The World Bank's Women, Business and the Law report 2023

• 04 Mar 2023

On March 3rd, 2023, the World Bank released a report on the index measuring the life cycle of a working woman to measure gender-based legal restrictions in 190 economies, including India.

• Indian laws regarding pay and pension do not provide equal treatment for working women in comparison to men.
• This legal discrimination has impacted India's score on the World Bank's index measuring the life cycle of a working woman, bringing it down to 74.4 out of 100.
• The index measures gender-based legal restrictions in several areas, including pay, pensions, maternity leave, and access to credit and property.
• India's score on the index is lower than several other countries, including Nepal, which scored 80.6 and had the highest score in the South Asian region.
• The report focuses on eight indicators that measure women's equality with men in areas such as pay, pensions, maternity leave, and access to credit and property.
• India scored higher than the South Asian regional average of 63.7 but lower than Nepal, which had the region's highest score of 80.6.
• Nepal had the highest score in the region, indicating that legal reforms in that country have led to greater gender equality.
• Only 14 economies (such as Belgium, Canada, Denmark etc.) out of the 190 economies covered in the index scored a perfect 100, showing that there is still a long way to go towards achieving gender equality around the world.
• The economies that scored a perfect 100 included several European countries, indicating that legal reforms in those countries have led to greater gender equality.
• Gender-based pay disparities and pension inequalities still exist in India, despite several laws aimed at promoting gender equality in the workplace.