The Evolution of Maternity and Paternity Leave Policies over Five Decades: A Global Analysis
This research analyzes the evolution of maternity and paternity leave across the world, covering 190 countries over 52 years. The data show striking differences both within and between countries in how leave distribution for parents upon the birth of a child has evolved.
Gendered Laws, Informal Origins, and Subsequent Performance
This research explores the relationship between laws that discriminate on the basis of gender and the probability that a female-owned business begins operating in the informal sector. This is achieved by tracing the origins of formal businesses surveyed in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys and merging this with information on the level of legal equality between genders as measured by the Women, Business and the Law database.
Absent laws and missing women: Can domestic violence legislation reduce female mortality?
This study explores the relationship between the presence of domestic violence legislation and the adult mortality of women relative to men. Using a panel of 159 economies between 1990 and 2014, domestic violence legislation is found to be associated with a lower women-to-men adult mortality ratio.
Gendered Laws and Women in the Workforce
This paper uses the World Bank’s newly constructed Women, Business and the Law 50-year database to provide the first global look at how gender discrimination by the law affects women’s economic opportunity and chart the evolution of legal inequalities over five decades.
Discriminatory Environment, Firms' Discriminatory Behavior, and Women's Employment in the Democratic Republic of Congo
This paper contributes to better understanding firms' discriminatory behavior in the presence of gender-based legal discrimination and its linkages with labor market outcomes for women in a developing country setting.
Gendered Laws
This policy research working paper uses the 50 years of Women, Business and the Law data to chart the evolution of legal gender equality over time and to examine its relationship to women’s labor market outcomes.
Discriminatory Laws Against Women : A Survey of the Literature
This policy research working paper reviews the empirical literature on the existence and impact of gender discriminatory laws on women's outcomes across various domains that constitute the Women, Business and the Law measure of gender inequality.
Tackling Childcare
This note showcases how different countries regulate private childcare services. It builds awareness of how quality childcare services are linked to women's economic empowerment and identifies areas for reform.
Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Published by the World Bank Legal Vice Presidency in partnership with Women, Business and the Law and external consultants, the Compendium on International and National Legal Frameworks on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace provides a collection of international instruments that address the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, and national legislation adopted to prevent and prosecute such cases.
Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Domestic Violence
Published by the World Bank Legal Vice Presidency in partnership with Women, Business and the Law and external consultants, the Compendium on International and National Legal Frameworks on Domestic Violence provides a survey of the key international and regional instruments as well as national legislation as they relate to domestic violence.