Last year, countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region made significant progress as they accounted for more than half of all gender-related legal reforms enacted worldwide, according to the latest 2023 Women, Business and the Law report.
The report by the World Bank identified Benin, the Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda as the SSA countries that implemented 18 comprehensive legal reforms to achieve greater equality of economic opportunities for women.
“In 2022, only 34 gender-related legal reforms were recorded across 18 economies, the lowest number since 2001. More than half of all reforms in the past year were implemented on the African continent,” it said.
It said the two SSA economies that stand out were Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon. “Côte d’Ivoire enacted reforms prohibiting discrimination in access to credit based on gender, addressing domestic violence, and removing restrictions on women’s employment.”
The report added that Gabon continued along the path of reform undertaken last year, equalising the process for obtaining a passport, mandating equal remuneration for work of equal value, and removing all job restrictions for women.
“As a result, for the first time in 53 years, the two economies score above 90 on the Women, Business and the Law index, and the average score for the SSA region has surpassed the score of the East Asia and Pacific region,” it said.
The annual index report, which documents global progress towards legal gender equality since 1970, measures laws and regulations across 190 countries in eight areas impacting women’s economic participation such as mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets, and pensions.
This year’s report captured reforms that occurred in the period from October 2021 to October 2022.
Further analysis of the report show that out of a score of 100, Benin improved to 83.8 in 2022 from 80.6 in the previous year; the Republic of Congo, to 58.1 from 49.4; Côte d’Ivoire, to 95.0 from 83.1; and Gabon, to 95.0 from 82.5.
Malawi recorded a score of 80.0, up from 77.5; Senegal improved to 72.5 from 66.9, and Uganda, to 81.3 from 73.1.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, is not left out as it also recorded a higher score of 66.3 after remaining stagnant for two years with 63.1. The World Bank attributed the improvement in the mobility indicator to the country’s introduction of a law on passport application procedures. “Nigeria allowed women to apply for a passport in the same way as men.”
BusinessDay findings show that the reform is the first one since 2013, when Nigeria enacted legislation protecting women from sexual harassment in employment and also adopted criminal penalties for sexual harassment in employment.
Indermit Gill, chief economist and senior vice president for development economics at World Bank Group, said that last year, despite multiple overlapping global crises, most parts of the world strengthened legal gender equality across all areas measured.
“Economies in SSA led the way in 2022, enacting more than half of the reforms recorded. Many of these reforms addressed laws affecting women’s pay and careers after having children, the areas with the most room to improve,” he said.
He said empowering women is not just a matter of social justice but a prerequisite for economic development, especially at a time when global growth is slowing and economies will need to summon all of their productive energies to generate a lasting recovery from the crises of recent years.
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Globally, women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. And it is believed that women play a very vital role in human progress and have a significant place in society.
That is why gender equality and empowerment is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations to be achieved by the year 2030.
According to the World Bank, gender equality is not only good for women, but it is also good for the society and the economy as it makes them more dynamic and more resilient
“Equal treatment of women under the law is associated with larger numbers of women entering and remaining in the labor force, rising to managerial positions, and becoming intellectual and political leaders,” it said.
Mari Pangestu, managing director of development policy and partnerships at World Bank, said while progress has been made, the gap between men’s and women’s expected lifetime earnings globally is $172 trillion – nearly two times the world’s annual Gross Domestic Product
“As the world moves forward to achieve green, resilient and inclusive development, governments need to accelerate the pace of legal reforms so that women can realise their full potential and benefit fully and equally,” she said.
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