The World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law (WBL) is a global benchmarking project that provides comprehensive and comparable data on how laws, regulations, and policies affect women’s economic opportunities and private sector development in 190 economies. It is housed in the World Bank’s Development Economics Global Indicators Group (DECIG).

OUR MISSION

When societies achieve gender equality, economies become more resilient. That's why Women, Business and the Law is committed to informing research, policy discussions, and development operations on the state of women’s economic opportunities. Women, Business and the Law demonstrates the progress made while emphasizing the work still to be done to ensure economic prosperity for all.

OUR DATA

Women, Business and the Law (WBL) data and research findings have been instrumental in informing policy dialogue on legal reform to drive global growth and productivity for more than 15 years. Introduced in 2010, the project has amassed a rigorous worldwide database and has produced ten reports, with data spanning more than 50 years, highlighting legal reforms affecting women’s economic participation from 1970 to the present. Initially focused on analyzing laws de jure (“on the books”), the WBL report in 2024 expanded its scope to assess the de facto implementation of these laws in practice. It does so by measuring three pillars: legal frameworks, supportive frameworks, and enforcement perceptions. This evolution marks a significant step in understanding not only the existence of laws but their practical impact on women's access to jobs and markets. The WBL reports and data set provide invaluable insights for policy makers, academics, and development practitioners to identify legal reforms that can enhance women’s economic opportunities and ultimately support global economic progress and output.

OUR REPORTS

The Women, Business and the Law data are presented in a global report, published annually, that highlights reforms and examines the impact of legal and policy changes on women's access to jobs and markets in 190 economies. All previous reports are available for download on the Reports page.

OUR TEAM

Women, Business and the Law is researched and written by a team of experienced lawyers, economists, and other experts. Meet the team.

OUR PROTOCOLS

The Women, Business and the Law Manual and Guide describes the production process for the WBL reports. It serves as an official source of information for team members and interested stakeholders. It aims to depict, consolidate, and codify rules and protocols in a comprehensive way. This document also includes processes intended to shield the team from the undue influence of internal and external stakeholders, presenting the available resources to report and address any such instances. It aims to ensure the transparency, quality, and integrity of our data and research.

To ensure fairness and transparency in the data collection process, the Women, Business and the Law team has created a Data Updates and Feedback Portal through which government officials may submit data update or meeting requests. The purpose of the Portal is to facilitate efficient updating of data based on the latest information provided by economies. Each economy can submit one comprehensive form per year, encompassing all questions across all relevant topics. The WBL team prepares a response, which is communicated to the relevant government authorities and published on the WBL website.

Since 2022, the team publishes the data updates submitted by governments. Read them by clicking here.

OUR DONORS & PARTNERS

Support for Women, Business and the Law is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Childcare Incentive Fund; Global Financing Facility, Human Rights, Inclusion and Empowerment Umbrella Trust Fund; Knowledge for Change Program; the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation; and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The Women, Business and the Law team's key partners include: Arizona State University; Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Antidiscrimination Law; Cherie Blair Foundation for Women; Clooney Foundation for Justice; Columbia University’s Institute of Global Politics; Equal Measures 2030; Equimundo; Equality Now; Femnet; Gates Foundation; International Association of Women Judges; Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Obama Foundation; OECD SIGI; Oliver Wyman Forum; Spotlight Initiative; Thomson Reuters Foundation; United Nations Development Programme; United Nations Foundation; United Nations Global Compact; UN Women; United States Agency for International Development and Women Political Leaders; Women Leading Effective and Accountable Democracy in the Digital Age (Women LEAD). Maintaining relationships with partners is integral to researching and raising awareness about laws impacting women’s economic empowerment.

The team has likewise formed strong partnerships with global law firms and networks of lawyers, whose members contribute their expertise to the WBL surveys. These partners include Advocates for International Development; AIG; Arias; BLP Legal; BNP Paribas; Clifford Chance LLP; CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP; Dechert; DLA Piper; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; GEA Abogados; GRATA International; International Lawyers Assisting Workers; Kirkland & Ellis; Latham & Watkins; Linklaters; Morrison & Foerster; Norton Rose Fulbright; PredictaBill; Shearman & Sterling; SLB Group; Squire Patton Boggs; Standard Chartered Bank (UAE); UN Women; United Nations Population Fund; VDB Loi; White & Case. WBL is continuously seeking to expand its network of contributors in order to collect reliable and representative data. If you would like to learn more about our global network of contributors and the benefits of joining, please click here.

OUR PROJECT MILESTONES:

1. Questionnaire design and systems configuration (December–April). During this phase, the WBL team designs the questionnaires that will be used to collect data and partners with IT colleagues to configure the systems for survey distribution, contributor relationship management, and data management.
2. Data collection in 190 economies (April–September). During this phase, questionnaires are distributed to private sector Expert Contributors and public sector respondents, as well as World Bank Group staff.
3. Desk research, data validation, and data review (April–September). During this phase, the WBL team validates the responses received with the relevant law, regulation, or policy mechanism, accessed through desk research. The validated data go through several layers of review to ensure quality and accuracy.
4. Score computation, data analysis, and report drafting (September–January). During this phase, the WBL team computes the scores for each indicator, topic, and pillar index. The scores are then analyzed and highlights are presented in the draft report. The final data set and report then undergo a process of Bank-wide Review.
5. Publication and dissemination (February–onward). Following Bank-wide Review, the report is finalized and prepared for publication along with the final data set. The WBL team then engages in dissemination activities to present the findings from the latest report and data set.