The report measures gender differences in legal treatment and in a host of other related spheres.

 

"Since this research started, the realisation of the importance of women's entrepreneurship and employment has increased significantly, as has our understanding of the relationship between legal gender equality and women's economic outcomes," the World Bank authors said.

 

"While understanding that women's access to employment and entrepreneurial activities is related to many factors, the data in this report illustrate how laws and regulations limit women's economic participation."

 

For example, globally the median length of paid maternity leave matches the International Labour Organisation standard of 14 weeks with corresponding wage replacement varying from 25% to 100% of earnings. 

 

"Only 7 economies have no paid leave available to mothers. These economies include the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Tonga and the United States," the report notes.

 

The World Bank says that to understand where laws facilitate or hinder gender equality and women's economic participation, ‘Women, Business and the Law 2018' is providing scores for the first time for each of its seven indicators: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, going to court, building credit and protecting women from violence. 

 

The indicator scores are a number between 0 and 100, with 100 being the best. The scores are obtained by calculating the unweighted average of the scored questions within that indicator, and scaling the result to 100.

 

The key findings of the report may be found at this address: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/999211524236982958/WBL-Key-Findings-Web-FINAL-2.pdf