-person contact between patients and
providers, including through digital health services.
31
For women facing threats to their safety, governments have also allocated
resources and services to mitigate the impact of violence. Forced coexistence, job loss,
and escalating stress and anxiety about the future can lead to greater tension in the
household, turning many partners into abusers or exacerbating existing abuse. Indeed,
the pandemic has contributed to a rise in both the severity and frequency of gender-
based violence.
32
Ensuring the provision or continuity of services, including access to
health care, psychological assistance, legal aid, shelters, dedicated police resources,
livelihood support, and hotlines, as established by international legal standards,
33
has therefore been of paramount importance for survivors of gender-based violence
throughout the pandemic. Without such support, the stretched capacity of response
services could contribute to larger losses for women and a heightened perception of
impunity among perpetrators.
34
Preliminary research nds that since early 2020 economies around the world have
introduced about 125 new measures to facilitate women’s access to services protecting
them from gender-based violence (table 2.3). These measures, which take dierent
forms, may include emergency services provided by justice or women’s aairs ministries,
emergency decrees or protocols issued by governments, or approval of additional budget
for the establishment of new services or enhancement of existing ones, among other
things. Such services either complement and support existing programs or introduce
new ones.
Of the services measured, hotlines were the most frequent, accounting for about
one-fourth of all services introduced. Emerging data indicate a spike in calls to domestic
violence hotlines in many economies after outbreak of the pandemic.
35
For example, after
acknowledging a vefold increase in the rate of violence against women over the same
period last year, the Tunisian Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Seniors launched
a toll-free phone line to enable women to report exposure to domestic violence during
the period of isolation. This 24/7 hotline service provided psychological, social, and
legal counseling services. Similarly, to protect women at risk of gender-based violence,
Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness established a hotline staed by volunteers to
help people seeking information and guidance. As part of their orientation, the hotline
operators received training in gender-based violence awareness and prevention.
36
For some families, heightened health anxieties coupled with economic pressures
have exacerbated already combustible domestic relationships, which has increased
victims’ mental stress. To combat this situation, the Arab Republic of Egypt launched the
“Our Mental Health Is a Priority” initiative in May 2020. With the help of psychologists
and professional institutions, this initiative has supported the mental health of
45
WOMEN AND COVID-19
Egyptianwomen and has raised the public’s awareness of mental health during this
challenging time.
37
In view of the adoption of social distancing measures and the lower budgets of civil
society and women’s organizations (the main operators of shelters), it is not surprising
that only 17 economies introduced dedicated shelters during the pandemic. Canada’s
federal government approved a nancial aid package to support people experiencing
homelessness and women facing gender-based violence. Funds were allotted specically
to women’s shelters to address their immediate needs and support indigenous women
and children escaping violence.
38
Similarly, the Danish government opened 55 new
TABLE 2.3
EXAMPLES OF SERVICES PROVIDED TO SURVIVORS OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE DURING THE
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Economy Type of measure Description
Argentina, Bolivia,
China, Portugal
Hotlines • In Argentina, Bolivia, and Portugal, national hotlines, WhatsApp, and SMS numbers allowed
women to report cases of violence and request assistance.
• In China, the eight-hour domestic violence hotline is now a 24-hour operation.
Indonesia, New
Zealand, Paraguay,
Ukraine
Psychological assistance • Indonesia launched psychiatric health services (Sejiwa) through which the Ministry of
Women Empowerment and Child Protection (MoWECP) provided assistance to women and
child survivors of domestic violence who were aected by COVID-19.
• New Zealand oered counseling services through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
that receive recognition and funding from the government.
• In Paraguay, the government adopted a protocol that includes the provision of emergency
numbers for survivors of violence to obtain psychological support.
• In Ukraine, six mobile teams provided psychosocial assistance through Skype, Viber, phone,
and online support groups.
France, Montenegro Shelters • In France, as shelters exceeded capacity, alternative accommodations were found in hotels
for domestic violence survivors.
• In Montenegro, the Women’s Safe House rented private apartments to accommodate victims
of violence and enable them to comply with social distancing requirements.
Marshall Islands,
Spain
Legal aid • The Marshall Islands oered free legal aid to female survivors of violence through NGOs that
receive recognition and funding from the government.
• In Spain, gender-based violence survivors could contact 016, a toll-free service providing
legal advice around the clock.
India, Lithuania Dedicated police resources • In India, police in the state of Odisha called women who had earlier reported domestic
violence to inquire about their condition during the lockdown.
• Lithuanian police joined with the Lithuanian Women’s Rights Association to provide through
the police information line contact details on the specialized assistance centers in victims’
places of residence. The association also maintains connections with previous victims
of domestic violence living in remote rural areas, giving them information on protective
measures.
Malta Livelihood support • In Malta, domestic violence victims could apply to the Private Rent Housing Benet Scheme.
Applicants received the full benet if they were also in a zero-income scenario.
Peru Health care • Peru enacted Legislative Decree No. 1470, which stated that health establishments should
guarantee urgent and emergency health care and personal safety for all women and other
family members who were victims of violence, especially rape.
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
46
emergency shelters in ve cities that guaranteed abused women and children safety
and provisions for their basic needs.
39
Although in most economies police and legal aid actors focused on enforcing
quarantine and social distancing measures, those in some economies continued to
provide support for women in abusive relationships. After witnessing a spike in domestic
violence cases, the Singapore Police Force referred survivors to social services such
as legal assistance or shelters, even when no explicit request was made.
40
In India,
the National Legal Services Authority began providing online legal assistance services
through a panel of women lawyers in each district who aid survivors of domestic
violence and child abuse.
41
For many women suering from physical abuse, fear of contracting the coronavirus
was a deterrent from seeking medical care, a situation exacerbated by the burden
of nancial insecurity and the risk of job loss. Access to dedicated health care and
livelihood services therefore became fundamental. In Uzbekistan, women entering the
Center for Rehabilitation and Adaptation of Victims of Violence received food, medicine,
and hygiene products.
42
However, as health care systems became overburdened and
prioritized COVID-19 cases, specic medical support for survivors of violence became
the least oered. Just four economies were providing such health care–related services
during the crisis.
Finally, a range of exceptional services were also introduced. In Thailand, Twitter
launched a new search prompt with the hashtag #ThereIsHelp to redirect users
experiencing gender-based violence to local hotlines.
43
In the United Kingdom, the
home secretary announced a new national communications campaign with the hashtag
#YouAreNotAlone to reach out to those at risk of abuse.
44
Spain also implemented an
eective measure, the AlertCops app, which provides violence survivors with timely
assistance. The app sends an alert to the police with the victim’s GPS location.
45
In
Italy, the State Police app YouPol was updated to receive domestic violence complaints,
not only from survivors themselves but also from neighbors or other family members,
including anonymously. Montenegro, Pakistan, and the Philippines also created online
platforms or apps to assist women seeking help. In Argentina, Belgium, Cabo Verde,
Chile, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, pharmacies provided antiviolence
measures and advice to survivors. They also activated emergency police protocols
through the use of code words such as “masque-19” and “mascherina 1522” (box 2.1).
Diverse responses to domestic violence such as these are fundamental, but
prevention measures, which are equally essential, are largely absent. Governments
still have room to enact measures and policies aimed at addressing the roots of this
epidemic of violence. National plans targeting education, supporting healthy relationship
skills, questioning gender roles and social and cultural norms, and creating protective
environments are some of the long-term measures that could mitigate the emergence
of domestic violence under any circumstances.
Setting the agenda
The continuing eects of COVID-19 on gender equality will surely contribute to
the research agenda in this eld going forward. One area of further exploration is
economies’ expanded use of digital technology to implement government-to-person
47
WOMEN AND COVID-19
(G2P) payments to limit the risks of in-person interactions and rapidly disburse funds.
46
Evidence indicates that direct government cash transfers to low-income women increase
their control over nancial decisions, enhance their empowerment and prospects for
economic recovery, and improve their resilience in the long run.
47
The use of mobile
money platforms to deliver COVID-19 relief can therefore empower women nancially.
48
Sustained and wide-ranging data collection on these and other topics will be needed to
eectively measure the impacts of the pandemic on women’s economic empowerment.
Areas of additional analysis could include the impact of COVID-19 on women’s mobility
and access to property, women’s decision-making in disease prevention and response,
and girls’ education during and after the pandemic. Eorts are already under way with
the assistance of organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme
and UN Women (box 2.2). At the World Bank, the Gender Innovation Lab has published
evidence on mechanisms that can help protect the lives and livelihoods of women and
girls—at the household level, in rms and farms, and during adolescence—in the context
of the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects responding to COVID-19 will also consider the
pandemic’s diering impacts on men and women. To aid in this eort, the World Bank’s
Gender Group has issued guidance for health response projects during the pandemic.
Confronting the gendered eects of COVID-19 will require a concerted eort from a
variety of actors, including governments, international organizations, and civil society.
Women, Business and the Law recognizes the nuances in the extent of the pandemic
and the ideal provision of services by dierent sources in dierent economy contexts.
BOX 2.1 USING CODE WORDS TO ESCAPE VIOLENCE AT HOME
The Mask-19 initiative originated in Spain’s Canary Islands to respond to the higher number
of cases of violence against women expected during the lockdown announced on March 14,
2020. The director of the Canary Institute of Equality (ICI), Kika Fumero, had noted spikes in
abuse in earlier periods of connement, when women were forced to spend more time with
their partners during oods or holidays, and came up with a unique way of seeking help.
In a pandemic, there is no privacy for most victims of domestic violence, and so making con-
dential phone calls to a helpline is almost impossible. Because the many pharmacies were
among the few places that remained open during the lockdown, Fumero realized they would be
an accessible and eective tool for ensuring rapid intervention in violent situations.
On March 16, 2020, the government of the Canary Islands launched the Mascarilla-19 (Mask-
19) campaign, in cooperation with the association of pharmacies of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz
de Tenerife. A woman experiencing violence at home could go to the nearest pharmacy and
request “mascarilla-19.” Hearing this request, pharmacy sta knew they must discreetly call
the police. Pharmacists were not meant to replace shelter sta or support workers, but they
were able to quickly activate a care protocol for women subjected to violence at home.
Within a week, the initiative reached 200,000 contacts in the ICI network alone, and the code
word “mascarilla-19” went viral on social media throughout Spain. The ICI immediately received
requests from other administrations in Madrid, Valencia, and Andalusia to use the same cam-
paign material, which was then made available on the ICI website. Following the example of the
Canary Islands, the Mask-19 initiative was quickly adopted not only across Spain, but also by
Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Norway.
Sources: BBC; European Youth Ideas; Gobierno de Canarias; United Nations.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
48
BOX 2.2 UNDP–UN WOMEN GLOBAL COVID-19 GENDER RESPONSE TRACKER
Across the globe, the economic and social fallout of COVID-19 is reinforcing gender inequali-
ties. To understand how governments are addressing these challenges, the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women created the Global COVID-19 Gender
Response Tracker, which by September 2020 had collected and analyzed over 2,500 govern-
ment measures across 206 economies and territories. Sources of the tracker’s data include
databases on COVID-19 responses, such as the World Bank’s Real-Time Review of Country
Measuresof the Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19; a global survey of UN
Women and UNDP regional and country oces on violence against women; self-reporting by
member states in their submissions for the UN secretary general’s report on violence against
women; and desk research.
Gender analysis
Measures in the sample were classied into four policy categories: social protection, labor
markets, scal and economic policies, and violence against women and girls. Of the 2,500
measures, a subset of 992 measures across 164 economies and territories were identied as
gender-sensitive in that these measures seek to directly address the specic risks and chal-
lenges that women and girls face from the pandemic. These measures include those dealing
with violence against women, which are categorized as gender-sensitive by default; social
protection and labor market measures that target women’s economic security or address
unpaid care; and scal and economic measures that support female-dominated sectors of the
economy.
Findings on gender-sensitive measures
The rst iteration of the tracker data was launched in September 2020. They will be updated on
a quarterly basis and will expand into new policy areas in 2021. Findings from the data include
the following:
• Over 70% of all gender-sensitive measures (704 in 135 economies) address violence against
women and girls, including by strengthening helplines and other reporting mechanisms,
shelters, and police and judicial responses.
• By contrast, the global social protection and labor market responses have been largely
gender-blind, with only 10% of these measures targeting women’s economic security
(177in 85 economies) and 8% providing support for unpaid care (111 in 60 economies).
• Among the most important economic security measures are cash transfers, food assis-
tance, or in-kind benets that give women priority as the main recipients, as well as support
for female entrepreneurs and female informal workers.
• To support unpaid care, 36 economies have expanded family leave provisions, while others
have launched “cash-for-care” programs that compensate parents for school and childcare
closures. Only 12 economies kept their childcare services open during lockdowns to support
essential workers with children.
• Similarly, few actions have been taken to cushion the COVID-19 shocks to businesses and
sectors with large shares of women; only one in 10 scal and economic measures channel
resources to female-dominated sectors of the economy.
By pointing to gaps and challenges, the tracker is an important advocacy and accountability
tool when in the hands of gender equality advocates. It also provides an array of positive
examples from which policy makers can draw inspiration. The tool is being used in global,
regional, and national policy dialogues geared toward driving forward a gender-equitable crisis
response and recovery.
Source: This box was drafted by Silke Staab, Esuna Dugarova, and Constanza Tabbush. See https://data
.undp.org/gendertracker/ for tracker and methodological note.
49
WOMEN AND COVID-19
As the world continues to feel the eects of COVID-19, more data will become available
on both its impacts on gender equality and best practices to counter any negative
consequences.
For women everywhere, the secondary eects of the pandemic on their livelihoods,
economic security, and safety require immediate and sustained attention. Targeted
measures that recognize the unique diculties women are facing during this time, but
also foster a legal environment that supports their equality of economic opportunity,
can help close the gap in existing and exacerbated inequalities. This will ensure that
women, and as a result their communities and economies, are both prepared for and
resilient in meeting unexpected challenges.
Notes
1. Alon et al. 2020.
2. Enterprise Surveys (database), “COVID-19: Impact on Firms,” World Bank, Washington, DC, https://www
.enterprisesurveys .org/en/covid-19.
3. Masterson 2020; McKinsey & Company 2020.
4. Alon et al. 2020.
5. Fuchs-Schündeln, Kuhn, and Tertilt 2020.
6. Collins et al. 2020.
7. ILOSTAT (International Labour Statistics). 2020. “COVID-19 and Labour Statistics.” Geneva. https://ilostat
.ilo.org/topics/covid-19/.
8. Del Boca et al. 2020; Farre et al. 2020.
9. Amnesty International 2020; WTO 2020, citing Coman, Exley, and Niederle 2017.
10. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2020. “Employment: Time Spent in
Paid and Unpaid Work, by Sex.” OECD Statistics, Paris. https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=54757.
11. Childcare leave is a leave policy generally available to both parents to provide care for their children. It is
distinct from maternity, paternity, and parental leave because it is unrelated to the birth of a child or the
rst years of life. However, it may have strong similarities or even overlap with parental leave in some
economies. Childcare leave is also distinct from leave to care for children who are ill or have disabilities.
Typically, laws establishing childcare leave do not explicitly list school closures or the unavailability of
regular childcare as a permitted reason to access childcare leave. Still, such laws are often worded broadly
to allow for a variety of childcare-related purposes.
12. De Paz et al. 2020.
13. Koslowski et al. 2020.
14. Japan, Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare 2020.
15. O’Brien, Atkinson, and Koslowski 2019.
16. Brandth and Kvande 2018; Marynissen et al.2019;Patnaik 2014.
17. IFC 2020a.
18. Datta Gupta 2018.
19. Onyejekwe 2004; South Africa, Parliament of the Republic of 2019.
20. UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 2020. “COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker.”
New York. https://data.undp.org/gendertracker/.
21. ICC-CCS 2020; UNDP 2020.
22. Abdelbaki 2020.
23. ITU 2020.
24. UNDESA 2020.
25. IFC 2020b.
26. American Academy of Actuaries 2010.
27. NWLC 2012; Pear 2012.
28. Gunja et al. 2017.
29. WHO 2020b.
30. Vora, Saiyed, and Natesan 2020.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
50
31. CDC 2020.
32. De Paz et al. 2020.
33. COE 2018; UN Women 2015.
34. De Paz et al. 2020.
35. UN Women 2020.
36. WHO 2020a.
37. Egypt Forward 2020.
38. Canada, Government of 2020.
39. Lev Uden Vold 2020.
40. Yahoo News Singapore 2020.
41. Mahapatra 2020.
42. Nemolchi.uz. 2020.
43. Nation Thailand 2020.
44. United Kingdom, Parliament 2020.
45. Spain, Ministry of Equality 2020.
46. Gelb and Mukherjee 2020.
47. Zimmerman et al. 2020.
48. Davidovic et al. 2020.
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53
NEW AREAS OF RESEARCH
• Women, Business and the Law 2021 presents studies of two new areas:
childcare and access to justice.
• Because women are often primary caregivers, unpaid care work is one of
the main barriers to their employment and job retention. The rst sec-
tion of this chapter examines the need to reduce this barrier through the
provision of childcare.
• Laws are eective only if redress procedures and institutions are in place
to implement them. Several ways of measuring women’s access to justice
are explored in the second section of this chapter.
• Future editions of Women, Business and the Law will seek to publish the
results of these eorts as they apply to women’s economic opportunities
and outcomes.
Mapping out measures that address challenges faced by women during the COVID-19
pandemic has only amplied two areas that Women, Business and the Law would like to
research further: childcare and women’s access to justice. Women will not receive equal
opportunities at work if their childcare needs are not met. Meeting such needs requires
a more equitable sharing of responsibilities with men, as well as more support from both
government and the private sector in the provision of care for young children. As for
access to justice, although Women, Business and the Law has underscored that laws
are an important rst step toward ensuring gender equality, without justice to enable
their implementation they will not have their intended eect.
Each topic is fundamental to the eort to close persistent gender gaps in women’s
economic inclusion. Because of their relevance and importance, Women, Business and
the Law will produce research and analysis that highlight the barriers women continue
to face in these two areas. This eort will not necessarily result in the inclusion of new
indicators in the Women, Business and the Law index. Although objective indicators
can and should be used to better inform policy makers, there are limitations to creating
them. Understanding local context, including political, legal, economic, and cultural
climates, for example, is essential for producing indicators. In addition, sucient
human and nancial resources must be dedicated to identifying and overcoming any
methodological challenges. Finally, extensive country coverage, comparability across
economies, and feasibility of annual data collection are vital for success. The addition of
new indicators will thus depend on the results of the pilot eort and ability to address
these limitations.
With these considerations in mind, the following sections present background
research and preliminary suggestions for further research and analysis in the areas of
childcare and access to justice. Women, Business and the Law will use this presentation
New Areas of Research
CHAPTER 3
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
54
as a starting point from which to delve further into identifying potential avenues of
measurement of these topics, with the hope that the ndings will prove useful for both
public and private sector actors.
Accessing childcare for women’s economic opportunity
The worldwide COVID-19 crisis highlighted the importance of access to high-quality,
aordable childcare and exposed the nancial vulnerability of the childcare sector. Many
childcare providers feared they would not be able to reopen without public support.
1
Because of the closure of childcare centers at the outset of the pandemic, parents
faced hardship in dealing with additional care work. Women are primarily responsible
for unpaid care at home, and they have also been aected more than men in terms of
paid work. Policy makers and rms should better align childcare policies with the needs
of working parents and, in particular, working mothers.
Why does childcare matter for women’s economic empowerment?
Research has documented the positive impact that the availability, aordability, and
quality of childcare can have on women’s participation in the labor market, their hours
of work, and their wages.
2
A link has also been drawn between the availability and
aordability of childcare and economic growth as related to fertility rates and the
female labor supply.
3
Government childcare policies are wide-ranging, and, globally, childcare options
are diverse. Each economy must consider potential hurdles in the design of childcare
provision, depending on its specic context. Hurdles could include persuading working
parents who are not involved in the early development of their children that childcare
is a necessity or providing guarantees that childcare oered outside the home is higher
in quality than other options.
Literature on the impact of government funding on public and private childcare
facilities, the eects of subsidies and tax credits given to families and employers,
and informal childcare is helpful to understanding the relationship between childcare
policies and women’s labor market outcomes.
4
Although not exhaustive, the literature
summarized in table 3.1 is a useful synthesis of the childcare options available to
working parents and a snapshot of the advantages and limitations of each.
The literature reveals the costs and benets of investments in childcare for women’s
economic opportunities and participation in the labor market. Yet, government support
for and intervention in regulating childcare go beyond their eects on female workers,
and can be driven by externalities and market imperfections, including broader societal
spillovers, information asymmetries, and costs. For example, expanding childcare
services could be a source of job growth. It has been estimated that 43–53 million
practitioners would be required to meet the gap in childcare access worldwide, with
low- and lower-middle economies accounting for nearly 80% of the gap.
5
Quality of care, another central concern, aects society at large in several ways.
The low wages of childcare workers, for example, aect the quality and stability of the
childcare workforce. More public spending on quality childcare will therefore improve
the cognitive, social, and emotional skills of young children, who, in turn, will succeed
55
NEW AREAS OF RESEARCH
as they move through school and enter the workforce as adults. Because they will get
better jobs and earn more, it is argued, tax revenues will also increase. Likewise, children
who attend quality childcare will be less likely to engage in criminal activity or use social
services as adults, thereby reducing government spending. Childcare provision could
also present parents with opportunities for further education. Therefore, returns on
investment in early childcare pay back public investment in the long term.
The same returns apply to employers, who suer losses in productivity when parents
miss work to ll gaps in childcare or to tend to a sick child. Those losses come with a price
tag. For example, in laying out the business case for employer-supported childcare in
Fiji, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) found that sta time lost from childcare
responsibilities was costing the private sector on average as much as $254,000 a year,
or $460 per employee.
6
In addition, parents who drop out of the labor market to provide
at-home care for their young children lose wages and see reductions in retirement
benets. Low-income families are especially vulnerable to uctuations in the childcare
market because of limitations on what they can aord.
TABLE 3.1 CHILDCARE POLICIES AND CORRESPONDING ECONOMIC OUTCOMES: A LITERATURE SUMMARY
Government funding
of public and private
childcare facilities
• High-quality, aordable childcare, partially or fully funded by the government, has been positively associated with female employment in
analyses of policies in Argentina (Berlinski, Galiani, and McEwan 2011); Germany (Geyer, Haan, and Wrohlich 2015; Haan and Wrohlich
2011); Spain (Nollenberger and Rodríguez-Planas 2015); and the United States (Herbst 2017).
• Evidence from Vietnam has found that the use of childcare increases the probability of women having wage-earning jobs by 41% and
formal jobs by 26% (Dang, Hiraga, and Nguyen 2019).
• Access to formal public childcare in Indonesia has been found to increase the likelihood of women with age-eligible children participating
in the labor force by 13.3% (Halim, Johnson, and Perova 2017).
• Several authors have found a positive relationship between the universal low-fee, high-quality preschool provided in Quebec, Canada,
and the female labor supply—see, for example, Baker, Gruber, and Milligan (2008); Haeck, Lefebvre, and Merrigan (2015); Lefebvre and
Merrigan (2008); and Lefebvre, Merrigan, and Verstraete (2009).
• Access to subsidized childcare can also have a signicant positive impact on women’s employment rates and work hours, as evidence
from Latin America and the Caribbean shows (Diaz and Rodriguez-Chamussy 2013; Thévenon 2013).
• Research from Havnes and Mogstad (2011) nds that universal childcare may not be eective if it merely replaces already available
informal childcare arrangements.
• New research has shown that in Austria heavily subsidized childcare was not associated with a reduction in gender gaps in the labor
market (Kleven et al. 2020).
Subsidies and
tax credits given
to families and
employers
• In France, providing low-income families with childcare subsidies was found to boost the female labor supply (Givord and Marbot 2015).
• In Nairobi, Kenya, oering low-income women subsidies increased their probability of employment and allowed single mothers to shift
to standard working hours (Clark et al. 2019).
• In the Netherlands, a 50% reduction in childcare fees for all parents and a simultaneous increase in tax credits for low-income working
parents increased the female labor supply and hours worked (Bettendorf, Jongen, and Muller 2015).
• However, policies can also have unintended consequences. For example, in Chile a policy mandating employers to provide childcare
without government support signicantly reduced the starting salary of female workers (Prada, Rucci, and Urzúa 2015).
Informal childcare • Research by Quisumbing, Hallman, and Ruel (2007) compares the situation in Guatemala City, Guatemala, where the formal sector
is predominant, with that of Accra, Ghana, where female employment is largely informal. They nd that access to formal childcare
increases women’s employment only in locations where most women work in the formal sector.
• Other studies have shown that, for single mothers, a combination of formal and informal care is associated with a larger female labor
supply (Baxter et al. 2007; Brady and Perales 2016).
• Research by Halim, Johnson, and Perova (2017) shows that in Indonesia women who have access to informal childcare arrangements,
notably those living with older family members who can help take care of children, tend to have higher labor force participation.
Inurban areas, these women return to work nearly two years sooner after giving birth than new mothers without access to informal
childcare.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
56
Beyond these considerations, gaps in information limit parents’ ability to make
childcare decisions. Parents often lack sucient details about childcare characteristics,
including the attributes of high-quality childcare services, the location and availability
of care, the relative costs of care, and the range of care alternatives. These information
asymmetries around childcare provision suggest the state should confront and revisit
norms of family privacy and embrace a greater public role in the childcare market.
In response to these realities, as well as major social and economic changes, improved
access to childcare has moved higher on the policy agenda of the governments of many
economies. Although there are no internationally established standards to serve as a
guide to regulatory measures for the provision of childcare, international conventions
and unions recognize working parents’ need for outside childcare support and call for
childcare facilities to be available. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) calls for the establishment and development
of a network of childcare facilities to enable parents to combine family obligations with
work responsibilities. Similarly, the International Labour Organization’s Convention on
Workers with Family Responsibilities No. 156 calls for measures to develop or promote
childcare services compatible with national conditions and possibilities that will enable
eective equality of opportunity for working men and women.
Although governments are not compelled to provide services, both conventions
recognize their key role in promoting and encouraging the development of childcare
services. In 2019 the European Union (EU) passed a new directive aimed at helping
member states achieve a better work–life balance and more equally distributed care
responsibilities by encouraging the use of EU funds to ensure a sucient supply of high-
quality, aordable childcare services and care facilities.
To meet the needs of working mothers and families, governments must therefore
support a range of childcare options. Childcare can be funded and operated by the
public or the private sector. Public childcare, directly funded and operated by the
government, can be provided at center-based facilities, including nurseries, day cares,
preschools, and kindergartens. Private childcare is funded and operated by for-prot or
not-for-prot business entities. It includes home- and center-based care (gure3.1).
FIGURE 3.1
|
TYPES OF CHILDCARE
Source: Women, Business and the Law team.
Family and informal arrangements
Public-private partnerships
Privately provided childcare
Publicly provided childcare
• Center-based care in facilities operated and funded by the government (such as nurseries,
day cares, preschools, and kindergartens)
• Center-based care (such as nurseries, day cares, preschools, and kindergartens)
• Employer-provided or -supported care
• Family member bears the burden of care that may or may not be remunerated.
• Home-based care (in a child’s own home or caregiver’s home)
• Center-based care (such as nurseries, day cares, preschools, and kindergartens)
• Employer-provided or -supported care
57
NEW AREAS OF RESEARCH
In addition, employers may provide or support childcare for their employees under
certain conditions. The recent growth in private sector engagement in the provision
of childcare may also be characterized by more sophisticated arrangements, including
public-private partnerships (PPPs). Such partnerships give both government and the
private sector an opportunity to leverage resources to bring market-based solutions to
providing childcare.
7
When it comes to the delivery of childcare services, economies use dierent
institutional arrangements. The Nordic economies have the most aordable large-scale
childcare, running publicly funded and operated systems. The public expenditure on
childcare is 1.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Sweden and 1.3% of the
GDP of Norway.
8
The Republic of Korea also recently devised an extensive aordable
childcare system by adopting a mixed model that allows it to diversify funding sources
and provide working families with the opportunity to choose.
9
Despite the mixed system,
the government invests 1% of GDP on childcare and early learning and has some of the
highest enrollment rates for children of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) economies. In contrast, the United States relies on privately
provided childcare, spending only 0.3% of GDP—the third lowest expenditure among
OECD economies after Ireland and Turkey.
10
Low levels of government expenditure
on childcare in these three economies are also accompanied by some of the lowest
enrollment rates among OECD economies.
11
Overall, policy or regulatory frameworks on the provision of childcare services
must reect a coherent mandate, adequate nance and capacity, focus on child
development, and strong coordination mechanisms to bring in all stakeholders. Many
economies do not have a stand-alone childcare policy. Instead, they have a multitude
of policies involving dierent ministries, including social welfare, labor, education, and
youth and sports. Because they have their own objectives, plans, and programs related
to childcare, regulation of childcare may become decentralized and uncoordinated.
Coordination with other social policies, including maternity and parental leave in
which parents are paid to stay home as caregivers, may also aect the regulation
and provision of childcare services. Maternity and parental leave policies can help
new parents reconcile the competing claims of work and family life.
12
The availability
of high-quality aordable childcare is a complementary policy that gives parents a
exible solution, especially when economic pressure to participate in the labor force
increases.
Childcare services for children ages three to ve years have steadily increased over
the last 20 years, largely because of rising access to preschool across economies.
However, a gap for children under three years remains.
13
This gap may stem from the
fact that governments tend to more often regulate childcare for older children than for
younger children. Absent or insucient regulatory frameworks for children under three
years may reect the limited childcare available for this age group or expectations that
mothers and families are responsible for early childhood care. Lack of regulation can
also be a disincentive for potential providers (such as those dierentiating themselves
based on quality), whereas parents may nd it more dicult to entrust the care of their
children to providers if they are not regulated.
Policies intended to make childcare aordable and of good quality vary by economy.
Governments may opt for legally requiring employers to provide or support childcare for
their employees. The parameters of this care could include minimum structural quality
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
58
and safety standards such as licensing and accreditation, operating hours, inspection
for compliance with laws, and reporting mechanisms to the government. However, the
literature on child development suggests that the “process” elements of quality (such
as caregiver-to-child and child-to-child interactions) are more important for improving
children’s development outcomes.
14
A range of incentives could also be granted
to parents, employers, and private childcare providers to reduce the cost of private
childcare and make it more aordable for families.
Toward available, aordable, and quality childcare
In 2018, Women, Business and the Law collected pilot data on employer-supported
childcare and private stand-alone childcare centers within the collaborative
framework of the IFC’s Tackling Childcare project. Drawing on 10 case studies, the
project lls the gap on how companies can identify the type of childcare support that
best suits the needs of their employees.
15
Building on this research, future editions
of Women, Business and the Law will contribute more analysis based on research
and new data related to three main pillars of childcare—availability, aordability, and
quality. Inthe process, the team will also leverage and complement other sources of
data, including from OECD and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF; box 3.1).
Potential inclusion of such data in the index to facilitate and promote reform will also
be explored.
BOX 3.1 EXISTING DATA ON CHILDCARE
The existing data on childcare are primarily published by the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In view
of the strong demand for cross-national indicators on the situations of families and children, the
OECD Family Database was developed to provide the indicators on family outcomes and poli-
cies across OECD economies, its enhanced engagement partners, and European Union mem-
ber states. The database brings together information from various national and international
databases within both OECD and external organizations. The area of public policies for families
and children covers seven indicators related to formal care and the typology of childcare sys-
tems: legal entitlement to childcare, public spending on childcare, net enrollment in childcare,
informal childcare arrangements, childcare support, typology of childcare services, and quality
of childcare. Legal entitlement refers to a right to a spot in a childcare facility that guarantees
availability of childcare. Each indicator typically presents the data on a particular issue as well
as the relevant denitions and methodology, comparability and data issues, information on
sources, and, when appropriate, raw data or descriptive information across economies. Despite
global coverage, the available UNICEF data on childcare are limited to net attendance rates in
the framework of early childhood education programs, specically enrollment of children ages
three to ve in preprimary school.
Sources: OECD Family Database, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris,
http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm; UNICEF, Pre-primary Education Statistics, https://data
.unicef .org/ topic/education/pre-primary-education/.
Support for childcare has well-documented, widespread benets for economic
development and women’s labor force participation. By collecting and evaluating data
on childcare provision, the team will contribute to the World Bank Group’s growing
eort to shape an informed, evidence-based policy dialogue around the overall design
and eectiveness of childcare policies.
59
NEW AREAS OF RESEARCH
The role of the justice sector in legal implementation
For more than 10 years, Women, Business and the Law has taken as its starting point
that the law can help women reach their full potential. It is the framework by which
governments can identify barriers to women’s success and, by removing them, boost
their labor force participation. In fact, over time Women, Business and the Law has
consistently found that reforms increasing women’s equality of opportunity contribute
to higher female labor force participation, more successful economies, and better
development outcomes. These ndings have galvanized action toward legal reform,
resulting in over 400 positive changes in the areas measured since 2009.
For women to thrive in the world of work, however, the laws that guarantee their
equality of opportunity must be meaningfully implemented and enforced.
16
This requires
not only enacting the rules and regulations that put laws into eect, but also ensuring
that all relevant parties comply with them. Successful application of the law requires
a comprehensive eort from all branches of government, including the judiciary.
By strengthening the rule of law and narrowing inequality, access to justice can be
a fundamental component of sustainable economic growth. If inclusive, it allows all
people to use the legal system to advocate for their interests and ensure enforcement
of the law.
17
The success of statutory laws hinges on the ability of justice institutions
to both fulll their mandate and address any violations. Governments must therefore
ensure that women’s access to justice is comprehensive. While legal gender equality
is the rst step toward generating tangible outcomes, including greater economic
participation for women, reforms must also be fully implemented through strong justice
sector institutions.
Why does access to justice matter for women’s economic empowerment?
Discrimination in the law is only one of many sources of gender imbalance. Equal
opportunities for women depend on a complex interplay of social, cultural, and economic
factors. Although laws may be equal, prevailing discriminatory social norms, deeply
rooted stereotypes, unconscious bias, and even ignorance or reluctance by institutions
responsible for enforcing rights can be a major stumbling block to the implementation
of legislation. This restricts women’s opportunities in practice. For example, even in
economies mandating nondiscrimination based on gender in employment, employers
frequently discriminate in favor of men—who more often are unencumbered with
childbearing responsibilities—and against women—who are perceived as secondary
breadwinners.
18
The enforcement of rights and women’s ability to seek redress is therefore critical to
translating formal laws into real outcomes (table 3.2).
19
Although France and Senegal,
for example, have very similar legal systems, access to justice in each is very dierent,
leading to dierent economic landscapes. Social attitudes may result not only in hesitant
implementation, but also in hesitant or even discriminatory enforcement. And if women
are not able to claim and enforce their rights, equal laws on the books, while a rst step,
will have only a limited impact on their economic activity. Thus, proper implementation
requires an accessible and eective justice system to ensure that infringements of
rights are penalized. A well-functioning judiciary is essential to economic development
and sustained growth.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
60
The dysfunction and underperformance of court systems negatively aect women,
in particular. Factors limiting access to justice such as aordability, cumbersome
procedures, and lack of awareness of rights may have impacts on both men and
women. However, lower literacy rates, lower incomes, lower mobility, and less extended
digital and social networks all disproportionately aect women’s access to justice.
Other barriers, such as biases in state institutions, social stigma, psychological trauma
in bringing claims, and lack of gender-sensitive procedures, are more directly gender-
specic.
20
These challenges are even harder for women who are subject to multiple
disadvantages. As a result, the justice gap for women is still rampant, particularly in
economies where the circumstances for women are worse overall.
21
Beyond these concerns, unequal access to justice is expensive for both governments
and citizens. At the societal level, these costs include higher public spending on
unemployment benets, social assistance, and health services. In Canada, it is
estimated that unmet legal needs represent major annual costs to the state, amounting
to a combined total of approximately Can$800 million. This gure includes an annual
Can$248 million in social assistance payments, Can$450 million in employment
insurance payments, and Can$101 million in health care costs.
22
Recent studies in the
United States also nd that funding of legal services there could return as much as 11
times the amount invested by reducing public expenditure and generating income.
23
For
example, a mother who is able to eectively secure spousal and child support will not
require public benets. Similarly, a woman who suers domestic abuse and procures
a restraining order will lose fewer days of work and gain more income. Such savings
can drive millions of dollars into a local economy and empower women to provide for
themselves and their families.
International standards set forth by general recommendations on women’s access
to justice highlight the importance of access for women’s economic empowerment.
Economic sustainability cannot be achieved without respect for the rule of law and
protection of rights, both of which require an eective judiciary that resolves cases in a
reasonable time and is inclusive and accessible to the public.
24
The literature notes the
diculty in monitoring and assessing the implementation and enforcement of rights.
TABLE 3.2 ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND CORRESPONDING ECONOMIC OUTCOMES: A LITERATURE SUMMARY
Women’s economic
empowerment
• Unequal access to justice is related to nancial burdens, increased stress, strain on family relationships, inability to work,
lost income,and political instability. Investing in women’s access to justice would have returns in terms of national income,
competitivenessat the macroeconomic level, and economic growth (High-level Group on Justice for Women 2019).
Economic growth • A well-functioning judiciary—one that is accessible, ecient, and predictable and resolves cases within a reasonable time frame—is
needed to achieve sustainable economic progress (World Bank 2017).
• In Latin America, the strength of judicial systems has been linked to economic performance (Sherwood, Shepherd, and De Souza 1994).
• Dam (2006) has associated judicial independence and the strength and eciency of judiciaries with economic growth.
• Deseau, Levai, and Schmiegelow (2019) nd that disputesresolved at a relatively low cost, without dysfunctional delay and discrimina-
tion, increase ve-year GDP per capita growth rates.
Private sector
growth
• A stronger judiciary is associated withmore rapid growth of small rms (Islam 2003).
• In India, state-level court eciency is highly predictive of growth in the formal manufacturing sector (Amirapu 2017; Chemin 2009).
• In Italy, improvements in judicial eciency have reduced credit constraints and increased lending (Jappelli, Pagano, and Bianco 2005).
However, ineciencies in the judicial system have directly contributed to lower investments and a dicult business environment
(Esposito,Lanau,andPompe 2014).
61
NEW AREAS OF RESEARCH
It also calls for more public data on the issues women face when accessing justice,
especially in the world of work, in order to explore the relationship between de jure and
de facto equality of opportunity.
25
A measure of the implementation and enforcement
of laws aecting women’s economic inclusion is therefore needed to fully understand
the legal and judicial constraints to gender equality in business and employment.
While useful, other data sets have not yet met the need for this information. At
the global level, the Enforcing Contracts indicator of the World Bank’s Doing Business
project
26
captures important aspects of the performance of the judicial system when
it comes to commercial cases. However, this work does not focus on gender. Instead,
the only gender dimension captured by the indicator, under its Quality of the Judicial
Processes Index, is a measure of whether a woman’s testimony carries as much weight
as a man’s in commercial cases.
Additional research, such as OECD’s Equal Access to Justice for Inclusive Growth
report,
27
the Center on International Cooperation’s Justice for All report,
28
and the World
Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index,
29
measures eective access to justice across a set
of economies (gure 3.2). The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index,
30
OECD’s Social Institutions and Gender Index,
31
and the United Nations Development
FIGURE 3.2
|
OTHER GLOBAL JUSTICE DATA
Enforcing Contracts Equal Access to Justice for
Inclusive Growth
Justice for All
Rule of Law Index
The Enforcing Contracts
indicator of the W
orld Bank
Group
’s Doing Business index
measures the time and cost
required to resolve a
commercial dispute through
a local rst-instance court. It
also produces a Quality of
the Judicial Processes index
that evaluates whether
economies have adopted a
series of good practices that
promote quality and
ecienc
y in the court
system.
For more information:
https://www
.doingbusiness
.org/en/methodology
/
enforcing-contracts.
The Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development’s
Equal Access to Justice for
Inclusive Growth report looks at
how governments can ensure
that everyone has access to
justice and that justice processes
and services are responsive to
people’s needs. The report
identies access to justice
principles and promising practices,
as well as measurement
tools and indicators to help
economies monitor their
progress.
For more information:
https://www.oecd.org
/governance/equal-access-to
-justice-for-inclusive
-growth-597f5b7f-en.htm.
The Task Force on Justice of New York
University’s Center on International
Cooperation presents in its Justice for
All report a synthesis of the scale and
nature of the justice gap, an analysis of
the costs of injustice, an estimate of the
costs to provide access to basic justice
services, and the most common justice
problems people face globally. The Task
Force on Justice is an initiative of the
Pathnders for Peaceful, Just and
Inclusive Societies, a multistakeholder
partnership to accelerate delivery of the
SDG 16 targets for peace, justice, and
strong institutions.
a
For more information:
https://cic.nyu.edu/publications
/justice-for-all.
The World Justice Project’s
Rule of Law Index measures
the rule of law based on the
experiences and perceptions
of the general public and legal
practitioners and experts
worldwide. The index provides
scores and rankings based on
eight factors: Constraints on
Government Powers, Absence
of Corruption, Open
Government, Fundamental
Rights, Order and Security,
Regulatory Enforcement, Civil
Justice, and Criminal Justice.
For more information:
https://worldjusticeproject
.org/our-work/research
-and-data/wjp-rule-law
-index-2020.
Sources: World Bank Group, OECD Development Center, Center on International Cooperation, and World Justice Project.
a. Goal 16 of the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) states, “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access
to justice for all and build eective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
62
Programme’s Gender Inequality Index
32
track gender inequalities across several practice
and outcome areas. Global Integrity’s Africa Integrity Indicators track both de jure
and de facto corruption and governance in 54 African economies, including a social
development section that consists of 24 indicators on gender, rights, welfare, rural
sector, business environment, health, education, and civil registration.
33
Despite this
impressive undertaking, however, the scope of Global Integrity’s project is not global,
and scores do not represent an evaluation of women’s access to justice. Thus, the
Women, Business and the Law data collection and analysis will aim to bridge these
approaches by studying access to justice through a gender lens.
Toward equal access to justice and implementation
The role of the justice sector in ensuring gender equality and implementation of the law
is multifaceted. A variety of factors could provide valuable insight into its functioning,
including the presence of institutions, certain processes and procedures, and statistics
and outcomes. With this research, Women, Business and the Law hopes to focus
specically on the ways in which women’s access to justice can be ensured both through
implementation of the good practice legislation covered by the project’s indicators and
through the passage of specic laws and regulations.
This work will endeavor to ll the knowledge gap by collecting and analyzing data
on the processes and procedures relevant to women’s access to justice, as well as
the good practice legislation that can ensure it. This eort may include using one of
theWomen, Business and the Law questions as a starting point to assess whether the
law represented by the question itself is eectively implemented through the justice
sector. For example, of the 190 economies measured, 159 prohibit discrimination in
employment based on gender. This question allows broad study of similar provisions
across economies and regions and could be used to consider the time and cost of a case
brought by a female victim of discrimination. Such an approach could also be used to
study implementation of other questions in the index.
Through this exercise, potential barriers to implementation of de jure indicators
could also be identied for future study. Examples that complement current Women,
Business and the Law data include the ease and cost of access to justice, eectiveness
of complaints procedures, and importance of awareness-raising campaigns among
public ocials, employers, and employees.
Other measures that promote women’s access to justice could also be considered.
Institutions of justice, such as customary and personal law courts, dedicated
and specialized family courts, and human rights institutions could be examined
because of their particular relevance to women. Topics such as small claims court
access, theprovision of legal aid, and women’s representation in the judiciary may also
prove pertinent to this discussion.
Any published ndings will review the available evidence on this subject, including
the data sets described here, for correlation with or further explanation of Women,
Business and the Law results. Together, the data presented will investigate whether
laws, as measured by the Women, Business and the Law index, are actionable on the
ground for female employees and entrepreneurs. Above all, the intent of this work is
to ease the process of identifying good practices that ensure accessible, timely, and
aordable remedies for women seeking justice. Such quantitative data could help
63
NEW AREAS OF RESEARCH
provide a complete picture of the life cycle of legislation and encourage economies to
move rapidly toward more ecient and comprehensive access to justice for women
everywhere.
What’s next?
Most of the current Women, Business and the Law indicators measure the dierences
between men and women under the law. However, selecting a clear benchmark that
tackles the trade-os when considering these areas may depart from this trend. Although
the empirical evidence demonstrates the disproportionate eects of the availability of
childcare services and access to justice on women’s participation in the labor market,
these issues are not necessarily a matter of legal gender gaps.
Given their broad scope, the potential results of this research could take
several dierent forms. Any questionnaire will undergo substantial peer review
and consultation with academics and practitioners before its dissemination to local
experts. To ensure that data are comparable across economies, a set of standardized
assumptions will be determined. A questionnaire would also be piloted in several
economies in a diverse sample of regions. Results may be published as case studies or
policy briefs complementing the Women, Business and the Law index. If coverage can
be expanded to 190 economies and remain comparable and feasible for annual data
collection, the addition of indicators to the index will be considered. Complementary
economic research will also aim to establish links between legislative principles and
improving women’s position as active participants in the workforce and the broader
economy.
Growing evidence directly links each of these areas to women’s economic
opportunities. Although in its early stages, this research aims to highlight the role that
childcare and access to justice play in ensuring that the equality promised by law is
actionable. In expanding its scope to include these issues, Women, Business and the
Law hopes to continue providing a rich body of data that can be used to generate
policies and provide a road map for further research.
Notes
1. NAEYC 2020.
2. Indeed, research from Olivetti and Petrongolo (2017) presents an overview of the evidence from
high-income economies on the impacts of family policies on female labor market outcomes and nds that
childcare is more strongly associated with better labor market outcomes for women than family leave
policies.
3. Day 2016; Yakita 2018.
4. In this discussion, informal care refers to unpaid care provided mainly by relatives and family friends.
5. Devercelli and Beaton-Day, forthcoming.
6. IFC 2019.
7. IFC 2017.
8. OECD Family Database, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, http://www
.oecd.org/els/soc/PF3_1_Public_spending_on_childcare_and_early_education.xlsx. Latest data on total
public expenditure on early childhood education and care for Norway and Sweden are for 2015.
9. OECD 2020.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
64
10. OECD Family Database, http://www .oecd.org/els/soc/PF3_1_Public_spending_on_childcare_and_early
_education.xlsx. Latest data on total public expenditure on early childhood education and care for Ireland
are for 2015; the Republic of Korea, 2017; Turkey, 2016; and the United States, 2016.
11. OECD Family Database, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, http://www
.oecd.org/els/soc/PF3_2_Enrolment_childcare_preschool.xlsx. Latest data on enrollment rates in early
childcare education and care services for 0- to 2-year-old children in Ireland, the Republic of Korea, and
Turkey are available for 2017; in the United States for 2011.
12. Amin, Islam, and Sakhonchik 2016.
13. UNICEF 2019.
14. Devercelli and Beaton-Day, forthcoming.
15. For more information about case studies produced by the International Finance Corporation in 2019 and
2020 within the framework of the Tackling Childcare project, see the IFC website, https://www.ifc.org
/ wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/gender+at+ifc/priorities/employment
/tackling_childcare_the_business_case_for_employer_supported_childcare.
16. OECD 2018.
17. UN Women and UNDP, n.d.
18. Kabeer 2009.
19. World Bank 2012.
20. World Bank 2012.
21. The justice gap is dened as the disparity in access to justice and satisfaction of legal needs experienced
by women and girls (High-level Group on Justice for Women 2019).
22. Farrow et al. 2016.
23. Buckwalter-Poza 2016.
24. Goldstone and Stein 2015; Hoque 2018; Marciano, Melcarne, and Ramello 2019.
25. Hyland, Djankov, and Goldberg 2021; World Bank 2012.
26. Doing Business Indicators (database), World Bank, Washington, DC, https://www.doingbusiness.org/en
/ data/exploretopics/enforcing-contracts.
27. OECD 2019a.
28. CIC 2019.
29. World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2020 (database), World Justice Project, Washington, DC, https://
worldjusticeproject .org/our-work/research-and-data/wjp-rule-law-index-2020.
30. World Economic Forum 2020.
31. OECD Social Institutions and Gender Gap (database), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, Paris, https://www.genderindex.org/.
32. Gender Inequality Index (GII), United Nations Development Programme, New York, http://hdr.undp.org
/ en/content/gender-inequality-index-gii.
33. Africa Integrity Indicators—Project Summary and Methodology AII8 (2020), Global Integrity,
Washington,DC, https://www .globalintegrity.org/resource/aii8methodology/.
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APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
67
Women, Business and the Law measures laws and regulations aecting women’s
economic inclusion in 190 economies. Although progress has been made over the
last 50years, the data conrm that more work is needed to ensure that women have
equality of opportunity when entering the workforce and starting their own business.
To highlight these opportunities for change, Women, Business and the Law 2021
presents an index structured around the stages of a woman’s working life (gure A.1).
This framework helps align areas of the law with the economic decisions women make
as they experience various milestones. The indicators not only represent women’s
interactions with the law as they begin, progress through, and end their careers,
but also are an easily replicable measure of the legal environment that women face
as entrepreneurs and employees. This edition of Women, Business and the Law
presents anupdate of the index based on the laws and regulations reformed between
September2,2019, and October 1, 2020.
Methodology
Women, Business and the Law is based on an analysis of the domestic laws and regulations
that aect women’s economic opportunities. The indicators were selected on the basis
of their association with measures of women’s economic empowerment and through
research and consultation with experts. They are also inspired by the international legal
frameworks set out in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW); the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women General Recommendations (CEDAW GR); the UN Declaration on the Elimination
of Violence against Women (DEVAW); and the International Labour Organization (ILO)
Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100); Maternity Protection Convention,
2000 (No. 183); and Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190).
Mobility
Examines constraints on
freedom of movement
Marriage
Assesses legal constraints
related to marriage
Entrepreneurship
Analyzes constraints on women’s
starting and running businesses
Assets
Considers gender dierences
in property and inheritance
Workplace
Analyzes laws aecting
women’s decisions to work
Pay
Measures laws and regulations
aecting women’s pay
Parenthood
Examines laws aecting women’s
work after having children
Pension
Assesses laws aecting the
size of a woman’s pension
FIGURE A.1 | THE EIGHT WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW INDICATORS
Source: Women, Business and the Law team.
Data Notes
APPENDIX A
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
68
TABLE A.1
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW
INDICATORS
Mobility (0–100)
1. Can a woman choose where to live in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Can a woman travel outside her home in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Can a woman apply for a passport in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Can a woman travel outside the country in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Workplace (0–100)
1. Can a woman get a job in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Does the law prohibit discrimination in employment based on gender? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Is there legislation on sexual harassment in employment? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Are there criminal penalties or civil remedies for sexual harassment in employment? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Pay (0–100)
1. Does the law mandate equal remuneration for work of equal value? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Can a woman work at night in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Can a woman work in a job deemed dangerous in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Can a woman work in an industrial job in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Marriage (0–100)
1. Is there no legal provision that requires a married woman to obey her husband? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Can a woman be head of household in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Is there legislation specically addressing domestic violence? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Can a woman obtain a judgment of divorce in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
5. Does a woman have the same rights to remarry as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Parenthood (0–100)
1. Is paid leave of at least 14 weeks available to mothers? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Does the government administer 100% of maternity leave benets? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Is paid leave available to fathers? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Is there paid parental leave? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
5. Is dismissal of pregnant workers prohibited? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Entrepreneurship (0–100)
1. Does the law prohibit discrimination in access to credit based on gender? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Can a woman sign a contract in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Can a woman register a business in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Can a woman open a bank account in the same way as a man? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Assets (0–100)
1. Do men and women have equal ownership rights to immovable property? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Do sons and daughters have equal rights to inherit assets from their parents? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Do male and female surviving spouses have equal rights to inherit assets? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Does the law grant spouses equal administrative authority over assets during marriage? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
5. Does the law provide for the valuation of nonmonetary contributions? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Pension (0–100)
1. Is the age at which men and women can retire with full pension benets the same? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
2. Is the age at which men and women can retire with partial pension benets the same? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
3. Is the mandatory retirement age for men and women the same? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
4. Are periods of absence due to childcare accounted for in pension benets? (Yes = 1, No = 0)
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
69
MOBILITY
100 100 100 100 40 75 100 100 89.4
WORKPLACE
PAY MARRIAGE PARENTHOOD ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ASSETS
PENSION
WBL 2021
SCORE
FIGURE A.2 | ECUADOR SCORES 89.4 ON THE WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW INDEX
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
The data set and analysis can be used to support research and policy discussions
on the ways in which the legal environment inuences women’s economic activity.
Thirty-ve data points are scored across eight indicators composed of four or ve binary
questions, with each indicator representing a dierent phase of a woman’s life (table A.1).
Indicator-level scores are obtained by calculating the unweighted average of responses to
the questions within that indicator and scaling the result to 100. Overall scores are then
calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 representing the highest
possible score.
Examining the data for one economy illustrates how scoring works in the index.
Ingure A.2, Ecuador receives a score of 100 for Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage,
Assets, and Pension, which indicates that no legal constraints were found in the areas
measured under these indicators.
Under Parenthood, however, the lack of paid maternity leave of at least 14 weeks,
government-administered maternity leave benets, or paid parental leave results in a
score of 40. The score for Entrepreneurship is 75 because the law does not prohibit
gender-based discrimination in access to credit.
Based on this information, the overall score for Ecuador is calculated as the unweighted
average of all eight indicator scores on a scale of 0–100, with 100 representing the best
score overall. Ecuador thus scores 89.4 on the Women, Business and the Law index.
Strengths and limitations of the methodology
To construct the index, Women, Business and the Law relies on the feedback of over
2,000 respondents with expertise in family, labor, and criminal law, including lawyers,
judges, academics, and members of civil society organizations working locally on gender
issues. Besides lling out written questionnaires, respondents provide references to
relevant legislation. The Women, Business and the Law team then collects the texts of
these laws and regulations and veries questionnaire responses for accuracy. Responses
are validated against codied sources of national law, including constitutions, codes, laws,
statutes, rules, regulations, and procedures in areas such as labor, social security,civil
procedure, violence against women, marriage and family, inheritance, nationality, and
land. The data reect legislation enacted as of October 1, 2020, unless otherwise
indicated.
This unique approach has both strengths and limitations (table A.2). Because
the indicators are binary, they may not reect the nuances or details of some of the
policies measured. Indicators are also based on standardized assumptions to ensure
comparability across economies. For example, an assumption used for questions on
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
70
TABLE A.2 METHODOLOGICAL STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
Feature Strength Limitation
Use of standardized
assumptions
Data are comparable across economies, and
methodology is transparent.
Scope of data is smaller; only regulatory reforms in
the areas measured can be systematically tracked.
Coverage of largest
business city only
Data collection is manageable, and data are
comparable.
In federal economies, data could be less representa-
tive where there are dierences in laws across
locations.
Focus on the most
populous group
Data are comparable across economies where
there are parallel legal systems prescribing
dierent rights for dierent groups of women.
Restrictions that apply to minority populations may
not be covered.
Emphasis on the
formal sector
Attention remains centered on the formal
economy, where regulations are more relevant.
The reality faced by women in the informal sector,
which may be a signicant population in some
economies, is not reected.
Measure of codied
law only
Indicators are actionable because the law is
what policy makers can change.
Where systematic implementation of legislation is
lacking, regulatory changes alone will not achieve
the desired results; social and cultural norms are not
considered.
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
maternity leave is that the woman in question has one child. Although maternity leave
benets often dier for multiple births, only data for individual births are captured.
Another assumption is that the woman in question is located in the largest business
city of the economy. In federal economies, laws aecting women can vary by state or
province. Even in nonfederal economies, women in rural areas and small towns could face
more restrictive local legislation. Such restrictions are not captured by Women, Business
and the Law unless they are also found in the main business city. Finally, where personal
law prescribes dierent rights and obligations for dierent groups of women, the data
focus on the most populous group, which may mean that restrictions applying only to
minority populations are missed.
Although it ensures comparability of the data, this use of standardized assumptions
is limited in its ability to fully reect the diversity of women’s experiences. Women,
Business and the Law recognizes that the laws it measures do not apply to all women in
the same way. Women face intersectional forms of discrimination based on gender, sex,
sexuality, race, gender identity, religion, family status, ethnicity, nationality, disability, and
a myriad of other grounds. Women, Business and the Law therefore encourages readers
to interpret the data in conjunction with other available research.
Women, Business and the Law also focuses solely on the ways in which the formal
legal and regulatory environment determines whether women can work or open their
own business. Although many women in developing economies are employed by the
informal sector, a goal of this project is to dene some of the features of the legal
framework that make it more dicult for women to transition from the informal to the
formal economy.
APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
71
(continued on next page)
This project also recognizes the often-large gaps between laws on the books and
actual practice. One reason for these gaps may be poor implementation of legislation
stemming from weak enforcement, poor design, or low institutional capacity. Nonetheless,
identifying legal dierences is one step toward better understanding where women’s
economic rights may be restricted in practice.
Women, Business and the Law acknowledges that equal opportunities for women
in business and the workplace depend on an interplay of economic, social, and cultural
factors. For example, unless women are able to get an education or build their skills,
equalizing laws aecting entrepreneurship and employment could mean little. Other
factors, such as infrastructure, also may aect the ability and desire of women to work.
In addition, social and cultural norms may prevent women from running a business
or working outside the home. Within this overall picture, Women, Business and the
Law recognizes the limitations of its assumptions and its focus on statutory law. Even
though such assumptions may come at the expense of specicity, they also ensure data
comparability across economies.
Indicators and questions
This section looks more closely at the 35 scored binary questions, grouped by indicator
(box A.1).
Answers to the questions are based on codied law only. Customary law is not taken
into account unless it has been codied. Where the answer diers according to the legal
system (for example, in mixed legal systems where dierent laws govern dierent groups
of people within an economy), the answer used is the one that applies to the majority
of the population.
Supranational law, such as that enacted by the Organization for the
Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA), is not considered when domestic
law contravenes supranational rules and limits the legal capacity of women. Some
questions take into account the enactment date of laws and regulations and some the
BOX A.1 ASSUMPTIONS USED TO ENSURE COMPARABILITY
The woman in question
• resides in the economy’s main business city.
• has reached the legal age of majority and is capable of making decisions as an adult, is in
good health, and has no criminal record.
• is a lawful citizen of the economy being examined.
• is a cashier in the food retail sector in a supermarket or grocery store that has 60 employees.
• is a cisgender, heterosexual woman in a monogamous rst marriage registered with the
appropriate authorities (de facto marriages and customary unions are not measured).
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
72
BOX A.1 ASSUMPTIONS USED TO ENSURE COMPARABILITY (CONTINUED)
• is of the same religion as her husband.
• is in a marriage under the rules of the default marital property regime, or the most common
regime for that jurisdiction, which will not change during the course of the marriage.
• is not a member of a union, unless membership is mandatory. Membership is considered
mandatory when collective bargaining agreements cover more than 50 percent of the
workforce in the food retail sector and when they apply to individuals who were not party to
the original collective bargaining agreement.
For the questions on maternity, paternity, and parental leave, it is assumed that
• the woman gave birth to her rst child without complications on October 1, 2020, and her
child is in good health. Answers will therefore correspond to legislation in force as of October
1, 2020, even if the law provides for changes over time.
• both parents have been working long enough to accrue any maternity, paternity, and pa-
rental benets.
• if maternity benet systems are not mandatory or they were not in force as of October 1,
2020, they are not measured.
For the questions on inheritance rights, it is assumed that
• the deceased has not left a will, so the rules of intestate succession apply.
• when determining the inheritance rights of spouses, male and female surviving spouses do
not have any living children.
For the questions on retirement and pensions, it is assumed that
• the woman gave birth without complications to two healthy children.
• the woman ceased all paid activity during periods of childcare. If the period covered by a
pension credit is conditioned on the age of the child, the period until the child reaches age
one is counted.
• if transitional provisions gradually change the retirement age, the answer will reect the
retirement age as of October 1, 2020, even if the law provides for changes over time.
• if a mandatory contributory pension system applicable to the private sector and a non-
contributory universal pension system coexist, the answers will correspond with the rules
applicable to the mandatory contributory pension system.
• if pension systems are not mandatory or were not in force as of October 1, 2020, they are
not measured.
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
73
date of enforcement, whereas a few consider the state of implementation. For example,
questions that measure the provision of a benet such as paid leave or old age pension
consider only laws that are in force and systems through which benets are paid that are
in place and operational. No changes to the Women, Business and the Law methodology
were made for this edition.
Mobility
The Mobility indicator measures constraints on a woman’s agency and freedom of
movement, both of which are likely to inuence her decision to enter the labor force and
engage in entrepreneurial activity.
1
This indicator has four components that measure:
• Whether a woman can choose where to live in the same way as a man. A score of
1 is assigned if there are no restrictions on a woman choosing where to live. A score
of 0 is assigned if there are explicit restrictions on a woman choosing where to live,
if the husband chooses the family residence, if a woman’s domicile automatically fol-
lows that of her husband, or if the husband has more legal weight than the woman in
determining where the family will live.
• Whether a woman can travel outside her home in the same way as a man. A score
of 1 is assigned if there are no restrictions on a woman traveling alone domestically. A
score of 0 is assigned if permission, additional documentation, or the presence of her
husband or guardian is required for a woman to travel alone domestically. A score of 0
is also assigned if a woman must justify her reasons for leaving the home, or if leaving
the home without a valid reason is considered disobedience with legal consequences,
such as loss of right to maintenance.
• Whether a woman can apply for a passport in the same way as a man. This ques-
tion considers actual application forms available at the relevant agency or on ocial
government websites, regardless of what the law species. A score of 1 is assigned
if there are no gender dierences in passport application procedures. A score of 0 is
assigned if an adult woman needs the permission or signature of her husband, father,
or other relative or guardian to apply for a passport. A score of 0 is also assigned if
passport application procedures or forms require a woman to provide details about
her husband, father, or other relative or guardian, or additional documents such as a
marriage certicate, whereas the same is not required for a man.
• Whether a woman can travel outside the country in the same way as a man. A
score of 1 is assigned if there are no restrictions on a woman traveling alone inter-
nationally. A score of 0 is assigned if permission, additional documentation, or the
presence of her husband or a guardian is required for a woman to leave the country.
A score of 0 is also assigned if the law requires a married woman to accompany her
husband out of the country if he wishes her to.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
74
Workplace
The Workplace indicator analyzes laws aecting women’s decisions to enter the labor
market, including women’s legal capacity and ability to work, as well as protections in the
workplace against discrimination and sexual harassment. Antidiscrimination legislation is
positively associated with women’s employment and earnings, whereas sexual harassment
can negatively inuence women’s career trajectories.
2
This indicator has four components
that assess:
• Whether a woman can get a job in the same way as a man. A score of 1 is as-
signed if there are no restrictions on a woman’s legal capacity and ability to get a
job or pursue a trade or profession. A score of 0 is assigned if a husband can prevent
his wife from working, or if permission or additional documentation is required for a
woman to work but not a man. A score of 0 is also assigned if it is considered a form
of disobedience with legal consequences, such as loss of maintenance, for a woman
to work contrary to her husband’s wishes or the interests of the family.
• Whether the law prohibits discrimination in employment based on gender. A
score of 1 is assigned if the law prohibits employers from discriminating based on sex
or gender or mandates equal treatment of women and men in employment. A score
of 0 is assigned if the law does not prohibit such discrimination or only prohibits it in
one aspect of employment, such as pay or dismissal.
• Whether there is legislation on sexual harassment in employment. A score of
1 is assigned if legal provisions specically protect against sexual harassment in
employment, including unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.
A score of 0 is assigned if there is no such legislation. A score of 0 is also assigned
if the law addresses harassment in general but makes no reference to acts of a
sexual nature or contact, or if it states only that the employer has a duty to prevent
sexual harassment but no provisions prohibit it or provide sanctions or other forms
of redress.
• Whether there are criminal penalties or civil remedies for sexual harassment in
employment. A score of 1 is assigned if the law establishes criminal sanctions, such
as nes or imprisonment, for sexual harassment in employment. A score of 1 is also
assigned if the provision in the criminal code provides for reparation or damages for
oenses covered by the code, or if the law provides for civil remedies or compensation
for victims of sexual harassment in employment or the workplace, even after dismissal
of the victims. A score of 0 is assigned if the law establishes neither criminal sanctions
for sexual harassment in employment nor civil remedies or compensation for victims
of sexual harassment in employment or the workplace. A score of 0 is also assigned
if the law only prohibits sexual harassment in employment and sets forth that the
employer should apply discretionary sanctions.
APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
75
Pay
The Pay indicator measures laws aecting occupational segregation and the gender
wage gap. Restrictions on certain jobs have been found to be negatively correlated with
female employment.
3
This indicator has four components that assess:
• Whether the law mandates equal remuneration for work of equal value.
“Remuneration” refers to the ordinary, basic, or minimum wage or salary and any
additional emoluments payable directly or indirectly, whether in cash or in kind, by the
employer to the worker and arising from the worker’s employment. “Work of equal
value” refers not only to the same or similar jobs but also to dierent jobs of the same
value. A score of 1 is assigned if employers are legally obliged to pay equal remunera-
tion to male and female employees who perform work of equal value in accordance
with these denitions. A score of 0 is assigned if the law limits the principle of equal
remuneration to equal work, the same work, similar work, or work of a similar nature.
A score of 0 is also assigned if the law limits the broad concept of “remuneration” to
only basic wages or salary, or if the law limits the principle of equal remuneration for
work of equal value to the same place of business or same employer.
• Whether a woman can work at night in the same way as a man. A score of 1 is
assigned if nonpregnant and non-nursing women can work at night in the same way
as men. A score of 1 is also assigned when restrictions on women’s ability to work
at night do not apply to the food retail sector, women’s consent to work at night is
required, or an employer needs to comply with safety measures (such as providing
transportation). A score of 0 is assigned if the law broadly prohibits women, including
those with children over the age of one, from working at night or limits the hours
women can work at night. A score of 0 is also assigned if the law gives the relevant
authority the power to restrict or prohibit women’s night work, regardless of the
content of any decisions issued by that authority.
• Whether a woman can work in a job deemed dangerous in the same way as a
man. A score of 1 is assigned if no laws prohibit or restrict nonpregnant and non-
nursing women from working in a broad and subjective category of jobs deemed
“hazardous,” “arduous,” or “morally inappropriate.” A score of 0 is assigned if the
law prohibits or restricts women from working in jobs deemed hazardous, arduous,
or morally inappropriate. A score of 0 is also assigned if the relevant authority can
determine whether particular jobs are too hazardous, arduous, or morally inappropriate
for women but not for men, regardless of the content of any decisions issued by that
authority.
• Whether a woman can work in an industrial job in the same way as a man. A
score of 1 is assigned if nonpregnant and non-nursing women can work in the mining,
construction, manufacturing, energy, water, agriculture, and transportation industries
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
76
in the same way as men. A score of 0 is assigned if the law prohibits women from
working in these industries. A score of 0 is also assigned if women’s employment in
the relevant industries is restricted in any way, such as by prohibiting women from
working at night in “industrial undertakings,” or by giving the relevant authority the
power to prohibit or restrict women from working in certain jobs or industries, regard-
less of the content of any decisions issued by that authority.
Marriage
The Marriage indicator measures legal constraints related to marriage and divorce. Legal
discrimination against women, including limits on their ability to be head of household,
has been found to be negatively correlated with labor force participation.
4
Unequal rights
in marriage and divorce can also have negative eects on women’s intrahousehold
bargaining power and jeopardize their nancial security when a divorce is nalized.
5
This
indicator has ve components that measure:
• Whether there is no legal provision that requires a married woman to obey her
husband. A score of 1 is assigned if there is no provision requiring a married woman
to obey her husband. A score of 0 is assigned if there is an explicit provision stating
that a married woman must obey her husband, or if disobedience of a husband has
legal ramications for his wife, such as loss of her right to maintenance.
• Whether a woman can be head of household in the same way as a man. A score
of 1 is assigned if there are no restrictions on a woman being head of household or
head of family. A score of 0 is assigned if there is a provision designating the husband
as head of household or stipulating that the husband leads the family. A score of 0 is
also assigned if a male is designated as the default family member who receives the
family book or equivalent document that is needed for access to services. Gender
restrictions under tax law are not measured by this question.
• Whether there is legislation specically addressing domestic violence. A score of
1 is assigned if there is legislation addressing domestic violence that includes criminal
sanctions or provides for protection orders for domestic violence. A score of 0 is as-
signed if there is no legislation addressing domestic violence, if the domestic violence
legislation does not provide for sanctions or protection orders, or if only a specic
category of women or family member is protected. A score of 0 is also assigned if
there is only a provision that increases penalties for general crimes covered in the
criminal code if committed between spouses or within the family.
• Whether a woman can obtain a judgment of divorce in the same way as a man.
A score of 1 is assigned if the process to obtain a judgment of divorce is equal for
women and men or provides additional protections for women, such as prohibiting a
husband from initiating divorce proceedings while his wife is pregnant. A score of 0 is
assigned if there are procedural or evidentiary dierences for women, if only men can
initiate divorce proceedings, or if divorce is legally prohibited.
• Whether a woman has the same rights to remarry as a man. A score of 1 is as-
signed if women and men have equal rights to remarry. A score of 0 is assigned if
provisions limit a woman’s right to remarry, such as requiring a waiting period before
remarriage to which a man is not subject. A score of 0 is also assigned if divorce is
legally prohibited.
APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
77
Parenthood
The Parenthood indicator examines laws aecting women’s work during and after
pregnancy. Women are more likely to return to work if the law mandates maternity
leave.
6
This indicator has ve components that measure:
• Whether paid leave of at least 14 weeks is available to mothers. A score of 1 is
assigned if mothers are legally entitled to at least 14 weeks (98 calendar days) of paid
leave for the birth of a child through maternity leave, parental leave, or a combination
of both. A score of 0 is assigned if the law does not establish paid leave for mothers,
or if the length of paid leave is less than 14 weeks.
• Whether the government administers 100% of maternity leave benets. A score
of 1 is assigned if leave benets are fully administered by a government entity, in-
cluding compulsory social insurance schemes (such as social security), public funds,
government-mandated private insurance, or employer reimbursement of any mater-
nity leave benets paid directly to an employee. A score of 0 is assigned if any of the
cost is shared by the employer. A score of 0 is also assigned if contributions or taxes
are mandated only for female employees, if the social insurance scheme that provides
maternity leave benets is optional, or if no paid leave is available to expectant and
new mothers.
• Whether paid leave is available to fathers. A score of 1 is assigned if fathers are
legally entitled to at least one day of paid paternity leave for the birth of a child, or
if the law reserves a portion of paid parental leave specically for fathers—that is,
through “use-it-or-lose-it” policies or fathers’ quotas. A score of 1 is also assigned if
fathers are individually entitled to paid parental leave. A score of 0 is assigned if the
law does not guarantee fathers any paid paternity leave or other specic leave for the
birth of a child. A score of 0 is also assigned if allowances for the birth of a child must
be deducted from annual or sick leave.
• Whether there is paid parental leave. A score of 1 is assigned if parents are legally
entitled to some form of full-time paid parental leave, either shared between mother
and father or as an individual entitlement that each can take regardless of the other.
A score of 0 is assigned if the law does not mandate any form of paid parental leave.
• Whether dismissal of pregnant workers is prohibited. A score of 1 is assigned if the
law explicitly prohibits the dismissal of pregnant women, if pregnancy cannot serve as
grounds for termination of a contract, or if dismissal of pregnant workers is considered
a form of unlawful termination, unfair dismissal, or wrongful discharge. A score of 0
is assigned if there are no provisions prohibiting the dismissal of pregnant workers, or
if the law only prohibits the dismissal of pregnant workers during maternity leave, for
a limited period of the pregnancy, or when pregnancy results in illness or disability.
Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurship indicator measures constraints on women starting and running
a business. Having access to a bank account is strongly correlated with women’s labor
supply.
7
This indicator has four components that measure:
• Whether the law prohibits discrimination in access to credit based on gender.
A score of 1 is assigned if the law prohibits discrimination by creditors based on sex
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
78
or gender or prescribes equal access for both men and women when conducting
nancial transactions or entrepreneurial activities or receiving nancial assistance.
Ascore of 1 is also assigned if the law prohibits gender discrimination when accessing
goods and services (and services are dened to include nancial services). A score of
0 is assigned if the law does not prohibit such discrimination, or if the law does not
provide for eective remedies.
• Whether a woman can sign a contract in the same way as a man. A score of 1is
assigned if a woman obtains full legal capacity upon reaching the age of majority
and there are no restrictions on her signing legally binding contracts. A score of 0
is assigned if a woman has limited legal capacity to sign a contract or needs the
signature, consent, or permission of her husband or guardian to do so.
• Whether a woman can register a business in the same way as a man. A score of
1is assigned if there are no restrictions on a woman registering a business. A score of
0 is assigned if a woman has limited legal capacity to register a business. This includes
situations in which she needs her husband’s or guardian’s permission, signature, or
consent to register a business. A score of 0 is also assigned if the registration process
at any stage requires a woman to provide additional information or documentation
that is not required of a man.
• Whether a woman can open a bank account in the same way as a man. A score of
1 is assigned if there are no restrictions on a woman opening a bank account. Ascore
of 0 is assigned if a woman has limited legal capacity or is required to provide any
additional permission or documentation that is not required of a man. A score of 0 is
also assigned if legal provisions limit the ability of a woman to open a bank account,
such as stating that only a married woman who is separately employed from her
husband may open a bank account in her own name.
Assets
The Assets indicator examines gender dierences in property and inheritance law.
Improving property and inheritance rights is positively associated with female earnings
and employment
8
as well as women’s access to housing and land.
9
This indicator has ve
components that measure:
• Whether men and women have equal ownership rights to immovable property.
A score of 1 is assigned if there are no restrictions on women’s legal capacity and
rights to immovable property. A score of 0 is assigned if women’s rights to own or
administer property are legally restricted. A score of 0 is also assigned if there are
gender dierences in the legal treatment of spousal property, such as granting the
husband administrative control of marital property. This includes instances in which
legal systems are supported by custom and judicial precedent.
• Whether sons and daughters have equal rights to inherit assets from their par-
ents. A score of 1 is assigned if sons and daughters have the same rights to inherit as-
sets from their parents. A score of 0 is assigned if there are gender-based dierences
in the recognition of children as heirs to property.
APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
79
• Whether male and female surviving spouses have equal rights to inherit assets.
A score of 1 is assigned if surviving spouses of either gender with no living children
have the same inheritance rights. A score of 0 is assigned if there are gender-based
dierences in the inheritance rights of surviving spouses with no living children.
• Whether the law grants spouses equal administrative authority over assets dur-
ing marriage. A score of 1 is assigned if spouses retain administrative power over
the assets each brought to the marriage or acquired during marriage, and their ac-
crued value, without the need for spousal consent. A score of 1 is also assigned if
spouses administer their separate property, but for major transactions, such as selling
or pledging the property as collateral, spousal consent is required, or if both spouses
have equal rights in the administration and transaction of joint property. A score of
0 is assigned if the husband has administrative rights over all property, including any
separate property of the wife.
• Whether the law provides for the valuation of nonmonetary contributions.
Nonmonetary contributions include caring for minor children, taking care of the
family home, or any other nonmonetized contribution from a stay-at-home spouse.
A score of 1 is assigned if there is an explicit legal recognition of such contributions
and the law provides for equal or equitable division of the property or the transfer
of a lump sum to the stay-at-home spouse based on nonmonetary contributions.
A score of 1 is also assigned if the default marital property regime is full commu-
nity, partial community, or deferred community of property because these regimes
implicitly recognize nonmonetary contributions at the time of property division and
benet both spouses regardless of who purchased the property or holds title to it.
A score of 0 is assigned if the default marital property regime is not full or partial
community or deferred full or partial community, and there is no explicit legal provi-
sion providing for equal or equitable division of property based on nonmonetary
contributions.
Pension
The Pension indicator assesses laws aecting the size of a woman’s pension. Early
retirement can widen the potential gender gap in pension levels and increase women's
risk of poverty in old age.
10
This indicator has four components that measure:
• Whether the age at which men and women can retire with full pension benets
is the same. A score of 1 is assigned if the statutory age at which men and women
can retire and receive an irrevocable minimum old-age pension is the same. A score
of 0 is assigned if there is a dierence in the statutory age or if there is no mandatory
pension scheme implemented for private sector workers.
• Whether the age at which men and women can retire with partial pension ben-
ets is the same. Partial pension benets refer to a reduced or proportional minimum
old-age pension payable to workers who did not accumulate enough work experience
or periods of contribution or have not reached the statutory age to qualify for a mini-
mum old-age pension. A score of 1 is assigned if the age at which men and women
can retire and receive partial pension benets is the same, or if the age at which men
and women can retire and receive partial benets is not mandated. A score of 0 is
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
80
assigned if the age at which men and women can retire and receive partial pension
benets is dierent, or if there is no mandatory pension scheme implemented for
private sector workers.
• Whether the mandatory retirement age for men and women is the same. A score
of 1 is assigned if the legally established age at which men and women must retire is
the same, or if there is no mandatory retirement age. A score of 0 is assigned if the
age at which men and women must retire is dierent.
• Whether periods of absence from work due to childcare are taken into account
in pension benets. A score of 1 is assigned if pension contributions are paid or cred-
ited during maternity or parental leave, or the leave period is considered a qualifying
period of employment used for the purpose of calculating pension benets. A score
of 1 is also assigned if there are mechanisms to compensate for any contribution
gaps and to ensure that the leave period does not reduce the assessment base or
pension amounts, or if there are no mandatory contributory pension schemes, but
there is a noncontributory universal social pension conditioned on noncontributory
requirements with no means test attached. A score of 0 is assigned if there are no
compensating pension arrangements for periods of childcare, or if there is no manda-
tory contributory pension scheme for private sector workers and no noncontributory
universal social pension.
Reforms
Each year, Women, Business and the Law indicators capture changes to domestic
laws and regulations that aect women’s economic opportunities. Summaries of such
changes are listed in the annex that follows chapter 1, thereby acknowledging the legal
reform eorts undertaken by governments during the period reviewed. Any legislative or
regulatory change that aects the score assigned to a given economy on any question
under the eight indicators is classied as a reform. A nal reform count is then calculated
from the number of changes per indicator per economy.
For questions that refer to legal rights, the change must be mandatory, meaning
that women can enforce their rights in court or sanctions can be leveled by a regulatory
body such as a central bank, employment tribunal, national human rights commission, or
other enforcement body, including the police. For questions that refer to benets, such
as maternity, parental, or pension benets, women must be able to obtain the benet as
of the cuto date. Policies, guidelines, model rules, principles, and recommendations are
excluded, as are ratied international conventions when they have not been incorporated
into domestic law. Reforms aecting the Women, Business and the Law indicators include
but are not limited to amendments to or the introduction of a new constitution, labor law,
family or personal status law, penal code, or administrative procedure.
Proposed methodological changes
The following changes in methodology have been proposed for future studies:
• Date of reform. Some Women, Business and the Law questions measure impediments
to women’s economic opportunity, whereas others analyze the provision of benets.
Because of the dierences in these types of questions, those on impediments consider
APPENDIX A: DATA NOTES
81
the enactment date of laws and regulations, whereas questions that measure the
provision of a benet such as paid leave or pension consider only laws that are in force
and operational. To better measure implementation of the law, Women, Business and
the Law proposes in future cycles to begin measuring laws based on their date of
enforcement rather than their date of enactment for all questions.
• Marriage. Unequal bargaining power within the household puts married women at a
disadvantage compared with married men. The question of whether a woman is or
is not legally required to obey her husband currently captures only explicit spousal
obedience provisions. This approach does not account for the fact that many legal
systems establish unequal power dynamics between husband and wife—for exam-
ple, a woman who abstains from marital relations with her husband may face legal
ramications. Women, Business and the Law therefore proposes including under this
question provisions that provide exemptions for marital rape or otherwise negatively
aect a woman’s decision-making power within the household.
• Parenthood. Gender equality in the workplace is not possible without gender equality
in the home. Although paternity and parental leave have the potential to redistribute
unpaid care work, emerging research shows that the design of leave policies matters
more for gender equality than simply their existence. In all economies that provide
paid parental leave, women use it signicantly more than men. Moreover, very long
parental leave policies may negatively aect a woman’s career progression and earn-
ings because she has spent too much time out of the labor force. The key to designing
leave policies that do not exacerbate gender inequality may be promoting fathers’
uptake of leave. Women, Business and the Law thus proposes establishing longer
thresholds for both the question on whether there is paid leave available for the
father and the question on whether there is paid parental leave. In addition, Women,
Business and the Law proposes rening the question on paid parental leave in order
to encourage more equitable use of leave policies.
• Entrepreneurship. Access to credit is a major barrier to women’s entrepreneurship.
Women, Business and the Law is seeking to rene the methodology for this indicator
and potentially add new questions to better measure women’s nancial inclusion.
More detailed data on each economy included in this report appear on the project
website at https://wbl.worldbank.org. The team welcomes feedback on the methodology
and construction of this set of indicators, and it looks forward to improving their coverage
and scope. Comments can be oered by contacting the
Women, Business and the Law
team at [email protected]g.
Notes
1. Htun, Jensenius, and Nelson-Nuñez 2019.
2. McLaughlin, Uggen, and Blackstone 2017; Zabalza and Tzannatos 1985.
3. Ogloblin 1999, 2005; Zveglich and Rodgers 2003.
4. Goldin and Olivetti 2013; Gonzales et al. 2015.
5. Voena 2015.
6. Berger and Waldfogel 2004.
7. Field et al. 2016; Ladd 1982.
8. Heath and Tan 2018; Peterman 2011.
9. Gaddis, Lahoti, and Swaminathan 2020.
10. Burn et al. 2020; Chłoń-Domińczak 2017.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
82
References
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United States.”
Journal of Population Economics
17 (2): 331–49.
Burn, Ian, Patrick Button, Theodore F. Figinski, and Joanne Song McLaughlin. 2020. "Why Retirement, Social
Security, and Age Discrimination Policies Need to Consider the Intersectional Experiences of Older
Women."
Public Policy and Aging Report
30 (3): 101–06.
Chłoń-Domińczak, Agnieszka. 2017. “Gender Gap in Pensions: Looking Ahead.” Study for the Femme
Committee, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, European Parliament, Brussels.
Field, Erica, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, Simone Schaner, and Charity Troyer Moore. 2016. “On Her Account:
Can Strengthening Women’s Financial Control Boost Female Labour Supply?” Working paper, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA.
Gaddis, Isis, Rahul Lahoti, and Hema Swaminathan. 2020.“Women's Legal Rights and Gender Gaps in Property
Ownership in Developing Countries.”Policy Research Working Paper 9444,World Bank, Washington, DC.
Goldin, Claudia, and Claudia Olivetti. 2013. “Shocking Labor Supply: A Reassessment of the Role of World War II
on Women’s Labor Supply.”
American Economic Review
103 (3): 257–62.
Gonzales, Christian, Sonali Jain-Chandra, Kalpana Kochhar, and Monique Newiak. 2015. “Fair Play: More Equal
Laws Boost Female Labor Force Participation.” IMF Sta Discussion Note SDN/15/02, International
Monetary Fund, Washington, DC.
Heath, Rachel, and Xu Tan. 2018. “Intrahousehold Bargaining, Female Autonomy, and Labor Supply: Theory and
Evidence from India.” Working paper, Department of Economics, University of Washington, Seattle.
Htun, Mala, Francesca R. Jensenius, and Jami Nelson-Nuñez. 2019. “Gender-Discriminatory Laws and Women’s
Economic Agency.”
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society
26 (1).
Ladd, Helen. 1982. “Equal Credit Opportunity: Women and Mortgage Credit.”
American Economic Review
72(2): 166–70.
McLaughlin, Heather, Christopher Uggen, and Amy Blackstone. 2017. “The Economic and Career Eects of
Sexual Harassment on Working Women.”
Gender and Society
31 (3): 333–58.
Ogloblin, Constantin G. 1999. “The Gender Earnings Dierential in the Russian Transition Economy.”
Industrial
and Labor Relations Review
52 (4): 602–27.
Ogloblin, Constantin G. 2005. “The Gender Earnings Dierential in Russia after a Decade of Economic
Transition.”
Applied Econometrics and International Development
5 (3): 5–26.
Peterman, Amber. 2011. “Women’s Property Rights and Gendered Policies: Implications for Women’s Long-term
Welfare in Rural Tanzania.”
Journal of Development Studies
47 (1): 1–30.
Voena, Alessandra. 2015. “Yours, Mine, and Ours: Do Divorce Laws Aect the Intertemporal Behavior of Married
Couples?”
American Economic Review
105 (8): 2295–332.
Zabalza, Antoni, and Zaris Tzannatos. 1985. “The Eect of Britain’s Anti-Discriminatory Legislation on Relative
Pay and Employment.”
Economic Journal
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Zveglich, Joseph E., and Yana van der Meulen Rodgers. 2003. “The Impact of Protective Measures for Female
Workers.”
Journal of Labor Economics
21 (3): 533–55.
83
APPENDIX B: ECONOMY DATA
Indicators capture legal dierences between men and women in the following areas:
Economy
MOBILITY
WORKPLACE
PAY
MARRIAGE PARENTHOOD ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ASSETS
PENSION
WBL 2021
INDEX
Afghanistan 50 75 0 20 20 75 40 25 38.1
Albania 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 50 91.3
Algeria 75 75 50 60 60 75 40 25 57.5
Angola 100 50 50 100 60 100 100 25 73.1
Antigua and Barbuda 75 50 75 100 0 75 80 75 66.3
Argentina 100 75 50 100 60 75 100 50 76.3
Armenia 100 50 75 100 60 75 100 100 82.5
Australia 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 75 96.9
Austria 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 75 96.9
Azerbaijan 100 100 0 100 80 100 100 50 78.8
Bahamas, The 100 100 75 80 20 75 100 100 81.3
Bahrain 50 75 25 40 40 100 40 75 55.6
Bangladesh 100 50 25 60 20 75 40 25 49.4
Barbados 75 75 50 100 40 75 100 100 76.9
Belarus 100 50 50 100 80 75 100 50 75.6
Belgium 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Belize 75 75 50 100 60 75 100 100 79.4
Benin 75 100 50 80 60 75 80 100 77.5
Bhutan 100 100 100 80 40 50 80 25 71.9
Bolivia 100 75 100 100 60 100 100 75 88.8
Bosnia and Herzegovina 100 100 50 100 80 100 100 50 85.0
Botswana 75 25 75 100 0 75 60 100 63.8
Brazil 100 100 75 100 80 75 100 50 85.0
Brunei Darussalam 50 25 75 40 0 75 60 100 53.1
Bulgaria 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 25 90.6
Burkina Faso 75 100 25 80 80 75 100 100 79.4
Burundi 100 100 75 60 40 75 60 75 73.1
Cabo Verde 100 100 75 100 40 100 100 75 86.3
Cambodia 100 100 75 80 20 100 100 25 75.0
Cameroon 50 75 25 40 80 50 60 100 60.0
Canada 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Central African Republic 75 100 25 80 60 75 100 100 76.9
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
Economy Data
APPENDIX B
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
84
Economy
MOBILITY
WORKPLACE
PAY
MARRIAGE PARENTHOOD
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ASSETS
PENSION
WBL 2021
INDEX
Chad 75 75 50 60 60 50 60 100 66.3
Chile 100 75 75 80 100 75 60 75 80.0
China 100 100 25 100 80 75 100 25 75.6
Colombia 100 100 50 100 80 75 100 50 81.9
Comoros 75 75 100 40 40 75 40 75 65.0
Congo, Dem. Rep. 100 100 50 40 80 100 60 100 78.8
Congo, Rep. 50 25 25 40 20 75 60 100 49.4
Costa Rica 100 100 50 100 40 75 100 100 83.1
Côte d'Ivoire 100 100 50 60 80 75 100 100 83.1
Croatia 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 50 93.8
Cyprus 75 100 75 100 80 100 100 100 91.3
Czech Republic 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 50 93.8
Denmark 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Djibouti 100 100 50 20 60 100 40 75 68.1
Dominica 75 25 50 100 0 75 100 75 62.5
Dominican Republic 100 100 75 80 60 100 100 75 86.3
Ecuador 100 100 100 100 40 75 100 100 89.4
Egypt, Arab Rep. 50 75 0 0 20 75 40 100 45.0
El Salvador 100 100 75 80 80 100 100 75 88.8
Equatorial Guinea 75 25 100 20 60 0 60 75 51.9
Eritrea 100 100 75 60 20 75 100 25 69.4
Estonia 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 100 97.5
Eswatini 100 25 50 40 20 0 60 75 46.3
Ethiopia 100 100 25 80 60 75 100 75 76.9
Fiji 100 100 50 100 60 75 100 75 82.5
Finland 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 97.5
France 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Gabon 50 75 25 20 80 50 60 100 57.5
Gambia, The 100 50 75 100 60 75 60 75 74.4
Georgia 100 100 75 100 60 100 100 50 85.6
Germany 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 97.5
Ghana 100 100 50 100 20 75 80 75 75.0
Greece 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 97.5
Grenada 100 50 100 100 20 75 100 100 80.6
Guatemala 100 25 50 80 60 75 100 75 70.6
Guinea 100 100 50 60 40 100 60 100 76.3
Guinea-Bissau 75 25 0 60 20 25 60 75 42.5
Guyana 75 100 100 80 40 100 100 100 86.9
Haiti 50 50 100 40 40 75 80 75 63.8
Honduras 100 100 50 80 20 100
100 50 75.0
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
85
APPENDIX B: ECONOMY DATA
Economy
MOBILITY
WORKPLACE
PAY
MARRIAGE PARENTHOOD
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ASSETS
PENSION
WBL 2021
INDEX
Hong Kong SAR, China 100 100 75 100 40 100 100 100 89.4
Hungary 100 100 75 100 100 100 100 100 96.9
Iceland 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
India 100 100 25 100 40 75 80 75 74.4
Indonesia 100 50 75 40 40 75 60 75 64.4
Iran, Islamic Rep. 0 0 50 0 60 75 40 25 31.3
Iraq 25 100 50 0 20 75 40 50 45.0
Ireland 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Israel 100 100 50 60 60 100 100 75 80.6
Italy 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 100 97.5
Jamaica 100 25 50 100 20 75 100 75 68.1
Japan 100 50 50 80 100 75 100 100 81.9
Jordan 25 0 75 20 40 100 40 75 46.9
Kazakhstan 100 50 25 100 80 75 100 25 69.4
Kenya 100 100 100 100 40 50 80 75 80.6
Kiribati 100 100 100 100 20 75 60 75 78.8
Korea, Rep. 100 100 25 100 80 75 100 100 85.0
Kosovo 100 100 100 100 60 100 100 75 91.9
Kuwait 50 0 0 40 0 75 40 25 28.8
Kyrgyz Republic 100 100 25 100 40 100 100 50 76.9
Lao PDR 100 100 75 100 80 100 100 50 88.1
Latvia 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Lebanon 100 50 50 60 20 75 40 25 52.5
Lesotho 100 75 75 80 20 75 100 100 78.1
Liberia 100 100 100 100 40 75 80 75 83.8
Libya 75 50 75 20 40 75 40 25 50.0
Lithuania 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 50 93.8
Luxembourg 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Madagascar 75 100 25 80 40 75 100 100 74.4
Malawi 50 100 100 100 20 75 100 75 77.5
Malaysia 50 50 50 40 0 75 60 75 50.0
Maldives 100 100 75 60 40 100 40 75 73.8
Mali 50 50 50 20 60 75 80 100 60.6
Malta 100 100 75 100 60 100 100 75 88.8
Marshall Islands 100 50 100 100 0 100 20 75 68.1
Mauritania 100 25 25 0 60 75 0 100 48.1
Mauritius 100 100 100 100 60 100 100 75 91.9
Mexico 100 100 75 100 60 100 100 75 88.8
Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 100 25 75 100 0 75 60 75 63.8
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
86
Economy
MOBILITY
WORKPLACE
PAY
MARRIAGE PARENTHOOD
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ASSETS
PENSION
WBL 2021
INDEX
Moldova 100 75 75 100 100 100 100 25 84.4
Mongolia 100 100 75 100 60 100 100 25 82.5
Montenegro 100 100 75 100 80 100 100 50 88.1
Morocco 100 100 50 60 80 100 40 75 75.6
Mozambique 100 100 50 100 60 100 100 50 82.5
Myanmar 75 25 50 80 60 75 80 25 58.8
Namibia 75 100 100 100 40 75 100 100 86.3
Nepal 75 100 100 100 40 75 80 75 80.6
Netherlands 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 97.5
New Zealand 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 97.5
Nicaragua 100 100 75 100 40 100 100 75 86.3
Niger 75 75 75 20 60 50 20 100 59.4
Nigeria 50 75 50 100 0 75 80 75 63.1
North Macedonia 100 100 50 100 80 100 100 50 85.0
Norway 100 100 100 100 100 75 100 100 96.9
Oman 0 75 25 20 0 75 40 50 35.6
Pakistan 75 100 25 60 20 75 40 50 55.6
Palau 100 25 75 100 0 75 20 75 58.8
Panama 100 100 50 80 80 75 100 50 79.4
Papua New Guinea 75 50 25 100 0 75 80 75 60.0
Paraguay 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 75 94.4
Peru 100 100 100 80 80 100 100 100 95.0
Philippines 75 100 100 60 60 100 60 75 78.8
Poland 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 50 93.8
Portugal 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Puerto Rico (US) 100 100 75 100 20 100 100 75 83.8
Qatar 25 0 50 20 0 75 40 25 29.4
Romania 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 25 90.6
Russian Federation 100 50 50 80 80 75 100 50 73.1
Rwanda 100 100 75 100 20 75 100 75 80.6
Samoa 75 100 75 100 40 75 100 75 80.0
San Marino 100 50 75 80 60 75 100 100 80.0
São Tomé and Príncipe 100 100 75 80 60 75 100 100 86.3
Saudi Arabia 100 100 100 60 40 100 40 100 80.0
Senegal 75 100 25 60 60 75 40 100 66.9
Serbia 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 50 93.8
Seychelles 75 50 75 100 80 75 80 75 76.3
Sierra Leone 100 75 50 100 0 75 80 75 69.4
Singapore 100 75 75 100 60 75 100 75 82.5
Slovak Republic 100 100 75 100 80 100
100 25 85.0
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
87
APPENDIX B: ECONOMY DATA
Economy
MOBILITY
WORKPLACE
PAY
MARRIAGE PARENTHOOD
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ASSETS
PENSION
WBL 2021
INDEX
Slovenia 100 100 75 100 100 100 100 100 96.9
Solomon Islands 75 25 25 100 0 75 80 75 56.9
Somalia 75 50 50 20 40 75 40 25 46.9
South Africa 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 25 88.1
South Sudan 100 100 100 80 40 75 40 25 70.0
Spain 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 97.5
Sri Lanka 100 75 25 100 20 75 80 50 65.6
St. Kitts and Nevis 100 25 50 100 40 75 80 100 71.3
St. Lucia 75 100 100 80 40 75 100 100 83.8
St. Vincent and the
Grenadines
75 25 50 100 20 75 100 100 68.1
Sudan 0 0 0 0 20 75 40 100 29.4
Suriname 100 50 75 80 60 50 100 75 73.8
Sweden 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100.0
Switzerland 100 100 100 100 60 75 100 50 85.6
Syrian Arab Republic 25 25 0 40 40 75 40 50 36.9
Taiwan, China 100 100 100 100 80 75 100 75 91.3
Tajikistan 100 50 50 100 80 100 100 50 78.8
Tanzania 100 100 100 80 60 75 60 75 81.3
Thailand 100 100 75 80 20 75 100 75 78.1
Timor-Leste 100 75 75 80 60 75 100 100 83.1
Togo 100 100 100 60 60 75 80 100 84.4
Tonga 100 25 75 100 0 75 20 75 58.8
Trinidad and Tobago 75 50 75 80 20 100 100 100 75.0
Tunisia 100 100 25 60 40 75 40 100 67.5
Turkey 100 100 75 80 80 75 100 50 82.5
Uganda 75 100 100 80 40 75 40 75 73.1
Ukraine 100 100 0 100 60 100 100 75 79.4
United Arab Emirates 100 100 100 60 60 100 40 100 82.5
United Kingdom 100 100 100 100 80 100 100 100 97.5
United States 100 100 75 100 80 100 100 75 91.3
Uruguay 100 100 75 80 80 75 100 100 88.8
Uzbekistan 100 50 25 80 60 100 100 50 70.6
Vanuatu 75 25 50 80 0 100 60 75 58.1
Venezuela, RB 100 100 75 100 80 75 100 50 85.0
Vietnam 100 100 75 100 80 100 100 0 81.9
West Bank and Gaza 25 25 0 20 0 75 40 25 26.3
Yemen, Rep. 25 25 25 0 0 75 40 25 26.9
Zambia 75 100 100 80 40 100 80 75 81.3
Zimbabwe 100 100 75 80 40 100 100 100 86.9
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
89
Data collection and analysis for Women, Business and the Law 2021 were conducted by
a World Bank Group team led by Tea Trumbic (Program Manager, Women, Business and
the Law), under the general direction of Norman V. Loayza (Director, Global Indicators
Group, Development Economics) and Rita Ramalho (Senior Manager, Global Indicators
Group, Development Economics). Overall guidance for preparation of the report was
provided by Aart Kraay (Deputy Chief Economist and Director of Development Policy,
Development Economics).
Members of the core research team were Nelsy Aoum, Nayda Almodóvar Reteguis,
Nisha Arekapudi, Julia Constanze Braunmiller, Nour Chamseddine, Claudia Lenny
Corminales, Sheng Cui, Marie Dry, Marina Elefante, Mahmoud Elsaman, Nadine Elshokeiry,
Aida Hammoud Watson, Marie Caitriona Hyland, Viktoria Khaitina, Gloria Daniele Kuoh,
Olga Kuzmina, Kook Hee Lee, Natalia Mazoni Silva Martins, Olena Mykhalchenko, Alena
Sakhonchik, Isabel Santagostino Recavarren, Katrin Schulz, Friederike Strub, Siyi Wang,
and Yasmin Zand. The team was assisted by Consuelo Jurado Tan, Vadim Absaliamov,
Dania Arayssi, Mila Cantar, Catalina Carbonell, Katya El Tayeb, Jessica Maeda Jeri, Liang
Shen, Shidi Wendy Wu, and Bize Yang.
Support for Women, Business and the Law is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, government of Sweden, United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The Women, Business and the Law 2021 outreach strategy is managed by Chisako
Fukuda, supported by Nina Vucenik, Mikael Reventar, and World Bank Group communica-
tions colleagues at headquarters and around the world. Development and management
of the Women, Business and the Law website and other technical services were sup-
ported by Manasi Amalraj, Rajesh Ammassamveettil, Neda Bostani, Arun Chakravarthi
Nageswaran, Patrizia Cocca, Varun Doiphode, Fengsheng Huang, Anna Maria Kojzar,
Akash Pradhan, Kamalesh Sengaonkar, Shrikant Bhaskar Shinde, and Georey Shott.
The team is grateful for valuable comments provided by colleagues, both within and
outside the World Bank Group, and for guidance provided by the World Bank Group’s
Executive Directors. The team would especially like to acknowledge the guidance of
SAnukriti, Frances Beaton-Day, Klaus Decker, Amanda Devercelli, Maria Quesada Gamez,
Tazeen Hasan, Talip Kilic, Young Eun Kim, Leora Klapper, Rudaba Nasir, Izzati Ab Razak,
and Lina Shaharuddin.
This report was made possible by the generous contributions of more than 2,300
lawyers, judges, academics, civil society representatives, and public ocials from 190
economies. Contact details for local partners are available on the Women, Business and
the Law website at http://wbl.worldbank.org. The names of local partners wishing to be
acknowledged individually are also listed. Global and regional contributors are rms that
have completed multiple questionnaires from their various oces around the world.
Acknowledgments
APPENDIX C
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
90
GLOBAL
CONTRIBUTORS
Advocates for International
Development (A4ID)
Allen & Overy
Arias
Baker McKenzie
Dechert
Dentons
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
GRATA International
International Association of
Women Judges(IAWJ)
Latham & Watkins
Linklaters
Musawah for Equality in the
Family
Norton Rose Fulbright
Shearman & Sterling
Tilleke & Gibbins
United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)
UN Women
White & Case
ALBANIA
Mirela Arqimandriti
Gender Alliance for
DevelopmentCenter
Ledja Burnazi Mitllari
University of New York Tirana
Teuta Dedej
Albanian Women Empowerment
Network (AWEN)
Ada Güven
Beder University–Department of
Law
Dudi Ilias
Adriatik Lapaj
Lawyer
Ines Leskaj
Albanian Women Empowerment
Network (AWEN)
Eni Mazniku
Ruhr University Bochum
Megi Reçi
Civil Rights Defenders
Erida Visoçi
Prosecution Oce of Vlora
ALGERIA
Radia Abdous
Ghellal & Mekerba
Kada Aa
Université de la Formation
Continue
Narimene Benabdallah
Université d’Oran 2 Mohamed Ben
Ahmed
Yamina Kebir
Cabinet Kebir
Larbaoui Malika
Bouchaib Law Firm
Mohamad Moussi
ANGOLA
Inês Albuquerque e Castro
FCB Sociedade de Advogados
Soa Chaves
Elieser Corte Real
Fátima Freitas & Associados–
Sociedade de Advogados
Catarina de Sottomayor Barbosa
FCB Sociedade de Advogados
Fátima Freitas
Fátima Freitas & Associados–
Sociedade de Advogados
Igor Fortes Gabriel
FBL Advogados
Isabel Gavião
MG Advogados
Berta Grilo
FBL Advogados
Vanessa Matos Mendes
PLMJ Legal Network–
Mozambique Desk
Edila Maria Melo Ribeiro
Lawyer
Petra Nascimento
Rede Mulher Angola
Alexandra Do Nascimento
Gonçalves
MG Advogados
Catarina Neto Fernandes
Miranda Correia Amendoeira&
Associados, Sociedade de
Advogados RL
Itweva Nogueira
Dentons
Fernanda Ricardo
Rede Mulher Angola
Leniza Sampaio
MG Advogados
Jacob Sanganjo
Fátima Freitas & Associados–
Sociedade de Advogados
Sousa Silva
CIMA–Marcas e Patentes
Henrique Sungeti
Rede Mulher Angola
Elsa Tchicanha
Bruno Xavier de Pina
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
91
ANTIGUA AND
BARBUDA
Sherrie-Ann Bradshaw
S. Bradshaw &
Associates
Alethea Byers
Family and Social
Services
Rushaine Cunningham
Dentons
Alexandrina Wong
Women Against Rape
Inc.
ARGENTINA
Ana Alicia Ariet Guevara
Poder Judicial Pcia. de
Mendoza
Úrsula Basset
Universidad Austral &
Ponticia Universidad
Católica Argentina
Mabel Bianco
La Fundación para
Estudio e Investigación
de la Mujer (FEIM)
Mónica Burlón
Estudio Jurídico Mónica
Burlón y Asociados
Carina Marcela Castrillón
Bulló Abogados
Claudia Susana Catalin
Gobierno de la
Provincia de Santa Fe
Agatha Ciancaglini
Troller
Dirección General de
Políticas de Género
(DGPG)
Graciela Beatriz De Oto
Suma Veritas
Cristina Devoto
Asociación Argentina
de Ética y Compliance
Milagros Etcheberry
Le Fort
Cámara Argentina de
Comercio y Servicios
Sebastián Ignacio
Fortuna
Universidad de Buenos
Aires, Facultad de
Derecho
Consuelo García
Consuelo García
LawFirm
Rodrigo Fermín García
Marval, O’Farrell &
Mairal
Jorge Daniel Grispo
Estudio Grispo &
Asociados
Diego Sebastián Kelly
Marval, O’Farrell &
Mairal
Esteban Mancuso
Cámara Argentina de
Comercio y Servicios
Mariano Raul Maranta
Bulló Abogados
Maria Cecilia Massone
Marval, O’Farrell &
Mairal
Sofía Gabriela Nuñez
Marval, O’Farrell &
Mairal
Juan Pablo Olmo
Ministerio Público de la
Defensa
Sofía María Parra Sanfet
Tamara Quiroga
Cámara Argentina de
Comercio y Servicios
Liliana Ronconi
Consejo Nacional
de Investigaciones
Cientícas y Técnicas
(CONICET)
Estefanía A. Santarelli
Marval, O’Farrell &
Mairal
Enrique Mariano Stile
Marval, O’Farrell &
Mairal
Federico Ariel Vaschetto
Defensoria General de
la Nación Argentina
Matias Bolis Wilson
Cámara Argentina de
Comercio y Servicios
Silvana Florencia Yazbek
Instituto de la
Democracia y
Elecciones (IDEMOE)
ARMENIA
Hayk Abrahamyan
Open Society
Foundations
Anna Barikyan
Confederation of Trade
Unions of Armenia
Davit Hunanyan
AM Law Firm
Ara Khzmalyan
Adwise Business &
Legal Consulting
Vanik Margaryan
AM Law Firm
Maro Matosian
Women’s Support
Center
Larisa Minasyan
Open Society
Foundations
Hasmik Ohnikyan
Ilex Law Firm
Siranush Sahakyan
Path of Law
Tirayr Vardazaryan
Gayane Virabyan
K & P Law Firm
Arpine Yeghikyan
Marseral LLC
AUSTRALIA
Marco Bianchino
Pearson Emerson
Amelia Ikin
Allen & Overy
Christy Miller
Clayton Utz
Stephen Page
Page Provan Pty.
Limited
Susan Pearson
Pearson Emerson
Scarlett Storm
Clayton Utz
Jorja Sumner
Allen & Overy
Tineka Winter
Pearson Emerson
Jane Wright
Work Dynamic Australia
AUSTRIA
Verein Wiener
Frauenhäuser
Agnieszka Branding
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer LLP
Karin
Buzanich-Sommeregger
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer LLP
Barbara Deitzer
Isabel Firneis
Wolf Theiss
Hans Georg Laimer
Zeiler Floyd Zadkovich
Birgitt Haller
Institute of Conict
Research (IKF)
Georg Krakow
Baker McKenzie–Diwok
Hermann Petsche
Rechtsanwälte LLP &
Co. KG
Theresa Nindl
Vavrovsky Heine Marth
Rechtsanwälte GmbH
Alexander Petsche
Baker McKenzie–Diwok
Hermann Petsche
Rechtsanwälte LLP &
Co. KG
Gert-Peter Reissner
University of Innsbruck
Eva-Maria Ségur-Cabanac
Baker McKenzie–Diwok
Hermann Petsche
Rechtsanwälte LLP &
Co. KG
Matthias Unterrieder
Wolf Theiss
Verena Vinzenz
University of Innsbruck
Lukas Wieser
Zeiler Floyd Zadkovich
Jasmin Rosita Zareie
Baker McKenzie–Diwok
Hermann Petsche
Rechtsanwälte LLP &
Co. KG
AZERBAIJAN
Fidan Abdurrahimli
Raoul Wallenberg
Institute of Human Rights
and Humanitarian Law
Sevil Aliyeva
Sonakhanim Gaybaliyeva
Javid Hajiyev
Fina LLP
Gunel Ismayilbeyli
Lawyer
Ummi Jalilova
GRATA International
Lala Karimli
Kamala Khalilova
Fina LLP
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
92
Azad Mammadli
Partnerinwest
Aärsmäklarna AB
Shahin Mammadrzali
Baku State University
Gulzada
Mirzamammadova
Socar Polymer LLC
Ruslan Mirzayev
Adrem Attorneys
Kifayat Nasirli
Adrem Attorneys
Araz Poladov
Shabnam Sadigova
GRATA International
Mahammad Safarli
Azerbaijan Football
Federation
Fidan Salmanova
GRATA International
Shahla Samedova
Baku State University
Elnara Yusibova
BAHAMAS, THE
Justine A. Smith
McKinney Bancroft &
Hughes
Corey Samuel Brown
Higgs & Johnson
Sandra Dean-Patterson
Bahamas Crisis Centre
Vann P. Gaitor
Higgs & Johnson
Dennise Newton
Higgs & Johnson
Justin Seymour
White & Case LLP
BAHRAIN
Zaina Albuainain
Al Tamimi & Company
Zeenat Al Mansoori
Zeenat Al Mansoori &
Associates
Ismail Alnasiri
Inovest
Reem Al Rayes
Zeenat Al Mansoori &
Associates
Noor Al Taraif
Zu’bi & Partners
Attorneys & Legal
Consultants
Foutoun Hajjar
Al Tamimi & Company
Omar Naghawai
Eman Omar
Zu’bi & Partners
Attorneys & Legal
Consultants
Fatema Sarhan
Al Tamimi & Company
BANGLADESH
Sarmin Akther
Bangladesh Law
Partners BDLP
Shajib Mahmood Alam
Bangladesh Law
Partners BDLP
Tania Amir
Amir & Amir Law
Associates
Rawshon Ara Begum
Shariatpur Judge Court
Md. Khademul Islam
Choyon
Sattar&Co.
Raqul Islam
Obiter Dictum
Israt Jahan
Shariatpur Judge Court
Md. Imran Jahan
Sultana Nasrin
Amir & Amir Law
Associates
Md. Noushad Parvez
Advocacy Legal
Nabila Raque
Amir & Amir Law
Associates
Md. Ranur Rahman
Bangladesh Law
Partners BDLP
Christabel Randolph
Supreme Court of
Bangladesh
Akram Hossain Rifat
Bangladesh Law
Partners BDLP
Chitro Shahabuddin
Mehnaz Siddiqui
Judicial Administration
Training Institute
Muhammad Rashel
Siddiqui
Obiter Dictum
BARBADOS
T’shara A. Sealy
Virtus Legal
Christopher Blackman
Juris Chambers
Margot Greene
Sole Practitioner and
Queen’s Counsel
Michelle M. Russell
MR Law
Wendy Straker
Juris Chambers
Rickeda Taylor
Virtus Legal
Heather Walker
Chancery Chambers
BELARUS
United Civil Party of
Belarus
Irina Alkhovka
International Public
Association Gender
Perspectives
Irina Bagnich
Law Oce Law Practice
and Family Mediation
Sergei Makarchuk
CERHA HEMPEL Belarus
Andrei Neviadouski
Cierech, Neviadouski
and Partners Advocates
Bureau
Vadim Poleschuk
CERHA HEMPEL Belarus
Natallia Raisanen
Cierech, Neviadouski
and Partners Advocates
Bureau
Katsiaryna Shmatsina
Belarusian Organization
of Working Women
Dzmitryj Shylau
Cierech, Neviadouski
and Partners Advocates
Bureau
Krystsina Sitkevich
Playgendary
Development LLC
Juri Slepitch
Arzinger & Partners
Alena Zhdanovich
Law Oce Law Practice
and Family Mediation
BELGIUM
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Marie Beudels
Eleanor Coets
Hill Dickinson LLP
Audrey Fayt
Tribunal de 1ère
instance du Hainaut
Cécile Firket
Avocat
Nanyi Kaluma
Allen & Overy
Sylvie Lacombe
Tetra Law
Valerie Lejeune
Association d’Avocats
Schmitz, Jottrand,
Klees, Risopoulos et
Gernay
Julie Malingreau
Tetra Law
Michaela Roegiers
Brussels Court of
Justice
Simon Troch
Latham & Watkins
Catherine Van de
Heyning
Artes Law
Evelien Van Espen
Allen & Overy
BELIZE
Dolores Balderamos
Garcia
Dolores Balderamos
Garcia Law Oce
Stevanni L. Duncan
Barrow & Williams LLP
Andrea McSweaney
Mckoy
Mckoy Torres LLP
Deshawn Arzu Torres
Mckoy Torres LLP
BENIN
Régis Lionel Aballo
L’Ecole Régionale
Supérieur de la
Magistrature (ERSUMA)
Agnila Rakou Alabi
Cabinet Rakou A. Alabi
Nda Kouagou Camille
SOS Children’s Villages
Benin
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
93
Albert Djidohokpin
SOS Children’s Villages
Benin
Sarah Lacomme
Evelyne Quenum
Alexandrine
Saïzonou-Bedie
Cabinet Saizonou
Guy-Lambert Yêkpê
Cabinet G.L. Yêkpê
BHUTAN
Sangay Chhedup
Bhutan National Legal
Institute
Deki Dema
UNICEF Bhutan
Kinley Gyeltshen
Oce of the Attorney
General
Dema Lham
Jigme Singye
Wangchuck School
ofLaw
Dona Mathew
UN Women
Sonam Tobgay
Bank of Bhutan Ltd.
Chimmi Wangmo
Bhutan Law Chamber
BOLIVIA
Andrea Bollmann Duarte
Salazar, Salazar &
Asociados Soc. Civ.
Iby Bueno Ayala
Salazar, Salazar &
Asociados Soc. Civ.
Grisett Carrasco Guerra
C.R. & F. Rojas Abogados
Polina Chtchelok
ESPCS Multidisciplinary
Consulting
René Claure Veizaga
Moreno Baldivieso
Syntia Vilma Cuentas
Zeballos
Salazar, Salazar &
Asociados Soc. Civ.
Jinky Irusta
Ocina Jurídica Para la
Mujer
Claudia López
Monterrey
ESPCS Multidisciplinary
Consulting
Julieta Montaño
Pamela Muñoz Alípaz
Moreno Baldivieso
Mónica Novillo
Coordinadora de la
Mujer
Sandra Salinas
C.R. & F. Rojas
Abogados
Antonio Sanjinés
C.R. & F. Rojas
Abogados
BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA
Jasmin Cengic
ERC ZIPO d.o.o. Sarajevo
Feđa Dupovac
Advokatska Kancelarija
Spaho
Arijana
Hadžiahmetović-Softić
Marić & Co. Law Firm
Edin Ibrahimefendic
The Human Rights
Ombudsman of Bosnia
and Herzegovina
Igor Letica
Sajić o.d. Banja Luka
Mirela Mazulović
Sajić o.d. Banja Luka
Mišo Pašić
Advokatska kancelarija
Stevanović
Lejla Popara
Attorney
Aleksandar Sajić
Sajić o.d. Banja Luka
Emir Spaho
Advokatska Kancelarija
Spaho
Mehmed Spaho
Advokatska Kancelarija
Spaho
Selma Spaho
Advokatska Kancelarija
Spaho
BOTSWANA
Garebamono & Pillar
Law Practice
University of Botswana
Lesego Gaetwesepe
Seranne Junner-Beale
Chibanda,
Makgalemele&
Company Law
Relwe Mogwe
Nyaradzo Mupfuti
Minchin & Kelly
Keikantse Phele
Botswana Gender-Based
Violence Prevention and
Support Centre
Tshiamo Rantao
Rantao Attorneys
BRAZIL
Barbosa Müssnich
Aragão (BMA)
Mariana Angioletti
Mariana Angioletti
Family Law Oce
Josycler Arana
Universidade Federal
Fluminense
Murilo Caldeira
Germiniani
Machado, Meyer,
Sendacz e Opice
Advogados
Letícia Calderaro Batista
Calderaro Advocacia
Clara Costa
Conversa Com Elas
Ligia Maura Costa
Ligia Maura Costa
Advocacia
Carla Demchuk
Ana Thais Dias Safe
Carneiro
Advocacia Safe
Carneiro
Christiana Fontenelle
Bichara Advogados
Jorge Gonzaga
Matsumoto
Bichara Advogados
Leomir José Vieira
Leomir Vieira Advocacia
Previdenciária
Andressa Lin Fidelis
Latham & Watkins LLP
Thais Machado
Federal Regional Court
of 4th Region
Paula Márky Sobral
Shearman & Sterling
LLP
Andrea Giamondo
Massei
Machado, Meyer,
Sendacz e Opice
Advogados
Ludmila Nogueira Murta
IFMG Campus Sabará
Rodrigo Oliveira
Carreiro, Cali e
Oliveira Sociedade de
Advogados
Pedro Pimenta Bossi
Federal Regional Court
of 4th Region
João Pedro Póvoa
Bichara Advogados
Mauricio Quadros
Soares
Quadros e Quadros
Sociedade de
Advogados
Marina Resende Silva
Instituto Elpídio
Donizetti
Pedro Schor
Machado, Meyer,
Sendacz e Opice
Advogados
Janaína (Jana) Telles
Meibel Ventura Dos
Santos Lacerda
Universidade Federal
Fluminense
BRUNEI
DARUSSALAM
Hasnah Hassan &
Associates
Sabrina Azaharaini
Cheok Advocates &
Solicitors
Robin Cheok
Cheok Advocates &
Solicitors
Hajah Norajimah Haji Aji
Ministry of Home
Aairs, Department of
Labor
Norizzah Hazirah Hj
Awg Hussin
Ministry of Home
Aairs, Department of
Labor
Norkhatijah Zainal
Royal Brunei Police
Force
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
94
BULGARIA
Mila Dikova
Boyanov & Co.
Roza Dimova
Center of Women’s
Studies and Policies
Kate Dinovska
Weishaupt
Horak Georgiev
Attorney-at-Law
Boris Georgiev
Weishaupt
Horak Georgiev
Attorney-at-Law
Tatyana Kmetova
Center of Women’s
Studies and Policies
Diliana Markova
Bulgarian Lawyers for
Human Rights
Katerina Partenova
Dimov & Tashev Law
Firm
Elitsa Pophlebarova
Boyanov & Co.
BURKINA FASO
Ursule Kaboré-Bouda
Ministère de la Femme,
de la Solidarité
Nationale et de la
Famille
Sièlma Salimata Kone
Centre d’Études et
de Recherches sur le
Droit International et
les Droits de l’Homme
(CERDIH)
Mariam Lamizana
Voix de Femmes (VdF)
Julie Rose Ouedraogo
Judge
Moussa Ouedraogo
Ministère de
l’Administration
Territoriale, de la
Décentralisation et de
la Sécurité Intérieure
(MATDSI)
Victoria Ouedraogo
Judge
Souleymane Sawadogo
Judge
Abdoulaye Sedogo
Unité de Coordination
de la Formulation du
Second Compact du
Burkina (UCF-Burkina)
Abdoulaye Soma
Centre d’Études et
de Recherches sur le
Droit International et
les Droits de l’Homme
(CERDIH)
Clarisse Zoungrana
Nadembega
BURUNDI
Longin Baranyizigiye
Djuma Ida
Rubeya & Co.
Advocates
Alexis Manirakiza
University of Burundi
Salvator Minani
Alpha Justice
Chambers
Paul Muhirwa
Bernard Ntahiraja
Lecturer
Fabien Segatwa
Cabinet Segatwa
Fabien & Associés
Jean Berchmans
Siboniyo
Association of Mentors
for Business and
Entrepreneurship
(AMEBE)
CABO VERDE
Ilídio Cruz
Ilídio Cruz & Associados,
Sociedade de
Advogados RL
Roselma Évora
Amanda Fernandes
Ilídio Cruz & Associados,
Sociedade de
Advogados RL
Arianna Lopes
EDGE–International
Lawyers
Bartolomeu Lopes
Varela
Sociedade de Educação
Formação e Gestão
João Medina
EDGE–International
Lawyers
Clóvis Santos
Ilídio Cruz & Associados,
Sociedade de
Advogados RL
Hernani Soares
Unitel T+
CAMBODIA
The Cambodian Center
for Human Rights
Sophal Chea
Better Factories
Cambodia
Channeang Chim
The Cambodian NGO
Committee on CEDAW
Mengann Hoeurn
Bun & Associates
Bunthea Keo
Cambodian Human
Rights Task Force
Chantevy Khourn
ActionAid Cambodia
Davy Loung
ActionAid Cambodia
Ratana Pen
Heinrich Boell
Foundation
Kuntheapini Saing
Bun & Associates
Sinoun Sous
Bun & Associates
Dana Wallack
The Cambodian NGO
Committee on CEDAW
CAMEROON
Roland Abeng
The Abeng Law Firm
Abel Epse Piskopani
Armelle Silvana
Monde Juridique et
Fiscal (MOJUFISC)
Queenta Asibong
The Abeng Law Firm
Angelina Atabong
Dimu Nana Metang
Davis
Aleine Djessi Ndine
Tribunal Criminel Spécial
Maximilienne Ebane
Makiben
Hyacinthe Fansi
Ngassam, Fansi &
Mouafo Avocats
Associés
Nicaise Ibohn Bata
INB Law Firm
Désiré Makondo
DM & Partners–
membre de HLB ACP
Central Africa
Patrick Menyeng Manga
The Abeng Law Firm
Mirabel Mungu
The Abeng Law Firm
Corine Ngaleu Tienyam
Siewe Law Firm
Bolleri Pym
Université de Douala
Dieudonné Takam
Cabinet Takam &
Associés
Bergerele Reine Tsafack
Dongmo
Monde Juridique et
Fiscal (MOJUFISC)
CANADA
Jennifer Bernardo
Baker & Mckenzie LLP
Meghan Hillstrom
McCarthy Tetrault LLP
Leanna Katz
Caroline Kim
Miller Thomson LLP
Reshma Kishnani
Mills & Mills LLP
Anne Levesque
University of Ottawa
Justine Lindner
McCarthy Tetrault LLP
Katherine Long
Tammy Law
Professional
Corporation
Deepa Mattoo
Barbra Schlifer
Commemorative Clinic
Petra Molnar
Barbra Schlifer
Commemorative Clinic
Caroline Sand
Barbra Schlifer
Commemorative Clinic
Meredith Strike
Latham & Watkins LLP
Tanya Walker
Walker Law Professional
Corporation
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
95
CENTRAL AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
Ben Kabagambe
Brice Kevin Kakpayen
Cabinet Morouba
Baptiste Lushombo
American Bar
Association
Raymond Ndakala
Barreau de Centrafrique
CHAD
Moko Adoumbaye
Rachel Beida
Cabinet Ndei Obed
Thomas Dingamgoto
Cabinet Thomas
Dingamgoto
Masra Djimas
Société Civile d’Avocats
Cogito Fokalbo
SCP Padare
Jehu Gabnoh
Gabkiambe
Development Finance
Institute
Lega Ibrahim Garandi
Cabinet d’Avocat Lega
Ibrahim
Jules Londogoto
Cabinet Mianlengar
Pierre
Pierre Mianlengar
Guy Emmanuel
Ngankam
Taxafrica
Bakari Thomas
Ronelingaye
JURISCOM
Foba Toukpleye
Orabank
CHILE
Manuela Cross Pey
Carcelén, Desmadryl,
Guzmán & Tapia
Héctor Garrido
Lizama Abogados
Tomás Honorato
Estévez
Fundación Honra
Daniela Horvitz Lennon
Horvitz & Cia Ltda.
Abogados
Juan Ignacio Ipinza
Mayor
Lawyer
Ignacio Orellana García
Lucía Planet Sepúlveda
Defesoría Laboral
Gabriela Puente
Montero
Carcelén, Desmadryl,
Guzmán & Tapia
Francisca María
Rebolledo Lascar
María Paz Riumalló
ESE Business School
María José Urzúa
ESE Business School
Isabel Villagran M.
Black & Veath Chile
Elisa Walker
Sarmiento y Walker
Abogados
CHINA
Beijing Zhongze
Women’s Legal Aid
Center
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Moge Chen
Linklaters Zhao Sheng
Jing He
Jun He LLP
Lijian Ji
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Jie Jin
Linklaters Zhao Sheng
Emily Ma
Linklaters Zhao Sheng
Xuekai Vincent Qian
Dentons
Simonette Santos
Danping Shen
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Jinlan Sun
Kim & Chang
Xue Tao
Dentons
Jerey Wilson
Jun He LLP
Dylan Wu
Ke Wu
Dechert LLP
Xiaotong Wu
Guangdong Win Long
Law Firm
Han Yang
Commerce & Finance
Law Oces
Xiaowei Yin
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Hui Zhang
Guangdong Win Long
Law Firm
Mariana Zhong
Dechert LLP
Martin Zhou
Linklaters Zhao Sheng
COLOMBIA
Universidad de
Antioquía
White & Case LLP
Julieta Abello
María Margarita Bucheli
Eraso
María Isabel Lopera
Vélez
Carlos Alberto López
Henao
Carlos Lopez Abogados
Adriana Martínez
Piedrahita
DG&A Abogados
Lina Mejía
Maria Rocha
Leonardo Salamanca
Anzola
S&G Consultores SAS
Nathaly Tovar
COMOROS
Aboubakar Abdou
Abdourahamane
Abidate
Shawiri Scoops
Maimouna Ibrahim
National Commission
for Solidarity, Social
Protection and Gender
Promotion
Mouda Mohamed
Abdoulhalik
EFOICOM (Femmes
Entrepreneurs
Comoriennes)
CONGO, DEM.
REP.
Aline Bahati Cibambo
Université Catholique
de Bukavu
Justine Masika Bihamba
Synergie des Femmes
pour les Victimes de
Violences Sexuelle
(SFVS)
Dorcas Buzigire
Mercy Corps
Serge Faray Salumu
Fabien Kadima
Emile Luketa Mukuna
University of
Lumbubashi
Ezechiel Lwesso
Collège Georges
Misamu
Brigitte Mawazo
IFHD NGABO
Initiative Féminine
pour la Défense des
Droits Humains et le
Développement
Marie Migani
Centre d’Appui à la
Promotion de la Santé–
CAPSA asbl
Salvator Minani
Alpha Justice Chambers
Roger Mulamba
RMK & Associés
Dunia Prince Zongwe
Walter Sisulu University
CONGO, REP.
Patrice Bazolo
PwC
Fernand Carle
Cabinet d’Avocats
Fernand Carle
Bob Kaben Massouka
Cabinet d’Avocats
Maître Bob Kaben
Massouka
Laetitia Nadine Loko
Blanchard Ngouala
Association Congolaise
des Professionnels du
Droit
Franck Darnod Nguimbi
Mbenze
Cabinet d’Avocats
Claude Coelho
Sylvie Niombo
Issan Giska Ntsila
Cabinet d’Avocats
Ntsila
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
96
Welcom Romell Nzaba
Nodjitolom
Cabinet d’Avocats
Mabiala & Tsamba
COSTA RICA
Rocío Amador Hasbun
Bufete Amador
Larissa Arroyo
Navarrete
Asociación Ciudadana
ACCEDER
Estefanía Batalla
Arias
Carolina Flores Bedoya
Arias
Cristina Guerrini
Arias
Marianne Pál-Hegedüs
Ortega
LatamLex Abogados
Daniel Rodriguez Molina
ERP Lawyers
German Rojas
Arias
Eduardo Rojas Piedra
ERP Lawyers
Augusto Solís Rodríguez
Carolina Soto
Arias
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Association des
Femmes Juristes de
Côte d’Ivoire (AFJCI)
Marie-Dominique
Allomo
Imboua–Koauao–Tella &
Associés
Charles Ane
SCPA Dogué-Abbé Yao
et Associés
Simone Assa-Akoh
Société d’Avocats
Bazie, Koyo, Assa
Françoise Angeline
Delphine Assi
Kaudjhis-Ooumou
Cabinet
Kaudjhis-Ooumou
Carine Bieu
Imboua–Koauao–Tella &
Associés
Agnès Doh
ONG ADPF
Patrick Famien
Imboua–Koauao–Tella &
Associés
Claude-Andrée Groga
Chauveau & Associes
Moumouni Konaté
Konrm-Advies
Rosemonde Kuie
Eric-Didier N’dri
ONG AVIDE (Africa’s
Volunteers for
International
Development)
Edwige N’Gouan
Cabinet Jean-François
Chauveau
Patricia N’Guessan
Cabinet Jean-François
Chauveau
Marguerite Yoli-Bi Koné
West Africa Network for
Peacebuilding
Seydou Zerbo
SCPA Dogué-Abbé Yao
et Associés
CROATIA
Sanja Bezbradica Jelavic
Odvjetničko društvo
Jelavić i partneri j.t.d.
Marko Borsky
Marko Borsky Law
Oce
Andrea Gubić
Divjak, Topić &
Bahtijarević Law Firm
Ema Marušić
Marko Borsky Law
Oce
Kristina Mihaljević
Women’s Room–Center
for Sexual Rights
Maja Mitrović
Karlo Novosel
Law Oce Karlo
Novosel
Nela Pamukovic
Centre for Women War
Victims
Zdravka Sadžakov
B.a.B.e–Be active, Be
emancipated
Barbara Šimić
Divjak, Topić &
Bahtijarević Law Firm
Andrej Žmikić
Divjak, Topić &
Bahtijarević Law Firm
CYPRUS
Venetia Argyropoulou
European University of
Cyprus
Panayiota Chrysochou
Aspasia K. Efstathiou
Efstathios C. Efstathiou
LLC
Katerina Georgiadou
Nadia Kornioti
University of Central
Lancashire–Cyprus
Anna
Koukkides-Procopiou
Center for European and
International Aairs–
University of Nicosia
Mary Koutselini
University of Cyprus
Nicholas Ktenas
Elias Neocleous & Co.
LLC
Olga Lambrou-Ioannou
Mouaimis & Mouaimis
LLC
Michalis Mouaimis
Mouaimis & Mouaimis
LLC
Panayotis Mouaimis
Mouaimis & Mouaimis
LLC
CZECH REPUBLIC
Barbara Adamcová
Lucie Hrda
AK Hrda s.r.o.
Veronika Ježková
proFem–Centre for
Victims of Domestic
and Sexual Violence
Klara Kolomaznikova
White & Case LLP
Ida Kucerova
White & Case LLP
Milada Kurtosiova
Kocián Šolc Balaštík
Radek Matouš
Eversheds Sutherland,
advokátní kancelář,
s.r.o.
Petra Plasilova
Shearman & Sterling
LLP
Michal Ptáček
Radoušová Ptáček,
advokátní kancelář
Filip Šperl
Kocián Šolc Balaštík
Vojtěch Steininger
Hartmanová &
Steininger, advokáti
Alena Turoňová
Radoušová Ptáček,
advokátní kancelář
Václav Žaloudek
White & Case LLP
DENMARK
Elsebeth
Aaes-Jørgensen
Norrbom Vindinq
Mads Bernstorn
MK Law Firm
Maria Bekke Eiersted
Kromann ReumertLaw
Firm
Johanne Snog Gillesberg
Statistics Denmark
Marianne Granhøj
Kromann ReumertLaw
Firm
Hanne Hartoft
Aalborg University,
Department of Law
Majken Johansen
Advokat Majken
Johansen
Mette Klingsten
MK Law Firm
Anne Mørk
Aalborg University,
Department of Law
Kathe Nielsen
Kromann ReumertLaw
Firm
Linda Nielsen
University of
Copenhagen
Tina Reissmann
Labora Legal
Carley Wilson
MK Law Firm
Mathilde Worch Jensen
University of
Copenhagen
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
97
DJIBOUTI
Hassan Mouhoumed
Abdoulkader
Cabinet d’Avocat
Abdoulkader Hassan
Mahdi Boulboul Ali
Beryl Claire Asiago
AnalytIQ Consult
Soa Curradi
Cabinet Avocats
Associés Djibouti
Abayazid &
Abdourahman
Fatima Karroum
Zahra Youssouf Kayad
DOMINICA
Jo-Anne Cuy
Danielle Edwards
Attorney-at-Law
Ernette Kangal
CC Law Practitioners
LLP
Tara Leevy
Attorney-at-Law
Nawana Shillingford
University of the West
Indies
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
José Manuel
Alburquerque Prieto
Ontier Albuquerque
Merielin Almonte
Merielin Almonte
Estudio Legal
Joan Carolina Arbaje
Bergés
Distrito Legal
Lidia Aybar
Distrito Legal
Pamela Benzán Arbaje
Guzmán Ariza &
Asociados
Jonattan A. Boyero
Galán
Caamaño–De Herrera&
Boyero. Abogados
(CDHB)
Yuleidi Galice
Merielin Almonte
Estudio Legal
Prinkin Jiménez
Ontier Albuquerque
Dilia Leticia Jorge Mera
DLJM Firma de
Abogados
Carol Matos De La Cruz
María Jesús Pola
Lawyer
Katherine Vallejo
Ontier Albuquerque
ECUADOR
Daniela Estefanía
Aguirre Salamea
María Fernanda Aguirre
Salamea
Maria Laura Barrera
Barrera, Andrade-
Cevallos & Abogados
Patrick Barrera
Barrera, Andrade-
Cevallos & Abogados
María Angélica
Campoverde
Lawyer
Maria Camila Carrillo
Gálvez
Gálvez & Asociados
Mariuxi Paola Cedeño
Floril
Universidad
Metropolitana
Piedad Gálvez Cortes
de Varea
Gálvez & Asociados
Ana Carolina González
Cevallos
Fabian Jaramillo
Jaramillo Dávila
Abogados
Diego Jaramillo Terán
Jaramillo Dávila
Abogados
Libertad Machado
López
Universidad
Metropolitana
Gabriela Paredes
Goottman
Julián Pástor
Sempértegui Ontaneda
Abogados
Gabriela Salazar
Sempértegui Ontaneda
Abogados
Farith Simon
Cristina Valencia Araujo
EGYPT, ARAB REP.
Dalia Abdel Ghany
Sharkawy & Sarhan
Mohamed Abdelgawad
ADSERO–Ragy Soliman &
Partners
Nehad Abu-Alkamssan
The Egyptian Center for
Women’s Rights
Inas Farah
Beyti–Joint Venture of
Almarai & PepsiCo.
Adham Hashish
Alexandria University
Faculty of Law
Tarek Hossam
Youssef Sallam
ADSERO–Ragy Soliman &
Partners
Marwa Sharafeldin
Musawah for Equality in
the Family
Ali Shohayeb
ADSERO–Ragy Soliman &
Partners
Darah Zakaria
ADSERO–Ragy Soliman &
Partners
EL SALVADOR
Ruth Beraliz Argueta
Lilian Arias
Arias Law
Christian Bará Cousin
Bara Legal Corporation
Rafael Burgos
Arias Law
Silvia Juárez
ORMUSA, Asoc.
Organización de
Mujeres Salvadoreñas
por la Paz
Carolina Lazo
Arias Law
Jessenia Consuelo
Martínez Coto
Procuraduría General
de la República
Mariana Melara
Corte Suprema de
Justicia
Ernesto Morales
Lilian Margarita Ulloa
Alvarenga
Corte Suprema de
Justicia
EQUATORIAL
GUINEA
Javier Iñiguez
Lechêne, Iñiguez &
Partners
Damien Lanuza
Estela Mercedes Nse
Mansogo
Permanent Mission of
Equatorial Guinea to
the United Nations
Pablo Obama
Centurion Law Group
Serana Sialo
ERITREA
UNDP
Suleiman Ahmedin
UNHCR Eritrea
Senai W. Andemariam
Natnael Fitsum Tekeste
Ministry of Justice
Henok Gebregzabiher
Ruta Gebremichael
Najat Humed
Sebri Ibrahim
Ministry of Justice
Senay Kuu
Ghebremeskel
SNS Group
Adam Teklehaymanot
Lawyer
Isaias Teklia
Asmara University
Temesgen Tesfu
Ministry of Justice
Awet Tewelde
Ministry of Justice
Wegahta Zere
ESTONIA
White & Case LLP
Merle Erikson
University of Tartu
Triinu Hiob
Njord Law Firm
Vladislav Leiri
Law Firm Sorainen
Karin Madisson
Law Firm Sorainen
Lauri Paulus
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
98
Meelis Pirn
The Barrister Law Firm
Simona Vissak
Priit Palmiste
Attorneys-at-Law
ESWATINI
Dumsani Christopher
Dlamini
Women and Law
in Southern Africa
(WLSA)–Eswatini
Nkosingivile Dlamini
Robinson Bertram Law
Firm
Colani Hlatjwako
Women and Law
in Southern Africa
(WLSA)–Eswatini
Nondumiso (Noni)
Hlope
Global Shapers
Community: Mbabane
Hub
Vimbai Kapurura
Women Unlimited
Sabelo Khumalo
Ministry of Justice and
Constitutional Aairs
Sikhumbuzo M.
Simelane
SM Simelane & Co.
ETHIOPIA
Dagnachew Tesfaye
Abetew
Dagnachew Tesfaye
and Mahlet Mesganaw
Law Oce
Rehim Baharu
Ethiopian Human Rights
Commission
Selam Gebretsion
Beyene
Abhilasha Joshi Kataria
Luladay Berhanu
Mengistie
Mahlet Mesganaw Getu
Dagnachew Tesfaye
and Mahlet Mesganaw
Law Oce
Etsehiwot Sereke
Ethiopian Human Rights
Commission
Dunia Tegegn
FIJI
Shamima Ali
Fiji Women’s Crisis
Center
Stephanie Dunn
Fiji Women’s Crisis
Center
Elenoa Leweni
Seruwaia Nayacalevu
Shekinah Law
Armish Pal
AP Legal
Mele Rakai
Sherani & Co.
Samuel Ram
Samuel K. Ram
Ravi Singh
Parshotam Lawyers
Susana Tuisawau
FINLAND
Petri Eskola
Backstrom & Co.
Attorneys Ltd.
Duin Ghazi
Leenamaija Heinonen
Roschier
Mika Kärkkäinen
Dittmar and Indrenius
Attorneys Ltd.
Teea Kemppinen
Bird & Bird Attorneys
Ltd.
Hanna-Mari Manninen
Dittmar & Indrenius
Attorneys Ltd.
Mari Mohsen
Roschier
Maisa Nikkola
Bird & Bird Attorneys
Ltd.
Jukka Paloheimo
Roschier
Sampsa Pekkinen
Roschier
Milla Pyykkönen
The Feminist
Association Union
Nita Rautakoski
Dittmar & Indrenius
Attorneys Ltd.
Chloé Spyratos
Latham & Watkins
Connie Taylor-Cox
Latham & Watkins
Tiina Virtanen
Bird & Bird Attorneys
Ltd.
FRANCE
Esperanza Barron
Baratech
Latham & Watkins
Jérémie Blond
Cabinet Jérémie Blond
Béatrice Collette
Valentine Darmois
Leick & Darmois
Charles Dubot
Cabinet Jérémie Blond
Chloé Froment
Austin Kelsen
Paul Gallix
Gallix Avocats
Allison Kramer
Latham & Watkins
Jeremy Lagelee
International Energy
Agency
Noémie Lopes-Lemière
Latham & Watkins
Charlotte O’Leary
Austin Kelsen
Virginie Tassin
Campanella
VTA Tassin
Véronique Tual-Nerson
SCP Tual-Nerson
Douarre & Associés
(TNDA)
Caroline Yadan Pesah
GABON
Melviva Benga Bengone
Khadidjatou
Boussougou
B&Law Consulting
Group
Edwige Eyang Ea
Femme,
Environnement, Santé
et Education
Delphine Lemboumba
Avalyna Moundziegou
ONG Malachie
Nicole Nguema Metogo
AGIR pour le Genre
Gabon
Edgar Régis Obame
Femme, Environnement,
Santé et Education
Marie Josée Ongo
Mendou
Business Consulting
Gabon
Ophélie Owono Mbeng
Femme,
Environnement, Santé
et Education
Catherine Teya
Olam International
Gabon Ltd.
Audrey Josiane Worah
Femme, Environnement,
Santé et Education
Solange Yenou
La Voix des Oublies
GAMBIA, THE
Elizabeth J.C. Dunn
Judiciary of The Gambia
Mohammad Edirissa
Faal
Lawyer
Oludayo Fagbemi
Institute for
Human Rights and
Development in Africa
Thomas Fuad Touray
Fabakary Jammeh
Centre for Legal
Support
Judy Oder
African Union
Janet Ramatoulie
Sallah-Njie
Torodo Chambers
Sae Sankareh-Farage
Astus Consulting
Ya Amie Touray
University of The
Gambia and The Public
Utilities Regulatory
Authority
GEORGIA
Ekaterine Getsadze
JMK Legal
Nana Kruashvili
Ana Mgebrishvili
Tbilisi Court of Appeals
Tinatin Oboladze
Georgian Young
Constitutionalists’
Association
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
99
Tamar Ruseishvil
Ketevan Shubashvili
Oce of Public
Defender of the
Republic of Georgia
Chiora Taktakishvili
Ilia State University
Revaz Tkemaladze
Ministry of Justice of
the Republic of Georgia
GERMANY
Kathleen Acott
Barbara Angene
Marco Daub
sfh Schumacher
Steuerberatungs-
gesellschaft mbH
Nicole Janssen
Sidley Austin LLP
Christina Mann
Latham & Watkins LLP
Xenia Pisarewski
Sidley Austin LLP
Heiko Recktenwald
Bärbel Schmidt
Independent Consultant
Vanessa Sekker
Latham & Watkins LLP
Jürgen Streng
Mayer Brown
International LLP
Sabine Vorbrodt
GHANA
Lom Ahlijah
Ghana Grid Company
Valery Atuwo
Kimathi & Partners
Hilary Gbedemah
The Law Institute
Abass Hamza
HACEP–Ghana
Mawunya Kudu
Cynthia Nimo-Ampredu
Human Rights
Advocacy Center
Nicole-Marie Poku
Sory @ Law
Judith Naa Ode
Stephens
GREECE
International
Organization for
Migration
Niki Alexandrou
Norton Rose Fullbright
Greece
Nikos Anastopoulos
Politis & Partners
Barbara Angelopoulou
Avramopoulos &
Partners Law Firm
Alexandra Argyropoulou
AP Legal
Ioanna Chanoumi
Kyriakides
Georgopoulos Law Firm
Chara
Chioni-Chotouman
National and
Kapodistrian University
of Athens
Konstantinos
Dimitropoulos
Dimitropoulos,
Karipidou & Associates
Eirini Kikarea
University of Cambridge
Ioanna Kyriazi
Kyriakides
Georgopoulos Law Firm
Stavroula Lymousi
Apostolos Papadimitriou
Costas D. Papadimitriou
Costas D. Papadimitriou
and Partners Law
Company
Dimitra
Papayiannopoulou
Norton Rose Fullbright
Greece
Evangelos Politis
Politis & Partners
Maria Rigaki
EY Law
Emmanouil Savoidakis
Politis & Partners
Kostas Spaidiotis
KPSY Law Firm
Dimitris Theodoropoulos
Politis & Partners
Matina Tsili
Bitros Holding SA
Viktoria Zioga
GRENADA
Henry, Henry & Bristol
Anderson Andall
CityScape
Kaisha Ince
Attorney General’s
Oce Grenada
Rosana John
Wilkinson, Wilkinson &
Wilkinson
Jacqueline Lorice Pascal
Grenada National
Organisation of Women
(GNOW)
Rae Thomas
Franco Chambers and
Company
Herricia L. Willis
H.L. Willis & Associates
GUATEMALA
White & Case LLP
Pedro Aragón
Aragón & Aragón
Geovani Javier
Avendaño Maldonado
María Elena Barrientos
Arias
Ana Rocío Beltetón G.
IDEA Next
Ana Gabriela Contreras
García
Lawyer
Liz Gordillo
Arias
Rita María Grajeda Díaz
Juan Pablo Martínez
Arias
Oscar Alfredo Pineda
Chavarría
IDEA Next
Gabriela Rivera
Eleusis Zelada Rosal
Arias
GUINEA
Amara Bangoura
Cabinet d’Avocats
Amaraya
Youssouf Bangoura
Attorney-at-Law
Amadou Babahein
Camara
Fanta Camara
Ministry of Investments
and Public Private
Partnerships
Ibrahima Diallo
P.C.U.D.
Siba Dopavogui
Organisation Catholique
pour la Promotion
Humaine (OCPH) /
Caritas Guinée
Mamadouba
Doumbouya
Cabinet d’Avocats
Amaraya
Mohamed Lamine
Fofana
Sylla & Partners
Djenabou Fofana Ndiaye
Lonny Center
Frederic Loua Foromo
Tossa Montcho
Les Mêmes Droits pour
Tous
Germaine Pascaline
Tolno
Les Mêmes Droits pour
Tous
Sadou Savané
Sylla & Partners
GUINEA-BISSAU
João Pedro C. Alves de
Campos
CamõesIP
Emílio Ano Mendes
GB Legal–Miranda
Alliance
Juliano Augusto
Fernandes
Julafer & Lopesno
Advogados Associados
Monica Indami
Bissau First Instance
Court, Commercial
Division
Armando Mango
Ismael Mendes de
Medina
GB Legal–Miranda
Alliance
Helder Pires
Paloma Velasco Velasco
EU Delegation Guinea
Bissau
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
100
GUYANA
Liza Hanoman
Guyana Integrity
Commission
Sherrie Hewitt
Guyana Sugar
Corporation
Incorporated
Ayana Jennifer
McCalman
McCalman & Co. Legal
Services
Charles Ogle
Ministry of Social
Protection
Selwyn Pieters
Pieters Law Oce
Shawn Shewram
Nirvana Singh
Kayreen Stephenson
Ministry of Legal
Aairs, Attorney
General’s Chambers
Kean Trotman
Guyana Association of
Women Lawyers
Kimbely Yearwood
Lawyer
HAITI
White & Case LLP
Johanna-Sylvain Joseph
Cabinet d’Avocats
Johanna Sylvain
Elizabeth Mentor
Lafontant
Patrick Laurent
Cabinet Patrick
Laurent& Associés
Landy Leconte
Avocats Sans
Frontières–Canada
Dilia Lemaire
Mouvement des
Femmes Haïtiennes
pour l’Education et
le Développement
(MOUFHED)
Alain Lemithe
Cabinet
Menard-Lemithe
Noël Marie Ange
Fanm Deside
HONDURAS
Gina María Aronne
Laitano
Alessia Bonilla Rietti
Alma Coello
Dulce Maria Enamorado
Ramos
Programa Ciudad Mujer
Wendy Carolina Estévez
Paredes
Programa Ciudad Mujer
Edwin Ramón Flores
Salinas
ECIJA–Honduras
Fanny Gallo
IDLO
Shadia García
Banco Centroamericano
de Integración
Económica (BCIE)
Rosa Paz Haslam
Programa Ciudad Mujer
Elena Incisana di
Camerana
IDLO
Sara Nardicchia
IDLO
Jazna Vanessa Oquelí
García &
Bodán–Honduras
Aida Romero
IDLO
Gabriela María Williams
Cruz
ECIJA–Honduras
Roberto Alejandro
Williams Cruz
ECIJA–Honduras
HONG KONG SAR,
CHINA
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Ting Cheung
Lawyer
Ying Kiu Chow
Linklaters
Cynthia Chung
Deacons
Suzi Duncan
Linklaters
Citrine Ho
Kirkland & Ellis
Nathalie Hobbs
Linklaters
Svetoslava Hughes
Linklaters
Rita Ku
Withers
Eugénie Levy
Linklaters
Amanda Lo
Linklaters
Zoe Ng
Linklaters
Diana Schawlowski
Linklaters
Anne Scully-Johnson
The Chinese University
of Hong Kong
Florence Sit
Linklaters
Nga Kit Christy Tang
Eunice Wu
Deacons
David Yun
Kirkland & Ellis
HUNGARY
Haya Aftab
Latham & Watkins
Áron Barta
Kinstellar Hungary
Judit Budai
Szecskay Attorneys at
Law
Anna James
Latham & Watkins
Lilla Kiss
Szecskay Attorneys at
Law
Máté Kiss
Szecskay Attorneys at
Law
Mariann
Minkó-Miskovics
Ákos Nagy
Kinstellar Hungary
Orsolya Pass
Kinstellar Hungary
Petra Ruzsvánszky
Schmidt Law Oce
Kata Schadt
Dr. Schadt Kata
Ügyvédi Iroda
Júlia Szabó
Szecskay Attorneys at
Law
Adrienn Tar
Szecskay Attorneys at
Law
Réka Török
Law Oce of Marianna
Toth
Marianna Toth
Law Oce of Marianna
Toth
Márton Leó Zaccaria
University of Debrecen
Faculty of Law
ICELAND
Pierre Brule
Bjarnveig Eiríksdóttir
VÍK Law Firm
Hjördís Guðbrandsdóttir
Diljá Helgadóttir
Van Bael & Bellis
Erna Leifsdóttir
Logos
Lögmannaþjónusta
Flosi Hrafn Sigurdsson
OPUS Legal Services
Davíd Sveinbjörnsson
INDIA
Priyanka Anand
Indialaw LLP
Meghna Bal
Hammurabi & Solomon
Partners
Shweta Bharti
Hammurabi & Solomon
Partners
Benarji Chakka
Alliance University
Kshitija Chile
Indialaw LLP
Miheer Dhondye
Indialaw LLP
Sneha Dubey
Indialaw LLP
Aanchal Kapoor
Lawyer
Rajas Kasbekar
CRK Legal
Manoj Kumar
Hammurabi & Solomon
Partners
Radhika Mathur
ANM Global
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
101
Soumyashree
Meesaraganda
Lawyer
Shiju P.V.
Indialaw LLP
Sweta Patel
Akshit Rajpal
ANM Global
Vrajlal Sapovadia
Adrija Thakur
Lawyer
Eklavya Vasudev
INDONESIA
Beauty Erowati Siswojo
LBH-APIK Nusa
Tenggara Barat
Margaretha Hanita
Consultant
Bianca P. Putri
Kadarisman
Soewito Suhardiman
Eddymurthy Kardono
Nursyahbani
Katjasungkana
Indonesian Legal
Aid Association for
Women
Andreas Kodrat
Andreas FK &
Katjasungkana
Nurul Kodriati
Rifka Annisa Women
Crisis Center
Adella Kristi
HHP Law Firm
Rusmaini Lenggogeni
Soewito Suhardiman
Eddymurthy Kardono
Yeremia Gorby
Nababan
Prayogo Advocaten
(DHP Lawyers)
Sugianto Osman
Ginting & Reksodiputro
Indri Pramitaswari
Guritno
HHP Law Firm
Niken Prawesti
Griya Group
Daniel Dhanu Prayogo
Prayogo Advocaten
(DHP Lawyers)
Sam Samid
Ginting & Reksodiputro
Kiki Setiawan
Kiki Setiawan and
Partners Law Oce
Rahadiyan Yana
HHP Law Firm
IRAN, ISLAMIC
REP.
Jean-Charles Albitre
Ferdowsi Legal
Baharak Barzin
Ferdowsi Legal
Mohsen Ghorbani
Tossanlou
Ghorbani Law Firm
Siamak Goudarzi
Afarin Law Firm
Mojgan Honarmandjavan
Anooshiravan Karimi
Ezatollah Karimi
Setareh Kermani
Paul-Arthur Luzu
Ferdowsi Legal
Parya Maleknia
Attorney-at-Law
Baki Maneche
Ferdowsi Legal
Manoochehr Sarhang
Khanlari
IRAQ
Neyan Abbas
Native-Dogramaci
Bushra Al-Obaidi
Maha Alsakban
Women’s Human Rights
Center
Jacquelyn Foster
Lawyer
Zeyad Saeed
Iraqi Law Firm
IRELAND
Ivana Bacik
Trinity College Dublin
Sarah Benson
Women’s Aid
Paul Cahill
Mason Hayes & Curran
LLP
Roisin Aine Costello
Maynooth University
School of Law
Bláthnaid Evans
Leman Solicitors
Sarah Faulkner
Arthur Cox
Bethan Heathcote
White & Case LLP
Roisin Liddy-Murphy
Conyers Dill & Pearman
Monica Mazzone
Women’s Aid
Emer Murphy
Lavelle Partners
Irene Nic Chárthaigh
Mason Hayes & Curran
LLP
Sharon Pia Hickey
Leiden University Law
School
Ben Rodger
Latham & Watkins LLP
David Staord
Mason Hayes & Curran
LLP
ISRAEL
White & Case LLP
Pnina Broder Manor
Naschitz, Brandes,
Amir& Co.
Yehuda Buckwald
Lawyer
Rita Chaikin
Lyat Eyal
Aronson, Ronkin-Noor
Eyal Law Firm and
Notary
Roxanne E. Formey
Alon Kaplan
Advocat & Notary
Nathaniel Lavi
S. Horowitz and Co.
Christine Najarian
Moien Odeh
Odeh and Partners
Or Pozner
S. Horowitz and Co.
Jacki Silbermann
Michal Zohar Neistein
Naschitz, Brandes,
Amir& Co.
ITALY
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Enrichetta Sandra Bellini
Fornera
Business and
Professional Women
International (BPWI)
Marco Boldini
Orrick, Herrington &
Sutclie LLP
Alessandro Bovio
Alture Legal
Marco Calabrese
Studio Legale
Calabrese& A.
Massimiliano Castellari
Studio Andino
Maria Vittoria Cazzola
Orrick, Herrington &
Sutclie LLP
Stefania Citone
Studio Legale
Calabrese& A.
Daniele Consolo
Orrick, Herrington &
Sutclie LLP
Silvia Dal Cin
Accelerate Law
Federica Di Mario
Salonia Associati Studio
Legale
Francesca Elefante
Studio Legale Elefante
Andrea Gangemi
Portolano Cavallo
Francesca Garbarino
Italian Centre for the
Promotion of Mediation
(CIPM)
Alberto Lama
Alture Legal
Giliola Langher
Business and
Professional Women
International (BPWI)
Danielle Miklos
Antenone
AVRA Legal
Chiara Moraschi
Chiara Moraschi Law
Firm
Maria Pagliara
PATTI Avvocati &
Rechtsanwälte
Anna Maria Pavone
Orrick, Herrington &
Sutclie LLP
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
102
Sabina Rapella
Italian Centre for the
Promotion of Mediation
(CIPM)
Federica Re Depaolini
BNP Paribas
Isotta Rossoni
Italian Centre for the
Promotion of Mediation
(CIPM)
Giacomo Savatoni
Studio Andino
Valentina Turco
Portolano Cavallo
Giorgio Vasi
AVRA Legal
JAMAICA
Deborah Dowding
Nunes, Scholeeld,
DeLeon & Co.
Brittney Elliott-Williams
University of the West
Indies
Gavin Goe
Myers, Fletcher &
Gordon
Natasha Parkins
Caribbean Accreditation
Authority
Jodi-Ann Quarrie
Lawyer
JAPAN
Maria Abe
Vanguard Lawyers
Tokyo
Holly Gardiner
Allen & Overy
Ayako Ikeda
Mori Hamada &
Matsumoto
Kana Itabashi
Baker & McKenzie
Yuko Kanamaru
Mori Hamada &
Matsumoto
Jean-Denis Marx
Baker & McKenzie
Naoki Matsushita
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Taro Nakashima
Allen & Overy
Yuka Nakayama
Linklaters LLP
Hiromasa Ogawa
Kojima Law Oces
Kosuke Oie
Hiroo Park Law Oce
Yosuke Shimamura
Shimamura Law Oce
Lene Someno
Baker & McKenzie
Yuki Sumiyoshi
Baker & McKenzie
Mitsunari Taketani
Tagawa Law Oce
Tomotaka Tokuno
Allen & Overy
Megumi Wada
The Law Oce of
Takashi Takano
Nozomi Watanabe
Kojima Law Oces
Akiko Yamakawa
Vanguard Lawyers
Tokyo
Keijiro Yodozawa
Vanguard Lawyers
Tokyo
Minako Zai
Baker & McKenzie
JORDAN
Omar Aljazy
Aljazy & Co. Advocates &
Legal Consultants
Mohamed Arabiyat
Aljazy & Co. Advocates &
Legal Consultants
Rana Atwan
Atwan & Partners
Attorneys and Legal
Yacoub El-Far
Farah El Yacoubi
Allen & Overy
Abdallah Islam
Atwan & Partners
Attorneys and Legal
Samah Marmash
Arab Women’s Legal
Network
Selina Mouasher
Arab Law Bureau
Rawan Noubani
RN Law
Yazeed Samain
KAZAKHSTAN
Khadicha Abysheva
Legal Center for
Women’s Initiatives
Sana Sezim
Aizada Arystanbek
Lawyer
Alexandr Chumachenko
Aequitas Law Firm
Yulia Chumachenko
Aequitas Law Firm
Dmitriy Chumakov
Sayat Zholshy &
Partners Law Firm
Tatyana Gustap
Aequitas Law Firm
Dana Ibrayeva
Dentons
Aisha Orazymbekova
Dentons
Victoria Simonova
Dentons
Artem Timoshenko
Unicase Law Firm
Aida Tleulina
Dentons
Yerzhan Toktarov
Sayat Zholshy &
Partners Law Firm
Bolat Utebaliyev
Dechert LLP
Larissa Yemelyanova
Aequitas Law Firm
KENYA
Mitchelle Atieno Oyoga
Peter Gachuhi
Kaplan & Stratton
Advocates
Catherine Kiama
Akili Dada
Kathambi Kinoti
Michi Kirimi
Dentons
Maureen Kirui
Anjarwalla & Khanna LLP
Stella Murugi
Mwale & Company
Advocates
Prudence Mutiso
Dominic Mwale
Mwale & Company
Advocates
Viktor Njenga
Kaplan & Stratton
Advocates
Valentine Njogu
Njogu & Ngugi
Advocates
Wendy Okolo
IDH–The Sustainable
Trade
Elizabeth Onyango
Kaplan & Stratton
Advocates
Sonal Sejpal
Anjarwalla & Khanna
LLP
Edwina Warambo
Anjarwalla & Khanna
LLP
KIRIBATI
Kenneth Barden
Lawyer
Pauline Beiatau
Oce of the Attorney
General
Amberoti Nikora
Regional Rights
Resource Team, SPC
Eribwebwe Takirua
Police–Domestic
Violence, Child
Protection and Sexual
Oence Unit
Batitea Tekanito
Batitea Tekanito Law
Firm
Teretia Tokam
Kiribati Women and
Children Support Center
KOREA, REP.
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Latham & Watkins LLP
Kyung-Hee Cho
Kim & Chang
Ji-Yong Hong
Kim & Chang
Helen Heoun Joo Kim
Kim & Chang
Jae Hee Kim
Kookmin University
Jongsoo Kim
Shin & Kim
Weon-Jung Kim
Kim & Chang
Young Geon Kim
Yulchon LLC
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
103
Eun-Jee Kwak
Kim & Chang
Sun-Ha Kweon
Kim & Chang
Jieun Lee
Liberty Law Oce
Jung Lae Lee
Kim & Chang
Hyunah Park
Yulchon LLC
Yeon Ha Park
Labor Corporation
Sinsung
Seungyoun Seo
Lee & Ko
Hyesoo Sung
Labor Corporation
Sinsung
Jai Eun Yoo
Yulchon LLC
KOSOVO
Genc Alimehmeti
University of Tirana
Rrona Berisha
Zana Govori
European Asylum
Support Oce
Bardhyl Hasanpapaj
University of Prishtina,
Law Faculty
Olga Jovic-Prlainovic
University of Prishtina
Donikë Kastrati
Eneida Lajqi
NLB Banka
Vlora Marmullakaj
Diellza Mujaj
Leiden University Law
School
Artan Qerkini
Sejdiu & Qerkini
Valmira Rashiti
Kosovo Women’s
Network
Bonita Salihu
Valbona Salihu
Lawyers Association
Norma
Nita Shala
University of Prishtina
Xhevdet Shala
KLG Law Firm
Furtuna Sheremeti
Dior Zhuri
Sejdiu & Qerkini
KUWAIT
Mosaied AlAjeel
Allen & Overy LLP
Faisal Alfahad
Dr. Faisal Alfahad &
Partners
Dalal Al Ghunaim
Athra Alrefaai
Athra Alrefaie Legal
Group
Dalal Al Sulaiti
Meshari Alosaimi Law
Firm
Dema Al Yatama
Dalal S. Sharar
KYRGYZ
REPUBLIC
Aicholpon Alieva
Kalikova & Associates
Law Firm
Elena Bit-Avragim
Veritas Law Agency
Samara Dumanaeva
Lorenz Limited Liability
Company
Adinai Dzhekshenova
Kalikova & Associates
Law Firm
Victor Efremov
Veritas Law Agency
Chynara Esengeldieva
Lorenz Limited Liability
Company
Saara Kabaeva
Lorenz Limited Liability
Company
Lenara Mambetalieva
Aalamgul Osmonalieva
Lawyer
Jibek Tenizbaeva
Lorenz Limited Liability
Company
Lidiya Vasilieva
Veritas Law Agency
LAO PDR
Rosie Cole
Arion Legal
Aristotle David
ZICO Law
Sornpheth Douangdy
VDB Loi Co. Ltd.
Daodeuane Duangdara
VDB Loi Co. Ltd.
Steve Goddard
Mekong Legal
Tuchakorn Kitcharoen
ZICO Law
Florence Lo
Mekong Legal
Jean Loi
VDB Loi Co. Ltd.
Vongphachanh
Onepaseuth
Sciaroni & Associates
Kaz Patafta
Arion Legal
Khamphaeng
Phochanthilath
Sciaroni & Associates
Phaviny Phommathansy
Mahaxai Law Company
Limited
Anonglack Phongsavanh
VDB Loi Co. Ltd.
Princess Bido Principe
ZICO Law
Saithong Rattana
Tilleke & Gibbins Lao
Co., Ltd
LATVIA
Mārtiņš Birģelis
Renārs Gasūns
Klauberg Baltics
Valerijs Ickevics
V. Ickevics, Sworn
Attorneys-at-Law
Irina Kostina
Ellex Klavins
Anna Krasanova
Ivo Maskalāns
Cobalt Legal
Ieva Miluna
Ieva Miluna Consulting
Ints Skaldis
Ellex Klavins
LEBANON
Elias Abdelnour
Moghabghab &
Associates Law Firm
Michel Abi Saab
Allen & Overy
Kamal Abou’Zahr
Kamal Abou Zahr Law
Oce
Guida Anani
Chac Georges El
ChabMajdalani
Lawyer
Melkar El Khoury
Central Research House
Samer El Khoury
Etude Badri et Salim El
Meouchi
Marie Thérèse El-Mir
Rassemblement
Démocratique des
Femmes Libanaises
Joya Farah
Rana Khalifeh
Kamal Abou Zahr Law
Oce
Joelle Khater
Etude Badri et Salim El
Meouchi
Joumana Merhi
Rassemblement
Démocratique des
Femmes Libanaises
Outeiba Merhibi
Rassemblement
Démocratique des
Femmes Libanaises
Ghassan Moghabghab
Moghabghab &
Associates Law Firm
Tarek Moghabghab
Moghabghab &
Associates Law Firm
Lara Saade
Maysa Schender
Lebanese Council to
Resist Violence Against
Women
Ghenwa Schinder
Lebanese Council to
Resist Violence Against
Women
Laura Schinder
Lebanese Council to
Resist Violence Against
Women
Manar Zeaiter
Rassemblement
Démocratique des
Femmes Libanaises
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
104
LESOTHO
Limpho Mokobocho
Land Administration
Authority
Limpho Mokonyana
Land Administration
Authority
Mpho Matoka Molupe
Land Administration
Authority
Matseliso Mota
Land Administration
Authority
Lipotso Musi
Poulo ‘Nono
Lawyer
Nthoateng Russel
Ministry of Energy,
Meteorology and Water
Aairs
Rethabile Sakoane
Tharollo Labor Law
and Industrial Relations
Consultancy
Lerato Seema
FIDA Lesotho
Itumeleng Shale
National University of
Lesotho
Mateboho
Tohlang-Phafane
Webber Newdigate
LIBERIA
Caroline Bowah
Medica Liberia
Lucy Dweh
James C.R. Flomo
Public Defenders
Program of Liberia
Cerue Garlo
Carter Center
Lucia D.S. Gbala
Heritage Partners and
Associates Inc.
Jonah Kotee
Association of Liberia
Human Resource
Professionals
Milton D. Taylor
Law Oces of Taylor &
Associates Inc.
Jeerson G. Togba
Joyce Woods
LIBYA
Nisreen A. Amer
The Ministry of
Economy
Amena Almahjob
Presidential Council
Aimen Almaloul
Lawyer
Hatim Almushalfah
Ministry of Justice
Fatma Araibi
Tumi Law Firm
Enas Arebi
Pragma
Mostafa Emsek
The Constitution
Preparation Committee
Mohanned Ghashash
Tumi Law Firm
Baylasan Gudgud
Pragma
Bahloul Kelbash
Mukhtar, Kelbash &
Elgharabli
LITHUANIA
Reda Bagušinskienė
Ramunė Jakštienė
Mykolas Romeris
University
Aušra Juknaitė
Audinga Liekytė
Ellex Valiunas
Ingrida Maciūtė
Ellex Valiunas
Giedrė Narbutė
Juliana Pavilovska
Law Firm Sorainen
Algirdas Pekšys
Law Firm Sorainen
Izabelė Petrikaitė
Law Firm Sorainen
Vilana Pilinkaitė
Sotirovič
Lithuanian Social
Research Center
LUXEMBOURG
Louis Berns
Arendt & Medernach SA
Audrey Bertolotti
Linklaters LLP
René Diederich
Diederich Law
Annie Elfassi
Baker McKenzie
Harry Ghillemyn
Linklaters LLP
Anna Christina Goergen
Linklaters LLP
Laura Mbo
Linklaters LLP
Melinda Perera
Linklaters LLP
Sabrina Salvador
Baker McKenzie
MADAGASCAR
Volahasina
Andriamanalina
Johanne
Andria-Manantena
Marianne Pavot
Maralex Legal
Arlette Rafanomadio
Cabinet d’Avocats
Ninie Zénobie Rahaja
Cabinet d’Avocats
Alexandra Rajerison
Maralex Legal
Olivia Rajerison
Cabinet Rajerison
Veroniaina
Ramananjohany
Catholic Relief Services
Mandimbin’Ny
Aina Mbolanoro
Randriambelo
Ministère de la Securité
Publique
Livasoa Rasamimanana
Cabinet d’Avocats
Lanto Fifaliana
Ratodimahavonjy
Hajaharimanana
Ravelojaona
Ministère de la
Population, de la
Protection Sociale et
de la Promotion de la
Femme
Madera Ravelojaona
Cabinet d’Avocats
MALAWI
Masauko Chamkakala
Malawi Legal Aid
Bureau
Prosper Chaponda
Savjani & Co.
Ephraim Chimwaza
Centre for Social
Concern and
Development
Wanangwa Hara
Ritz Attorneys-at-Law
Wanangwa Kalua
Chisanga & Tomoka
Hannifa Makwinja
Centre for Social
Concern and
Development
Mandala Mambulasa
Malawi Law Society
Madalo Merrylin Banda
Ritz Attorneys-at-Law
Wongani Mvula
Malawi Law
Commission
Zione Ntaba
Judge
Mayamiko S. Tembo Jnr
Churchill, Norris &
Foster Law Consultants
MALAYSIA
Donovan Cheah
Donovan & Ho
Natasha Dandavati
Women’s Aid
Organisation (WAO)
Dominique Fernandes
Jamie Goh
Shearn Delamore & Co.
Sivabalah Nadarajah
Shearn Delamore & Co.
Nisha Sabanayagam
All Women’s Action
Society
Muhendaran Suppiah
Muhendaran Sri
Dominic Gan Teck Long
Dominic Gan & Co.
MALDIVES
Juna Ahmed
Shah, Hussain & Co.
Dhaanish M. Ameen
Shah, Hussain & Co.
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
105
Mariyam Mohamed Didi
Al-ha Rasheed
Hisaan, Riath & Co.
Shuaib Shah
Shah, Hussain & Co.
MALI
Daouda Ba
Vaughan Avocats
Almahamoud Ibrahima
Dicko
Djibril Guindo
Cabinet d’Avocats
Associés Juris Consult
Mamoudou Samassekou
Faculté de Droit Privé
de l’Université de
Sciences Juridiques et
Politiques de Bamako
Alhassane Soukouna
Vaughan Avocats
MALTA
Francesca Anastasi
GVZH Advocates
Romina Bartolo
Iuris Malta Advocates
Karl Bria
GVZH Advocates
Ann Bugeja
GVZH Advocates
Christine Calleja
Mamo TCV Advocates
Lara Dimitrijevic
Women’s Rights
Foundation
Ariana Falzon
GVZH Advocates
Nicole Fenech
Mamo TCV Advocates
Francesca Hili
GVZH Advocates
Andrew J. Zammit
GVZH Advocates
MARSHALL
ISLANDS
Marshall Islands Police
Department
Daisy Alik-Momotaro
Weto in Mour: Violence
Against Women and
Girls Support Service,
Women United
Together Marshall
Islands (WUTMI)
Kenneth Barden
Lawyer
Candida Kaious
Weto in Mour: Violence
Against Women and
Girls Support Service,
Women United
Together Marshall
Islands (WUTMI)
Marie Maddison
Weto in Mour: Violence
Against Women and
Girls Support Service,
Women United
Together Marshall
Islands (WUTMI)
Christy Mckay
Weto in Mour: Violence
Against Women and
Girls Support Service,
Women United
Together Marshall
Islands (WUTMI)
Danyia Note
Weto in Mour: Violence
Against Women and
Girls Support Service,
Women United
Together Marshall
Islands (WUTMI)
Kathryn Relang
Regional Rights
Resource Team, SPC
Tanya Terry
Weto in Mour: Violence
Against Women and
Girls Support Service,
Women United
Together Marshall
Islands (WUTMI)
MAURITANIA
Mounina Abdellah
Binor & Associés
Mohamed Marouf
Bousbe
Diego Gaspar de
Valenzuela Cueto
Hades Consulting
Oum Kalthoum
Hamdinou
Oumar Mohamed
Moctar
Zeinabou Taleb Moussa
Association
Mauritanienne pour la
Santé de la Mère et de
l’Enfant
MAURITIUS
Narvada Aunhachee
Kairos Consulting Ltd.
Deena Shahila Bhoyroo
Peeroo Chambers
Akeelesh Caussy
Lex Frontier
Rubna Daureeawo
RD Chambers
Kalyanee Dayal Gopee
Lex Frontier
Kessie Dulthummon
Kairos Consulting Ltd.
Ashveen Gopee
Lex Frontier
Pooja Luchmun
Chambers of A.R.M.A.
Peeroo SC Gosk
Vishni Nursimhulu
Bhomitrajeet
Ramlochund
Dentons
Rajroop Roshan
Rajroop Chambers
Karyn Teck Yong
De Speville-Desvaux
Chambers
MEXICO
Viridiana Alanis
White & Case, S.C.
Adolfo Armas
Goodrich, Riquelme y
Asociados
Ayesha Borja
Instituto Federal de
Defensoría Pública
Laura Campos
White & Case, S.C.
Edgar Centeno
Goodrich, Riquelme y
Asociados
Jesus Alejandro Cortés
Cuatrecasas
Irma Garcia
Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México
(UNAM)
Jorge Garcia de Presno
Graham
Cuatrecasas
Verónica Garzón Bonetti
Asistencia Legal
por los Derechos
Humanos–ASILEGAL
Corina Giacomello
Instituto de
Investigaciones
Jurídicas-Universidad
Autónoma de Chiapas
José Luis Gutiérrez
Román
Asistencia Legal
por los Derechos
Humanos–ASILEGAL
Blanca Esther Jimenez
Franco
Comisión de los
Derechos Humanos del
Estado de Coahuila de
Zaragoza
Flor Dessiré León
Hernández
Instituto de la Mujer
para el Estado de
Morelos
Maria del Rosario
Lombera-Gonzalez
Baker McKenzie
Carlos Mainero
White & Case, S.C.
Javiera Medina Reza
Baker McKenzie
Ricardo Mendoza
Comisión Nacional de
los Derechos Humanos
Lourdes Rincón Maltos
Lawyer
María José Ríos Hurtado
Secretaria Técnica,
Comisión de los
Derechos Humanos del
Estado de Coahuila de
Zaragoza
Dimna Mirelle Rodríguez
García
Círculo Feminista de
Análisis Jurídico
Clara Santana
Goodrich, Riquelme y
Asociados
Mónica Schiano
Littler Mexico
Laura Treviño Lozano
Lawyer
Giselle Yáñez Villaseñor
Lawyer
MICRONESIA,
FED. STS.
David C. Angyal
Ramp & Mida Law Firm
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
106
Kenneth Barden
Lawyer
Erick Divinagracia
Ramp & Mida Law Firm
Genevieve Gruss
International
Organization for
Migration
Lukas Padegimas
Chuuk State Supreme
Court
MOLDOVA
University of European
Economic and Political
Studies Constantin
Stere
Octavian Cazac
Turcan Cazac
Svetlana Criucova
Eduard Digore
Law Oce Digore
Victoria Donu
Ana Furtuna
Civil Rights Defenders
Aurelia Irodoi
Ecaterina Madan
CA Ciolacu Serghei
Alexandru Muturniuc
Elena Ratoi
UN Women
Olesea Udova
MONGOLIA
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Melville Erdenedalai LLP
Tsolmontuya
Altankhundaga
The Asia Foundation
Otgon Altankhuyag
ELB Partners
Attorneys-at-Law
Khongorzul Amarsanaa
Beautiful Hearts
Against Sexual Violence
Nyamtseren Bataa
Snow Hill Consultancy
LLP
Uranzaya Batdorj
Otgontenger University
Agiimaa Batmunkh
Anand Advocates LLP
Batzaya Bodikhuu
Anand Advocates LLP
Saranzaya Gereltod
The Asia Foundation
Khulan Munkhbaatar
Snow Hill Consultancy
LLP
Odonhuu Muuzee
Zarchim LLP
Enkhtsetseg Nergui
Anand Advocates LLP
Tserennadmid Sambuu
Anand Advocates LLP
Tserendorj Suren
Zarchim LLP
Unurtsetseg Ulaankhuu
Global Green Growth
Institute
Bolormaa Volodya
GRATA International
MONTENEGRO
Bisera Andrijašević
BDK Advokati
Jelena Bogetić
BDK Advokati
Suzana Doncic
Gecic Law
Stefan Đurović
BDK Advokati
Jovana Hajdukovic
Women’s Safe House
Miodrag Jevtić
Gecic Law
Danica Misojcic
Gecic Law
Zarko Popovic
Gecic Law
Bojan Vujovic
AOD
Vujović-Vukadinović
MOROCCO
Mohammed Bentalha
Doukkali
Université Cadi Ayyad
Will Cashman
White & Case LLP
Ilham Diab
Cabinet Ilham Diab
Soa El Gharbi
Abdeljabar El
Marrakechy
Faculté Polydisciplinaire
à Larache
Ali Lachgar Essahili
Ali Lachgar Essahili Law
Firm
Adil Morsad
Morsad Law Firm
Ahmed Morsad
Morsad Law Firm
Elhabib Stati Zineddine
Université Abdelmalek
Essaadi
Stephanie Willman
MRA Mobilising for
Rights Associates
MOZAMBIQUE
White & Case LLP
Amina Abdala
TTA Sociedade de
Advogados
Ancha Abdala
Maputo International
School
Joyce Cláudia Cossa
Sal & Caldeira
Advogados Lda
Gimina Mahumana
Sal & Caldeira
Advogados Lda
Edneuza Massingue
TTA Sociedade de
Advogados
Eunice Sepúlveda
Matete
Diana Ramalho
Sal & Caldeira
Advogados Lda
César Vamos Ver
Sal & Caldeira
Advogados Lda
MYANMAR
William D. Greenlee Jr.
DFDL
Jean Loi
VDB Loi Co. Ltd.
U San Lwin
JLPW Legal Services
Aye Myat Thu
VDB Loi Co. Ltd.
Nwe Oo
Tilleke & Gibbins
Ross Taylor
Tilleke & Gibbins
Nar Wah
DFDL
NAMIBIA
Cronjé & Co.
Maria Adelasia Divona
Dianne Hubbard
Legal Assistance Centre
Geraldine Itana
UNDP Namibia
Gabriel Francios
Kopplinger
Kopplinger Boltman
Legal Practitioners
Fritz Nghiishililwa
University of Namibia
Murray Shikongo
Oce of the Judiciary
Annabel Taswell-Fryer
White & Case LLP
NEPAL
Bishnu Bashyal
Women Lawyers of
Nepal
Rishi Bhattarai
Milestone Law Firm
Supragya Devkota
National Examinations
Board
Sijan Guragain
Neupane Law
Assocates
Prabinda Joshee
Mountain Aliance Law
Firm
Prakat Khati
Governance Lab Pvt.
Ltd.
Hasina Lamichhane
Lawyer
Prakriti Malla
Suprabhat Law Firm
Surendra Pokharel
Khem Sedhai
Lawyer
Amrit Sharma
Prime
Manju Tuladhar
USAID
NETHERLANDS
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
White & Case LLP
Adam Czernikiewicz
Latham & Watkins LLP
Christine Daniels
Norton Rose Fulbright
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
107
Maartje Govaert
Norton Rose Fulbright
Wendy Guns
Open Universiteit
Astrid Helstone
Stibbe
Hosna Korishi
Stibbe
Alexander Daniel
Leuftink
LINK Advocaten
Eugenie Nunes
Dentons Europe LLP
Marije Ozinga
Dentons Europe LLP
Sigrid Romijn
Dutch Advocaten
Aniek Schadd
Morrison & Foerster
LLP
Tamara Ubink
Norton Rose Fulbright
Annette van Beers
Norton Rose Fulbright
Thessa van Zoeren
KroeseWevers
Ea Visser
Stibbe
NEW ZEALAND
White & Case LLP
Matthew Austin
Simpson Grierson
Mai Chen
Chen Palmer
Penny Ehrhardt
Ehrhardt Advisors
Saunoamaali’i Karanina
Sumeo
New Zealand Human
Rights Commission
Laurie McGregor
New Zealand Human
Rights Commission
Phillipa Muir
Simpson Grierson
Nicola Peart
University of Otago
Amelia Retter
Dentons Kensington
Swan
Blair Shepherd
Kate Tennent
Simpson Grierson
Hayden Wilson
Dentons Kensington
Swan
NICARAGUA
Bertha Arguello
Arias
Minerva Adriana
Bellorín Rodríguez
Aczalaw
Miriam del Socorro
Espinoza
Aczalaw
Valeska Massiell
Fonseca Torrez
García & Bodán
Lois González
Observatorio Contra el
Acoso Callejero (OCAC)
Claraliz Oviedo
Maglione
Alvarado y Asociados
Alonso Porras Diaz
Aczalaw
Sofía de Carmen Rivas
Arias
María Mercedes Román
CEJ Consulting
Isbelia Ruiz Perdomo
Carlos Eduardo Téllez
Páramo
García & Bodán
Diogenes Emiliano
Velasquez Vela
Aczalaw
NIGER
Conseil Danois pour les
Réfugiés
Djibril Abarchi
Abdou Moumouni
University
Zaïda Abdoul Aziz
Amadou
Groupe IAT
Ousseynou S. Damien
Aw
Géni & Kébé SCP
d’Avocats
Maï Kassoum Daouami
Ouanou
Commission Nationale
d’Eligibilité au Statut
des Réfugiés
Ibrahim Haby
CONGAFEN
David Ibro Adamou
Mouhamed Kebe
Geni & Kebe
Bachir Tal
Abdou Moumouni
University
Idrissa Tchernaka
Société Civile
Professionnelle
d’Avocats LBTI &
Partners
NIGERIA
Oyinkan Adebimpe
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Adeola Ajayi
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Akinwunmi Ajiboye
Punuka Attorneys &
Solicitors
Ifeamaka Anekwe
NYU School of Law
Brenda Anugwom
Charles Asugha
C.C. Asugha and
Associate
Jovita Duruzor Daniels
Federal University of
Technology
Peter Edokpayi
Punuka Attorneys &
Solicitors
Joseph Eimunjeze
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Mary Ekemezie
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Folake Elias Adebowale
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Nkpoikana Meyen
Etukudo
Elizabeth Idigbe
Punuka Attorneys &
Solicitors
Sylvia Iwejuo
Liberty Consults &
Associates
Anastasia Onyi Iyizoba
Efunsola Moore
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Sylvia Njoku
Imo State Universal
Basic Education Board
(IMSUBEB)
Adaeze Nwoba
Duru Obinali
Fe Obinali
Lawyer
Ozofu Ogiemudia
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Marcus Ojaruega
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Emem Okoko
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Anthonia Okolie
A.N. Duruzor Okolie &
Associates
Chisom Okolie
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Titilola
Olatunde-Fasogbon
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Tolulope L. Olugbon
Okorie & Okorie
Damilola Opayinka
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
Kehinde
Padonu-Awobona
K.M. Padonu &
Associates
Uju Ude
Udo Udoma &
Belo-Osagie
NORTH
MACEDONIA
Martina Angelkovic
Debarliev,
Dameski& Kelesoska
Attorneys-at-Law
Daniela Antonovska
Olivera Docevska
Lawyer
Jasminka Frishchikj
Association for
Emancipation,
Solidarity and Equality
of Women
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
108
Marija Gelevska
Association for
Emancipation, Solidarity
and Equality of Women
Ana Kashirska
Karanovic & Partners
Emilija Kelesoska
Sholjakovska
Debarliev,
Dameski& Kelesoska
Attorneys-at-Law
Sanja Lambershek
Karanovic & Partners
Stojan Mishev
Association for
Emancipation, Solidarity
and Equality of Women
Martin Monevski
Monevski Law Firm
Valerjan Monevski
Monevski Law Firm
Vojdan Monevski
Monevski Law Firm
Bojana Paneva
Karanovic & Partners
Veton Qoku
Karanovic & Partners
Delna Todorovska
Association for
Emancipation, Solidarity
and Equality of Women
NORWAY
Eivind Arntsen
Brækhus Advokatrma
DA
Kiran Aziz
International
Commission of Jurists
Maja Berthelsen
Lindgren
University of Oslo
Sven Bjørk
Arntzen de Besche
Gitte Marie Lundh
Bjurling
Aurlien Vordahl & Co.
Advokatrma AS
Maria Cabrera Stråtveit
Dalan Advokatfirma
DA
Lill Egeland
Advokatrmaet
Simonsen Vogt Wiig
Hanna Løkholm
Arntzen de Besche
Ann Kathrin Nordbø
Dalan Advokatrma DA
Jenny Marie Solgaard
Bing Hodneland
Jan-Erik Sverre
Kvale Advokatrma DA
Thomas Talen
Deloitte
AdvokatrmaAS
OMAN
Khalil Albusaidi
Supreme Court of Oman
Sarah Al Hinai
CMS Cameron McKenna
Nabarro Olswang LLP
(Registered to practice
in the Sultanate of
Oman through Al
Rashdi, Al Juma and
Ewing Advocates and
Legal Consultants as
licensed by the Ministry
of Justice)
Mohammad Saeed
ALsheyab
ALsheyab & Associates
Hassan Aslam Shad
CMS Cameron McKenna
Nabarro Olswang LLP
(Registered to practice
in the Sultanate of
Oman through Al
Rashdi, Al Juma and
Ewing Advocates and
Legal Consultants as
licensed by the Ministry
of Justice)
Anthony Coleby
Jamal Al Amri
Advocates and Legal
Consultants
Helen Dean
CMS Cameron McKenna
Nabarro Olswang LLP
(Registered to practice
in the Sultanate of
Oman through Al
Rashdi, Al Juma and
Ewing Advocates and
Legal Consultants as
licensed by the Ministry
of Justice)
Amel Kamel Abdallah
Sultan Qaboos
University College of
Law
Rayan Mihaimied
Jamal Al Amri
Advocates and Legal
Consultants
Tariq Abdulaziz
Mohamed Sadiq
Hassan Batok Legal
Oce
Aladdin Sidahmed
Jamal Al Amri
Advocates and Legal
Consultants
PAKISTAN
Iftikhar Ahmad
Centre for Labour
Research
Ahmed Bashir
Ahmed Bashir &
Associates
Muhammad Siddique
Ghani
Ghani Law Associates
Zafar Gillani
Gillani & Gillani
Rohma Habib
Fehem Hashmi
Vellani & Vellani
Jalal Hussain
SZH Law
Syed Akbar Hussain
SZH Law
Murtajiz Jafri
The Legal Center
Shahida Jamil
Messrs. Jamil & Jamil,
Barristers-at-Law
Maria Karim
SZH Law
Kulsum Khan
Messrs. Jamil & Jamil,
Barristers-at-Law
Minahil Khan
Research Society of
International Law
Muhammad Iqbal Khan
Iqbal International Law
Services
Maimana Khattak
Mehreen Rizvi
Vellani & Vellani
Morial Shah
Institute of Business
Administration (IBA)
Karachi
Syed Sameer Shah
SZH Law
Bilal Shaukat
Riaa Barker Gillette
Advocates & Corporate
Counselors
Warda Tahir
Riaa Barker Gillette
Advocates & Corporate
Counselors
Sarah Tarar
University College
Lahore
Naz Toosy
Vellani & Vellani
Sohail Akbar Warraich
National Commission
on Status of Women,
Pakistan
Mehak Zaraq
Pakistan College of Law
PALAU
Kenneth Barden
Lawyer
Chuck Greeneld
Micronesian Legal
Services Corporation
Ronald Ledgerwood
Micronesian Legal
Services Corporation
PANAMA
Virginia Barreiro
Ministerio de Desarrollo
Social
Jeannette Bravo
LOVILL
Milagros Caballero
Morgan & Morgan
Sophia Castillero
Suarez, Castillero,
Holmes y Richa
Ximena de Obaldía
Galindo, Arias & López
Camila de Vengochea
Morgan & Morgan
Waleska Hormechea
Fiscalía de Cuentas
Javier José Vallarino
Icaza, Gonzalez-Ruiz &
Aleman
Claudia Patricia Juárez
Galindo, Arias & López
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
109
Mireya Peart
Red de Mujeres
Afrolatinoamericanas,
Afrocaribeñas y de la
Diáspora
Marina Perez
Fundamorgan
Ana Gabriela Santiago
Paredes & Asociados
Marcela Tejeira
Fundamorgan
Odalys Troudart
Arias
PAPUA NEW
GUINEA
Igua Guba
Allens Linklaters
Lydia Karre
Magisterial Services of
Papua New Guinea
Wavie Kendino
Dentons
Desmond Kipa
Wang Dee Lawyers
Sarah Kuman
Allens Linklaters
Nicka Pitoi
Gideon Pogla
Allens Linklaters
Anthony William
Roden-Paru
O’Briens Lawyers
Lucy Sabo-Kelis
Kumul Consolidated
Holdings
Kari Taviri
Mek Tumul
Allens Linklaters
PARAGUAY
María José Achón
Paredes
Vouga & Olmedo
Abogados
Andrea María Arriola
Ortega
Secretaría de Género
del Poder Judicial
María José Ayala
Centro de Estudios
Ambientales y Sociales
(CEAMSO)
Matias Chaves
Ferrere Abogados
Patricia Doldán
Ministerio de la Mujer
Marysol Estigarribia
Ferrere Abogados
Natalia María
Gagliardone
Departamento
Jurídico, Instituto de
Derecho y Economía
Ambiental
Ysmael Reinerio Gaona
Villaba
Aprevim Paraguay
Alejandra Guanes
Velázquez
Ferrere Abogados
Maria del Rocio Penayo
Zarza
Moreno Runelli &
Asociados
Giannine María G. Pistilli
Bernal
Secretaría de Género
del Poder Judicial
Rodolfo G. Vouga
Vouga & Olmedo
Abogados
PERU
Superintendencia
Nacional de
Administración
Tributaria (SUNAT)
Diego Abeo
Estudio Olaechea
José Balta
Rodrigo, Elías &
Medrano Abogados
Claudia Cermeño
Rodrigo, Elías &
Medrano Abogados
Lilibeth Cienfuegos
Quiñones & Cia.
Katherine Durand
Ministerio de Trabajo y
Promoción del Empleo
Víctor Ferro
Estudio Rubio Leguia
Normand
Clea Guerra Romero
Centro de la Mujer
Peruana Flora Tristan
Francisco Ibazeta
Fiorella Patricia Morey
Rotalde
Estudio Morey & Morey
Rotalde Abogados SAC
Pía Olea Ubillús
Genderlab
Valeria Osorio
Estudio Miranda &
Amado
Lucianna Polar
Estudio Olaechea
Javier Fernando
Quiñones
Quiñones & Cia.
Angel Ramirez Chavez
Estudio Rubio Leguia
Normand
Liliana Pilar Tsuboyama
Shiohama
KPMG
Cristina Valega
Marcela Valencia
Mostajo
Estudio Rubio Leguia
Normand
Lidia Vilchez Garcés
Estudio Ferrero
Abogados
PHILIPPINES
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Maya Abdullah
Saligan
Irene Caballes
Legal Alternatives for
Women Inc.
Kathrine Celine Castro
MOSVELDTT Law
Oces
Maria Patricia
Cervantes-Poco
Ateneo de Manila
University School of Law
Johanna Celine Mari A.
Chan
Angara Abello
Concepcion Regala &
Cruz Law Oces
Kenneth Chua
Quisumbing Torres,
Member Firm of
Baker& McKenzie
Leslie Dy
SyCip Salazar
Hernandez & Gatmaitan
Danielle Joanna Gaite
Quisumbing Torres,
Member Firm of
Baker& McKenzie
Keisha Trina Guangko
MOSVELDTT Law
Oces
Marie Hazel Lavitoria
Saligan
Joy Anne C.
Leong-Pambid
Angara Abello
Concepcion Regala &
Cruz Law Oces
Gilyen Ezra Marie L. Li
Angara Abello
Concepcion Regala &
Cruz Law Oces
Alfredo B. Molo III
MOSVELDTT Law Oces
Amparita Sta. Maria
Ateneo de Manila
University School of Law
Justin D.J. Sucgang
De La Salle University–
College of Law
POLAND
Michal Balcerzak
Dominika Dörre-Kolasa
Raczkowski sp.k.
Anna
Glogowska-Balcerzak
Monika Kamińska
Elizaveta Kapitonova
Anna Masiota
Masiota–Adwokaci i
Radcowie Prawni
Marcin Menkes
Queritius
Grzegorz Piliszek
Lawyer
Agnieszka Paulina
Regiec
Adrian Szutkiewicz
Raczkowski sp.k.
PORTUGAL
Telma Carvalho
Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves
Pereira
Conceição Cunha
Universidade Catolica
Portuguesa, Faculdade
de Direito, Porto
Maria da Glória Leitão
Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves
Pereira
Catarina de Oliveira
Carvalho
Universidade Catolica
Portuguesa, Faculdade
de Direito, Porto
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
110
Cláudia dos Santos Silva
Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves
Pereira
Claudia Duarte-Sousa
Latham & Watkins
Elisabete Ferreira
Universidade Catolica
Portuguesa, Faculdade
de Direito, Porto
Rita Lobo Xavier
Universidade Católica
Portuguesa, Porto
Stéfanie Luz
Caiado Guerreiro–
Sociedade de
Advogados, SP, RL
Tânia Pinheiro
Caiado Guerreiro–
Sociedade de
Advogados, SP, RL
Paula Santos Silva
Associação de Mulheres
Contra a Violência
(AMCV)
Maria Shearman de
Macedo
Associação de Mulheres
Contra a Violência
(AMCV)
PUERTO RICO (US)
White & Case LLP
Zulmarie Alverio Ramos
Departamento
deJusticia de
PuertoRico
Odemaris Chacon
Estrella LLC
Rafael Díaz-Gonzáles
Carolene Fontanet
Smith
Mariana Muñiz-Lara
DLA Piper
Janice del Rosario
Rodriguez-Zayas
Ocina de Ética
Gubernamental
QATAR
The Law Clinic at Qatar
University College of
Law
Mekki Abbas Mekki
Ahmed Mohamednoor
Al Mushiri Law Oce
Hamzeh M. Abdelhady
Al-Khalifa Law Firm
Michel Abi Saab
Allen & Overy
Ahmed Al-Mushiri
Ahmed Mohamednoor
Al Mushiri Law Oce
Muhammad Ameen
Hashim
Al Sulaiti Law Firm
Kirk Durrant
DWF Law
Rana Elbashir
Sultan Al-Abdulla &
Partners
Buthaina Elgahani
Sultan Al-Abdulla &
Partners
Sarra Eljaili
Sultan Al-Abdulla &
Partners
Mohamed Fouad
Sultan Al-Abdulla &
Partners
Maha Lawson
Simmons & Simmons
Middle East LLP
Moonira Mamoon
Sultan Al-Abdulla &
Partners
Mohammad Manauar
Al-Khalifa Law Firm
Carmen Marquez
Luzardo
DWF Law
Elias Matni
Simmons & Simmons
Middle East LLP
Mohamed Y. Mattar
Fahad Mohd Al-Ansari
Fahad Al-Ansari Law
Firm
Michael Palmer
Squire Patton Boggs
LLP
Omar Qouteshat
Sultan Al-Abdulla &
Partners
Andrew Wingeld
Simmons & Simmons
Middle East LLP
ROMANIA
Diana Andrei
CERHA HEMPEL SPRL
Andra Badulescu
CERHA HEMPEL SPRL
Alexandra Columban
Equality and Human
Rights Action Centre
(ACTEDO)
Ileana Glodeanu
Wolf Theiss
Adelina Iftime-Blagean
Wolf Theiss
Mircea Milos
Covasna County Police
Inspectorate
Mirela Nathanzon
CERHA HEMPEL SPRL
Vlad Neacsu
Popovici Nițu Stoica &
Asociații
Diana Şteţiu
Wolf Theiss
RUSSIAN
FEDERATION
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Maryana Batalova
Dechert LLP
Pavel Dunaev
Dechert LLP
Valery Getmanenko
Baker & McKenzie
Evgenia Korotkova
Dechert LLP
Elena Kukushkina
Baker & McKenzie
Alexander Nurik
The Centre for Social and
Labour Rights (CSLR)
Olga Renova
Forward Legal
Tatiana Shlenchakova
Dechert LLP
Yulianna Vertinskaya
GE Renewable Sector
RWANDA
Human Rights First
Rwanda Association
Pamela Abbott
University of Aberdeen
Mary Alice Bamusiime
Donatha Gihana
Consultant
Zziwa Herbert
Lavoix Advocates
Désiré Kamanzi
ENSafrica Rwanda
Andrews Kananga
The Legal Aid Forum
Doreen Karehe
ENSafrica Rwanda
Susan Kayisanabo
ENSafrica Rwanda
Penelope Kwarikunda
Lawyer
Janviere Mukantwali
UN Women
Nadine Mumporeze
Norbert N. Munana
M-Advocates & Partners
Mary Musoni
The Legal Aid Forum
Marie Françoise Umutoni
Consultant
Emma Carine Uwantege
UN Women
SAMOA
Lina Chang
Samoa Victim Support
Group (SVSG)
Tima Leavai
Leavai Law
Suisala Mele Maualaivao
UN Women
Tomasi Peni
International Labour
Organization
Adi Tafunai
Women in Business
Development
SAN MARINO
Confederazione
Sammarinese del
Lavoro
Luciano Angelini
University of Urbino
Carlo Bo
Irene Avaldi
Studio Legalte Taurini
e Hazan
Alessandro Bugli
Studio Legalte Taurini
e Hazan
Michele Chiaruzzi
Research Centre for
International Relations
at the University of San
Marino
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
111
Elena D’Amelio
Research Centre for
International Relations
at the University of San
Marino
Emanuela Montanari
Enrica Zenato
Studio Legale Avv.
Enrica Zenato
SÃO TOMÉ AND
PRÍNCIPE
Soa Chaves
Dulcineia Correia
LM & Associados
Marina Costa Cabral
VdA–Vieira de Almeida
& Associados
Filipa Duarte Goncalves
Miranda Correia
Amendoeira &
Associados, Sociedade
de Advogados RL
Maria Figueiredo
Miranda Correia
Amendoeira &
Associados, Sociedade
de Advogados RL
Geneleyse Franca e
Lagos
STP Counsel
Monteiro Luicelio
LM & Associados
Helena Manoel Viana
VdA–Vieira de Almeida
& Associados
Soa Martins
Miranda Correia
Amendoeira &
Associados, Sociedade
de Advogados RL
Vanessa Matos Mendes
PLMJ Legal Network–
Mozambique Desk
Luicelio Monteiro
LM & Associados
Virna Neves
VdA–Vieira de Almeida &
Associados
Americo Oliveira
Fregoso
VdA–Vieira de Almeida &
Associados
Catarina Veiga Ribeiro
Miranda Correia
Amendoeira &
Associados, Sociedade
de Advogados RL
Sandra Saraiva
PLMJ Legal Network–
Mozambique Desk
Joe Teixeira
LM & Associados
Bruno Xavier de Pina
SAUDI ARABIA
Amena Ali
The Law Firm of Wael
A. Alissa in association
with Dentons & Co.
Basem AlMaghthawi
AlMaghthawi & Partners
Yara Alsaiedi
AlMaghthawi & Partners
Tarek A. Alsohabani
Sohaibani Law Firm
Alia Al Sudairy
Allen & Overy LLP
Alia Alsudairy
Allen & Overy LLP
Julian Johansen
Allen & Overy LLP
Azzam Khouj
Law Oce of Azzam
Faisal Khouj
Deniz Kozakci
Alsohabani
Sohaibani Law Firm
Fadi Obiadat
Law Oce of Azzam
Faisal Khouj
Faris Qadi
Law Oce of Azzam
Faisal Khouj
SENEGAL
Mohamed Abdallah
Dieng
Géni & Kébé SCP
d’Avocats
Ousseynou S. Damien
Aw
Géni & Kébé SCP
d’Avocats
Seny Samya Coly
Cabinet Maître Cheikh
Fall
Aby Diallo
Association des Juristes
Sénégalaises
Soukeyna Ndao Diallo
Banque Mondiale
Senegal
Mactar Diassi
Etude Maître Mactar
Dassi
Ibrahima Dieng
ALPHADEV
Alioune Dione
AFreeMAction
Ndeye Coumba Gueye
Ka
Association des Juristes
Sénégalaises
Diakhaté Mor
ALPHADEV
Mame Coumba Ngom
COFINA Sénégal
Ababacar Sadikh Niang
Tribunal Regional de
Tambacounda
Aby Sane
Ministère de la Femme
de l’Enfance et de
l’Entreprenariat Féminin
Djiby Seidy
Géni & Kébé SCP
d’Avocats
SERBIA
Mirjana Antic
Lawyer
Olga Cvejić Jančić
University Educons–
Sremska Kamenica,
Faculty of European
Legal and Political
Studies–Novi Sad
Marija Jovanovic
Law oce of Marija N.
Jovanovic
Jelena Kuveljic Dmitric
Law Oces JKD
Ana Popović
Živković Samardžić Law
Oce
Aleksandra Ristić
Law Oce Milošević
Balsa Stevanovic
Nataša Stojnov
Momčilović & Stojnov
Jovana Tomić
Caković/Tomić–CT
Legal
SEYCHELLES
Natasha Burian
Judiciary of Seychelles
Vanessa Gill
Georges & Co. Attorneys
Jyotika Kaushik
Larah Michaud
Lawyer
Malcolm Moller
Appleby
Vanessa Nicette
Pardiwalla Twomey
Lablache
Manuella Parmantier
Parmantier Law
Chamber
SIERRA LEONE
Abu Bakarr Tarawalie
Amy A. Betts-Priddy
GPK Legal
Aisha-Maria Gringel
Francis Kaifala
University of Sierra
Leone
Saramba Kandeh
Marrah and Associates
Law Firm
Abdul Karim Koroma
Yada Williams &
Associates, Barristers
and Solicitors
Mariam Koroma
Marrah and Associates
Law Firm
Victor Moinina
Forum for the
Development of Young
People
Fatmata Sorie
Legal Access through
Women Yearning for
Equality Rights and
Social Justice
SINGAPORE
Kokila Annamalai
Georgia Dawson
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Nithya Devi
Wilson Foo Yu Kang
Trident Law Corporation
Tracy Gani
Rajah & Tann Asia LLP
Li Sian Goh
Association of Women
for Action & Research
(AWARE)
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
112
Tanaya Kinjacdekar
Trident Law Corporation
Shreya Kittur
Allen & Gledhill LLP
May Ling Lee
Allen & Gledhill LLP
Belle Lim
Association of Women
for Action & Research
(AWARE)
Corinna Lim
Association of Women
for Action & Research
(AWARE)
Bernice Loo
Allen & Gledhill LLP
Michael Low
Crossbows LLP
Paroma Ray
Association of Women
for Action & Research
(AWARE)
Ashley Robson
Latham & Watkins LLP
Chee Ho See
University of Bristol
Samantha Tan
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Christine Tee
Allen & Gledhill LLP
Francis Xavier
Rajah & Tann Asia LLP
SLOVAK
REPUBLIC
CMS Reich-Rohrwig
Hainz s.r.o.
Jana Bugárová
Zahradníková SK s.r.o.
Miroslava Dobrotková
AK Dobrotková s. r. o.
Stanislav Durica
Squire Patton Boggs
Zuzana Faktorová
Zahradníková SK s.r.o.
Dominika Gornaľová
Bartošík Šváby SRO
Daniela Ježová
Lawyer
Veronika Miskovicova
Latham & Watkins
Zuzana Ocenasova
Coordination and
Methodological
Centre for Prevention
of Violence against
Women
Viera Petrasova
Attorney-at-Law
Igor Šváby
Bartošík Šváby SRO
Richard Svocák
Squire Patton Boggs
Jana Trangelová
BPV Braun Partners
Jarmila Zahradníková
Zahradníková SK s.r.o.
SLOVENIA
Fatur Menard Law Firm
Nika Bosnič
Odvetniki Šelih &
Partnerji
Helena Butolen
Odvetniki Šelih &
Partnerji
Suzana Kraljić
University of Maribor,
Faculty of Law
Katarina Kresal
Law Firm Miro Senica
and Attorneys d.o.o.
Sara Makovec
Law Oce Jadek &
Pensa
Luka Mišič
University of Ljubljana,
Faculty of Law
Biljana Pejić
Law Firm Miro Senica
and Attorneys d.o.o.
Iris Pensa
Law Oce Jadek &
Pensa
Primož Rataj
University of Ljubljana,
Faculty of Law
Nina Šelih
Odvetniki Šelih &
Partnerji
Darja Senčur Peček
University of Maribor,
Faculty of Law
Boštjan Špec
Odvetniška družba Špec
o.p. d.o.o.
Žiga Sternad
Law Firm Miro Senica
and Attorneys d.o.o.
Grega Strban
University of Ljubljana,
Faculty of Law
Spela Veselic
Association SOS
Help-line for Women
and Children Victims of
Violence
SOLOMON
ISLANDS
McChesney Ale
Rano & Company
Tearo Beneteti
Solomon Islands
Magistrates Court
Jennifer Corrin
The University of
Queensland
Louise Paulsen Hiele
Save the Children
Australia
Jennifer Radford
Legal and Safeguards
Consultant
SOMALIA
Ahmed Abdi
Catholic Relief Services
Wilo Abdulle
Ministry of Women
and Human Rights
Development
Caroline Agalheir
Catholic Relief Services
Amina Hagi Ahmed
Farhia Ahmed
Save Somali Women
and Children
Hiba Ilyas Ahmed
Simad University
Zahra Mohamed Ahmed
Habiba Hagi Jimale
SOUTH AFRICA
Department of Justice
and Constitutional
Development
Alex Cullinan
Allen & Overy (South
Africa) LLP
Chantelle de Sousa
Chantelle de Sousa
Attorneys
Sian Ganey
Bowmans
Katy Hindle
Tarsha Jenneker
Allen & Overy (South
Africa) LLP
Hester Kemp
Kemp Attorneys
Chantal Kur
The Mediation Clinic
and Divorce Mediations
Elaine Langa
Allen & Overy (South
Africa) LLP
Nkosi Lolah
University of
Johannesburg
Kandala Lupwana Jean
Jacques
University of
Johannesburg
Mark Mansell
Allen & Overy (South
Africa) LLP
Lusanda Raphulu
Bowmans
Lionel Shawe
Allen & Overy (South
Africa) LLP
Sheena Swemmer
University of the
Witwatersrand
Jennifer
White-Callaghan
Allen & Overy (South
Africa) LLP
SOUTH SUDAN
Lindsey Ayuk-Takor
Forcier Consulting
Kwany Dau Dan
Nurture South Sudan
Josephine Drama
Steward Women
Evelyn Edroma
United Nations
Development
Programme
Mogga Emmanuel
Case Advocates LLP
Kuyang Harriet Logo
Wani Jumi
Case Advocates LLP
Mambo Leonard
Hact South Sudan
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
113
Mariam Musa
Steward Women
Vicent Museke
United Nations
Development
Programme
Romano Taban
Lawyer
Tarkuo Weah
United Nations
Development
Programme
Monalisa Zatjirua
UN Women
SPAIN
Blanca Ballester
Casanella
Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya (UOC)
Mario Barros García
Uría Menéndez
Enrichetta Sandra Bellini
Fornera
Business and
Professional Women
International (BPWI)
Ignasi Beltran de
Heredia Ruiz
Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya (UOC)
Maria Susana Fernandez
Iglesias
Susana Fdez Abogados
Antonio
FernándezGarcía
Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya (UOC)
Marta García
Mandaloniz
Universidad Carlos III de
Madrid
Maria Josefa García
Tamargo
Norte Abogados
María López Garayalde
Ashurst LLP
Raquel Mendieta
Grande
Ashurst LLP
Eugenia Revilla Esteve
Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya (UOC)
Isabel Rodríguez Léon
Uría Menéndez
Carlos Rogel Vide
Universidad
Complutense de Madrid
Janaína (Jana) Telles
Daniel Toscani
Universitat de València
Aura Esther Vilalta
Nicuesa
Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya (UOC)
SRI LANKA
Hansi Abayaratne
D.L. & F. De Saram
Rochelle Ariyawansa
Chamber 32B
Kithmini Aviruppola
Savantha De Saram
D.L. & F. De Saram
Ruwan Dias
Chamber 32B
Sandali Fernando
Chamber 32B
Ramani Jayasundere
The Asia Foundation
Ruvini Katugaha
Ramani
Muttettuwegama
Tiruchelvam Associates
Dunya Peiris
D.L. & F. De Saram
Anjalee Perera
Palitha Perera
Chamber 32B
Gishani Rajaneththi
Tiruchelvam Associates
Heshika Rupasinghe
Tiruchelvam Associates
Ratnam Usha Saraniya
John Wilson Partners,
Attorneys-at-Law &
Notaries Public
Shiran Widanapathirana
John Wilson
John Wilson Partners,
Attorneys-at-Law &
Notaries Public
ST. KITTS AND
NEVIS
Brian J. Barnes
Daniel Brantley
Keinya Blake Gordon
Blake Ferguson Law
Oce
Jennifer Harding-Marlin
JH Marlin Law
Angelina Sookoo-Bobb
Law Oces of Sylvester
Anthony
Rohan Walters
Government of St. Kitts
and Nevis
ST. LUCIA
Michelle Anthony-Desir
Du Boulay, Anthony&
Co.
Mary Juliana Charles
Samantha Charles
Maureen John-Xavier
Chambers of John &
John Inc.
Renee St. Rose
Terentia
Toussaint-Carroll
Leandra Gabrielle
Verneuil
Leandra Verneuil
Chambers
ST. VINCENT AND
THE GRENADINES
Heidi Badenock
Rene M. Baptiste
Baptiste & Co. Law
Firm Inc.
Moureeze Franklyn
Baptiste & Co. Law
Firm Inc.
LaKeisha K. John-Farrell
Dentons
Lanthea Leigterwood
Nelcia
Marshall-Robinson
Committee for the
Development of Women
(CEW)
Colleen McDonald
Family Court
Jeanie Ollivierre
Marion House
Samantha Robertson
St. Vincent & the
Grenadines Human
Rights Association
Beverly Thomas
Richards
Kezron Walters
Solicitor & Crown
Counsel
Silma Wilson McLean
National Workers’
Movement
SUDAN
Arwa Abdaldaim
AIH Law Firm
Zeinab Abdalla
Said Al Shahry Law
Oce (SASLO)
Mohamed Abdeen
Abdeen & Co. Law Firm
Abdelrahman Al Gasim
Darfur Bar Association
Yassir Ali
AIH Law Firm
Ayat Barsi
Abdeen & Co. Law Firm
Shukri Dawi Mohamed
Daoud
Shukri Dawi Law Firm
Amel Taha
Lawyer
SURINAME
Yvonne Baal
Anton de Kom
University of Suriname
Serena Essed
Schurman Advocaten
Merlin Gout
M.A. Gout
Charline Hoever
Truijah Kensmil
Essed & Sohansingh
Law Firm
Iris Nazir
Essed & Sohansingh
Law Firm
SWEDEN
White & Case LLP
Amanda Alwall
Linklaters LLP
Malin Arentoft
Advokatrman Vinge KB
Fanny Berggren
Setterwalls
Geraldine R. Bjallerstedt
Independent Gender
Specialist
Pia Björstrand
Advokatbyrån Omnia
AB
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
114
Bayo Callender
The Callender Group
Asa Erlandsson
Setterwalls
Ylva Haraldsdotter
National Centre for
Knowledge on Men’s
Violence Against
Women (NCK)
Viktoria Hybbinette
Wistrand Law Firm
Maria Kosteska
Fägerquist
Wistrand Law Firm
Chrystal Kunosson
National Centre for
Knowledge on Men’s
Violence Against
Women (NCK)
John Lundberg
Moll Wenden
Oskar Paladini
Linklaters LLP
Ebba Perman Borg
Linklaters LLP
Llorene Grace
Razo-Ompod
Anders Söderlind
Setterwalls
Ebba Walberg Snygg
Moll Wenden
SWITZERLAND
Jeanine Bopp
Bär & Karrer AG
Jacques Douzals
University of Fribourg
Cora Grannemann
Latham & Watkins
Valentin Jentsch
University of Zurich
Nils Kapferer
Bureau de l’Egalité
Arnaud Nussbaumer
University of Fribourg
Roxane Pedrazzini
LALIVE
Nadège Porta
Terre des Hommes
Foundation (Lausanne)
Emilie Praz
Gaëlle Sauthier
University of Geneva
Céline Squaratti
Martina Steiner
Baker McKenzie
Sandrine Studer
Bär & Karrer AG
Beatriz Vera
Lawyer
Mischa Zenklusen
Bär & Karrer AG
Kate Zhu
Latham & Watkins
SYRIAN ARAB
REPUBLIC
Waeel AlJashaam
lshammary
Mouayad Al-Maghribi
Osous Law Firm
Alaa Alsrouji
Lawyer
Ahmad Atallah
Osous Law Firm
Mouhamad Bash
Osous Law Firm
Dina Hassan
Mazen Khaddour
International Legal
Bureau
Mouhamad Raed
Shaaban
Faissal Sharabati
Sharabati, Jabi &
Soumaya Attorneys
at Law
Dana Soumaya
Sharabati, Jabi &
Soumaya Attorneys
at Law
TAIWAN, CHINA
Tsar & Tsai Law Firm
Shu-Chien Chen
Erasmus University
Rotterdam
Yuki Chiang
Lee, Tsai & Partners,
Attorneys-At-Law
Chuang Chiaoju
Themis
Attorneys-at-Law
Yu-Shiou (Clarence)
Chou
Chen & Chou Law Firm
Elva Chuang
Lee, Tsai & Partners,
Attorneys-At-Law
Shih-Chao Chueh
Oasis Law
Hsin-Yun Han
Asus Computer
International
Hung Hsieh
Pontis Law
Chung-Teh Lee
Lee, Tsai & Partners,
Attorneys-At-Law
Elizabeth Pai
Lee, Tsai & Partners,
Attorneys-At-Law
Yen-Fun Shih
Presicarre Corporation
TAJIKISTAN
Khujanazar Aslamshoev
Infrastructure
Consulting LLC
Zouhal Avzalchoeva
Farhad Azizov
AAA Law Oces
Tovus Khonikboeva
AAA Law Oces
Alisher Khoshimov
Centil Law Firm
Kamoliddin
Mukhamedov
GRATA International
Bahodur Nurov
GRATA International
Sarvinoz Salomzoda
Centil Law Firm
Kanat Seidaliev
GRATA International
Zuhro Sharipova
Sherzod Sodatkadamov
Nazrisho & Mirzoev Law
Firm LLC
Siyavush Zakirov
AAA Law Oces
TANZANIA
Alexander
Buckeridge-Hocking
Latham & Watkins
Njile Bwana
KKB Attorneys-at-Law
Abdon David
Mansi Gadhvi
Alkarim Hasham
Jacqueline Hima
KKB Attorneys-at-Law
Frank Kifunda
KKB Attorneys-at-Law
Maria Mutui
Women’s Development
Initiative Tanzania
Alice Mutungi
CRB Africa Legal
Cyril Pesha
CRB Africa Legal
Shreya Ramesh
Latham & Watkins
Brian Rwechungura
CRB Africa Legal
Charles Rwechungura
CRB Africa Legal
Mectrida Rweyemamu
Magdalena Thomas
Oxfam
Amber Tope
Latham & Watkins
Faudhia Yassin
Golden Triange
Associate
THAILAND
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Suchaya
Adulratananukul
Siam Premier
International Law Oce
Limited
Jakkarin Bantathong
Baker McKenzie
Artima Brikshasri
Blumenthal Richter &
Sumet
Chatchavej Chitvarakorn
Siam Premier
International Law Oce
Limited
Nicharee Dejakaisaya
Siam Premier
International Law Oce
Limited
Pormpong Denchock
Linklaters LLP
Khun Farah
Anglo-Thai Legal
John P. Formichella
Blumenthal Richter &
Sumet
Khun Hannah
Anglo-Thai Legal
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
115
Naytiwut Jamallsawat
Blumenthal Richter &
Sumet
Noparat Kaewsringarm
Allen & Overy
Dusita Khanijou
Tilleke & Gibbins
Onnicha Khongthon
Blumenthal Richter &
Sumet
Rada Lamsam
Siam Premier
International Law Oce
Limited
John Lewis
Anglo-Thai Legal
Patsharamon Manathat
Linklaters LLP
Somporn
Manodamrongtham
Chanlder MHM Limited
Sutada
Mekrungruengkul
National Human Rights
Commission of Thailand
William Nophakoon
Baker McKenzie
Nitchakarn
Pongcharoen
Linklaters LLP
Pattarapreya
Sangsawang
Linklaters LLP
Derik Schmidt
Tilleke & Gibbins
Prachaya
Sriwatcharodom
Linklaters
Vitita Subhawat
Allen & Overy
Khun Thongchai
Anglo-Thai Legal
Juthamart Vacher
Linklaters LLP
Pimvimol (June)
Vipamaneerut
Tilleke & Gibbins
Kanokon
Worachanyawong
Siam Premier
International Law Oce
Limited
Khun Xhulio
Anglo-Thai Legal
TIMOR-LESTE
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer
Rui Andrade
VdA–Vieira de Almeida &
Associados
Mariana Baptista
Borges
Tiago Cochofel de
Azevedo
VdA–Vieira de Almeida &
Associados
Marina Costa Cabral
VdA–Vieira de Almeida &
Associados
Neolanda Flores
Abreu Advogados and
C&C Advogados
Gonçalo Neves Lestro
Elisa Pereira
Abreu Advogados and
C&C Advogados
Catarina Pinto Correia
VdA–Vieira de Almeida &
Associados
TOGO
Kékéli Edo Agboli
Tribunal de Commerce
de Lomé
Godwin Têko Seyram
Amenyinu
SCP Toble & Associés
Dodji Elvire
Assogbavi-Atsu
Akodah Ayewouadan
University of Lome
Pimom Charlotte
Fawiye
Mayi Gnofam
Programme d’Appui à
la Femme et à l’Enfance
Déshéritée (PAFED)
Rouki Kegbero épouse
Kloutse
Tribunal de Lomé
Biava Kodjo Kloutse
Université de Kara
Akpene Kpegba
Martial Akakpo et
Associés
P. Kafui Elome Rachel
Molley
Organisation
Nationale d’Appui
au Développement
(ONAD)
Adoudé
Tounou-Gblodzro
Groupe de Réèxion
et d’Action Femme,
Démocratie et
Développement (GF2D/
CRIFF)
Komla Yovo
Flores Services
TONGA
Clive Edwards
Edwards Law
Fitilagi Fa’anunu
Tonga Legal Aid Center
Linda Folaumoetu’i
Attorney General’s
Oce of Tonga
TRINIDAD AND
TOBAGO
Chanelle Aching
Beckhan Chambers
Karinna Cavita
Alexander
Organization for
Abused and Battered
Individuals (OABI)
Asa Archie
Sherna Alexander
Benjamin
Organization for
Abused and Battered
Individuals (OABI)
Akhail Khan
Ariana Krishingee
Pollonais, Blanc, de la
Bastide and Jacelon
Leonora Le Saldo
Organization for
Abused and Battered
Individuals (OABI)
Umesh Nandalal
Deloitte & Touche
Ranjana Rambachan
Pollonais, Blanc, de la
Bastide and Jacelon
Maria Santiago-Valentin
Center for Building
Resilient Communities
(CDRC)
Sparkle Selman
Rachel Esther Alexander
Shade
Organization for
Abused and Battered
Individuals (OABI)
TUNISIA
Aïda Beji Kallel
Chambre Nationale
des Femmes Chefs
d’Entreprise
Abdessatar Ben Moussa
Ligue Tunisienne des
Droits de l’Homme
Hela Ben Salem
Mahmoud Anis Bettaïeb
Cabinet d’Avocats
Bettaïeb
Béchir Ghachem
GLA
Wael Haar
Lawyer
Safa Haouel
Cabinet d’Avocats
Bettaïeb
Amel Mejri
Azaiz Sammoud
Lawyer
TURKEY
Duygu Alkan
Mavioglu & Alkan Law
Oce (ADMD)
Selin Beceni
BTS & Partners
Burcu Çınar
BTS & Partners
Elif Demiroz-Tan
Cakmak
Attorneys-at-Law
Ilayda Dogan
Mavioglu & Alkan Law
Oce (ADMD)
Emine Dundar
Lawyer
Egemen Egemenoglu
Egemenoglu Law Firm
Elvin Egemenoglu
Egemenoglu Law Firm
Irmak Ergin
Norton Rose Fulbright
LLP
Selçuk Esenyel
Esenyel & Partners
Lawyers and
Consultants
Ayse Nur Gedik
Kamer Foundation
Nilsun Gürsoy
Lawyer
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
116
Ekin Inal
Inal Unver Attorney
Partnership
Yavuz Iskit
Inal Unver Attorney
Partnership
Selcan Koçak
Esenyel & Partners
Lawyers and
Consultants
Fikret Taha Kursun
Kurşun & Kourou Law
Firm
Kardelen Lule
Mavioglu & Alkan Law
Oce (ADMD)
Mert Mustecaplioglu
Inal Unver Attorney
Partnership
Yeşeren Sözüer
BTS & Partners
Dilara Tamtürk
Mavioglu & Alkan Law
Oce (ADMD)
Musa Toprak
Terra Law Firm
Zeynep Ünlü
BTS & Partners
Turker Yildirim
Esenyel & Partners
Lawyers and
Consultants
Serap Zuvin
Cakmak
Attorneys-at-Law
UGANDA
Brenda Peace Amito
Tulane International
(TILLC)
Lillian Andama
Justice and
Constitutional Aairs
Ministry
David Akky Batema
Ndikabona
High Court of Uganda
Kulia Angela Lucy Izama
Charles Kalumiya
Kampala Associated
Advocates
Elizabeth Kemigisha
FIDA Uganda
Sarah Khainza
Capital Markets
Authority
Brigitte Kusiima Sendi
Shonubi, Musoke & Co.
Advocates
Bernard Mukasa
Ortus Advokates
Edline Eva Murungi
Agnes Nabaggala
Akena
Shonubi, Musoke & Co.
Advocates
Sheila Christine
Nabbale
Shonubi, Musoke & Co.
Advocates
Brenda Nakibira
Doreen Nawaali
Masembe, Makubuya,
Adriko, Karugaba &
Ssekatawa Advocates
UKRAINE
Kateryna Borozdina
International Women’s
Rights Center La
Strada-Ukraine
Maria Dmytrieva
Feminism UA
Yulia Eismont
Kinstellar Ukraine
Kateryna Ilikchiieva
Kyiv National
Economics University
Olena Koptieva
International
Development
Organization (IDLO)
Olena Kuchynska
Kinstellar Ukraine
Roman Mohyla
Law Oces of Roman
Mohyla
Volodymyr
Monastyrskyy
Dentons
Oleksandra Piskun
Dentons
Olga Prosyanyuk
AVER LEX
Andriy Tsvyetkov
Attorneys’ Association
Gestors
Oksana Zakharchenko
Attorneys’ Association
Gestors
UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES
Amal A
A Law Oce
Maitha Al Hashimi
Al Tamimi & Company
Taiba Al Saar
Al Tamimi & Company
Farah El Yacoubi
Allen & Overy
Stefania Franchini
Diana Hamade
Diana Hamade
Attorneys-at-Law
Aqsa Khan Sadiq
Taylor Wessing
Sara Khoja
Clyde & Co.
Ahmed Nofal
Ahmed Ibrahim Law
Oce
Zisha Rizvi
STA Law Firm
Moustafa Seddik
Bayat Legal Services
Sheena Shibu
Axiom Telecom
Sarit Thomas
Clyde & Co.
UNITED KINGDOM
Helen Almond
Addleshaw Goddard
LLP
Bilyana Belcheva
Shearman & Sterling
LLP
Chloe-Jane Belton
Dechert LLP
Emily Bodger
Ashurst LLP
Ruth Buchanan
Ashurst LLP
Honza Cervenka
Mcallister Olivarius
Jennifer Ellis
Milbank LLP
Jasmine Henricson
The AIRE Centre
Sandeep Kaur
Milbank LLP
Michael Leftley
Addleshaw Goddard
LLP
Jade Levin
Dechert LLP
Klaudia Mach
Milbank LLP
Collette O’Connor
Markella Papadouli
Saloni Patel
Shearman & Sterling
LLP
Jeremy Townend
JLWT Consultancy
UNITED STATES
Freshelds Bruckhaus
Deringer LLP
Sanctuary for Families
Artemis Anninos
Cahill Gordon & Reindel
LLP
Jessica Childress
The Childress Firm PLLC
John Chtchekine
Cahill Gordon & Reindel
LLP
Adam Czernikiewicz
Latham & Watkins LLP
Jacquelyn Foster
Lawyer
Robin Graine
Graine Mediation
Allison Ianni
EPT Legal
Soumyashree
Meesaraganda
Lawyer
Elena
Paraskevas-Thadani
EPT Legal
Xueqing Shan
Shearman & Sterling
LLP
Celia Vilas Sherman
Cahill Gordon & Reindel
LLP
Anna Stockamore
Shearman & Sterling
LLP
APPENDIX C: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
117
URUGUAY
Leticia Barrios
Bergstein Abogados
Noemi Caballero
Estudio Bado, Kuster,
Zerbino & Rachetti
Alvaro Carrau
Estudio Bado, Kuster,
Zerbino & Rachetti
Edgardo Centurión
Mallarino
Ateneo Abogados
Guillermo Duarte
Bergstein Abogados
Mariana Fernandez
Posdas Posadas y
Vecino
Cecilia Halty
Ferrere Abogados
Ignacio Lopez
Ateneo Abogados
Mariana Pisón
Bergstein Abogados
Verónica Rao
Ferrere Abogados
Bruna Royol
Bergstein Abogados
Agustin Texo
Estudio Bado, Kuster,
Zerbino & Rachetti
Pablo Varela
Pérez-Llorca
UZBEKISTAN
Khusniddin
Abdufattokhov
GRATA International
Dilfuza Abulkhasan
Nadina Akhmedova
GRATA International
Jamiyla Kaipbergenova
Kinstellar
Muborak Kambarova
Kinstellar
Diyorbek Kimsanov
Xushnudbek & Partners
LLC
Mariya Koluseva
Dilfuza Kurolova
Irina Matvienko
Nemolchi.Uz
Azamat Salaev
Mukhabbat Turkmenova
Faina Yagafarova
Nodir Yuldashev
GRATA International
Salimjon Yusupov
Kinstellar
VANUATU
Georey Gee
Georey Gee & Partners
Stephanie Mahuk
Georey Gee & Partners
So’oletaua Motuliki
Georey Gee & Partners
Jin Wen
Georey Gee & Partners
Betty Zinner-Toa
UN Women
VENEZUELA, RB
Betty Gabriela
Rodriguez Cruz
Amazona Foundation
Laura Elina Guevara
Pirrongell
Carlos Lusverti
Universidad Católica
Andrés Bello
Wilder Márquez Romero
Jesus Milano Martínez
Labor Gestión de Gente
Maria Corina Muskus Toro
Liliana Ortega Mendoza
COFAVIC
María Cristina Parra de
Rojas
Escritorio Jurídico
Rojas& Parra SC
Edward Perez
Universidad Católica
Andrés Bello
Barbara Puglisi
Presidencia de la
Asamblea Nacional de
Venezuela
Carlos E. Rivera Salazar
Labor Gestión de Gente
Ricardo Rojas Gaona
ENTRA IP / Rojas
Gaona& Bandres Law
Firm
Leonardo Salamanca
Anzola
S&G Consultores SAS
Karla A. Subero P.
Lawyer
VIETNAM
Huong Bui
RHTLaw Vietnam
Thi Huong Giang Dam
Honor Partnership Law
Company Limited
Vi Dang
RHTLaw Vietnam
Nhi Le
Rajah & Tann
Nguyen Le Khanh
Kelvin Chia Partnership
Ha Nguyen
Lexcomm Vietnam
Hai Thao Nguyen
Mayer Brown JSM
Tien Lap Nguyen
NH Quang & Associates
Tieu My Nguyen
Honor Partnership Law
Company Limited
Van Anh Nguyen
Center for Studies and
Applied Sciences in
Gender, Family, Women
and Adolescents
(CSAGA)
Viet Thuy Trang Nguyen
Honor Partnership Law
Company Limited
Anh Phuong Pham
Honor Partnership Law
Company Limited
Kim Cuong Phung
Honor Partnership Law
Company Limited
Chau Huy Quang
Rajah & Tann LCT
Lawyers
Vy Tran
RHTLaw Vietnam
Thu Hang Vu
Honor Partnership Law
Company Limited
Benjamin Yap
RHTLaw Vietnam
WEST BANK AND
GAZA
Mohammed
AbuHashem
Ashraf Abu Hayyeh
Al-Haq
Saad Al Kayed
Equity Legal Group
Mueen Barghouthi
Institute of Law of
Berzeit University
Basem Bushnaq
Mohammed El Nahhal
Islamic University of
Gaza
Reem Frainah
Aisha–Association
for Women and Child
Protection
Muayad Hattab
An-Najah University
Wissam Jouda
Lubna Katbeh
Equity Legal Group
Ahmed Mustafa Toutah
Islamic University of
Gaza
YEMEN, REP.
Aromaimh Mostafa
Abdulgalil
Oce of Agents Law
Firm, Consulting and
Legal
Ameen Abdulraqeeb
Oce of Agents Law
Firm, Consulting and
Legal
Alshrihy Mohammd
Abdulrazaq
Oce of Agents Law
Firm, Consulting and
Legal
Khaled Al-Buraihi
Khaled Al-Buraihi for
Advocacy & Legal
Services
Emad Algarash
Yemen Organization for
Defending Rights and
Democratic Freedoms
Maher Al-Sablani
Maher
Nabil Alshami
The Counselor for Legal
Services
ZAMBIA
Jay Mutale Chisanga
Corpus Legal
Practioners
Chanda Chungu
Mulenga Mundashi
Kasonde Legal
Practitioners
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2021
118
Nancy Kawandami
Zambia Federation of
Associations of Women
in Business
Diane Kayumba
Mwape Machaya
Equitas Legal
Practitioners
Mandy Manda
National Legal Aid Clinic
for Women
Charles Mkokweza
Corpus Legal
Practioners
Sankananji T. Mubanga
Equitas Legal
Practitioners
Chiluba Mumba
Equitas Legal
Practitioners
Gilbert Mwanza
Transparency
International Zambia
Yvonne Kanenga Nawila
Ministry of Labor and
Social Security
Patricia Mphanza Ndhlovu
YWCA
Emma Phiri
Ministry of National
Planning
Chipili Salati
Mulenga Mundashi
Kasonde Legal
Practitioners
Eugene Walusiku
Ministry of Labor and
Social Security
ZIMBABWE
Chipo Bhebe
Coghlan, Welsh & Guest
Precious Chakasikwa
Kantor and Immerman
Aulline Chapisa
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
Sylvia Chirawu-Mugomba
Nqobile Munzara
Phillipa Phillips
Phillips Law Zimbabwe
Thabiso Rumbidzai Phiri
Kantor and Immerman
Precious Taru
Musasa Project
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Women, Business and the Law 2021 is the seventh in a series
of annual studies measuring the laws and regulations that
affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. The
project presents eight indicators structured around women’s
interactions with the law as they move through their lives
and careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood,
Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.
This year’s report updates all indicators as of October 1,
2020 and builds evidence of the links between legal gender
equality and women’s economic inclusion. By examining the
economic decisions women make throughout their working
lives, as well as the pace of reform over the past 50 years,
Women, Business and the Law 2021 makes an important
contribution to research and policy discussions about the
state of women’s economic empowerment. Prepared
during a global pandemic that threatens progress toward
gender equality,
on government responses to COVID-19 and pilot research
related to childcare and women’s access to justice.
ISBN 978-1-4648-1652-9
SKU 211652
this edition also includes important findings