As International Women’s Day approaches, let’s remember that gender equality makes good economic sense

While progress has been made on removing discriminatory laws, closing gender gaps, broadening women’s access to finance and stepping up efforts to prevent gender-based violence, much remains to be done

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An Egyptian woman sits in front of a mural by artist Alaa Aboul Hamad in Burullus, north of Cairo, in October 2016. Photo: AP

Published: 1:00am, 5 Mar 2020Updated: 4:29pm, 8 Mar 2020

Girls are attending school in greater numbers than ever before, and women are increasingly entering the labour force and leading businesses. Although we should celebrate this progress, much work remains to be done for a girl born today to have the same opportunities as a boy.

Research from the World Bank and others shows that unleashing the economic power of women can contribute to global growth. Moreover, it is the right thing to do. Fortunately, more countries recognise that economies can reach their full potential only with the full participation of both women and men.

The World Bank Group is supporting countries in achieving this goal in important areas, including the removal of discriminatory laws, investment to close gender gaps, broadening access to finance and stepping up efforts to prevent gender-based violence.

Encouragingly, our 2020 Women, Business and the Law report, which measures how laws and regulations affect economic opportunities for women in 190 economies, highlights the progress being made. Since 2017, for example, Nepal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and South Sudan have made large strides in removing legal gender barriers.

Likewise, Saudi Arabia changed its laws to protect women from employment discrimination and to prohibit employers from dismissing a woman during pregnancy or maternity leave. And the United Arab Emirates amended its legislation to introduce equal pay and increase female representation in corporate boardrooms.

Governments are also taking steps to ensure that women and men can balance parenthood with work. In the past two years, Fiji has lengthened paid maternity leave and – along with Cyprus – introduced paid paternity leave. In addition, the United States recently adopted legislation to introduce paid family leave for federal employees.