The Women, Business and the Law 2026 report by the World Bank Group provides a comprehensive analysis of gender equality in economic opportunity across 190 economies. It examines legal frameworks and their enforcement in 10 key areas affecting women’s economic participation, including safety, childcare, pay, entrepreneurship, property rights, and pensions. The report highlights that while progress has been made in enacting equal-opportunity laws, their enforcement remains only partial, limiting women’s full access to economic rights and opportunities.
Key Insights
Enforcement Gap: On average, laws are only half-enforced, with economies implementing just 47% of the policies and services needed to make legal protections effective.
Limited Legal Equality: Only 4% of women live in economies where laws provide nearly full legal equality, underscoring persistent global disparities in women’s economic rights.
Residual Inequality: Even if existing laws were fully enforced, women would still have only two-thirds of men’s economic rights, indicating structural gaps that require further legal reform and societal change.
Scope and Benchmarking: The report serves as a global benchmark for legal gender equality, offering a systematic assessment of laws and enforcement across diverse legal, economic, and cultural contexts. It emphasizes that legal reform alone is insufficient without effective implementation to boost growth, create jobs, and enhance women’s economic participation.
