Title page 1

Contents 6

Foreword 10

Acknowledgments 13

Main Messages 15

Executive Summary 18

Chapter 1. Women, Business and the Law and Women's Access to Jobs and Inclusive Growth 39

Women's economic participation: A driver of jobs, productivity, and growth 39

The barriers holding women back: Human capital, norms, and legal constraints 41

Women, Business and the Law: A diagnostic tool for jobs and inclusive growth 44

References 52

Chapter 2. Women, Business and the Law 2.0: A New Frontier for Measuring Access to Jobs 59

From law to opportunity: How Women, Business and the Law measures equality 59

Women, Business and the Law topics 62

Methodological innovations to enhance policy relevance 65

Strengthening transparency and data quality 75

Annex 2A. Women, Business and the Law 2.0 questions 76

Notes 84

References 84

Chapter 3. The State of Women's Economic Rights 86

An uneven landscape: Full economic rights for women not yet achieved 86

Global findings: Stronger laws, weaker implementation and enforcement 87

Deep regional and income inequalities across laws, supportive frameworks, and enforcement 92

Comparing the three pillars: Alignment but no parity 98

Women's rights across the life cycle: Topic-level gaps worldwide 103

Reform momentum: Where women's rights are strengthening 121

Conclusions: From laws to lasting equality 129

Annex 3A. Summaries of Reforms 131

Annex 3B. Women, Business and the Law 2026 Scores 143

Note 150

References 150

TABLE 2.1. Women, Business and the Law 2026 presents new and refined indicators 67

TABLE 3.1. Fifty-five economies still prohibit women from performing certain tasks across different economic sectors 105

TABLE 3.2. The top six reformers strengthened women's rights across five Women, Business and the Law topics 123

TABLE 3.3. In 2023-25, economies enacted the highest number of reforms under the Safety and Entrepreneurship topics 124

FIGURE ES.1. Equality laws are associated with more women working, owning businesses, and participating in politics, as well as a reduced... 20

FIGURE ES.2. Global averages reveal stark gaps in women's legal rights regarding economic participation 23

FIGURE ES.3. Legal equality is lowest among groups and in regions in which the share of women entering the workforce is the highest 24

FIGURE ES.4. More legal equality for women usually means stronger supportive systems and enforcement 26

FIGURE ES.5. Legal frameworks are stronger than supportive systems and enforcement perceptions in respect to almost every Women,... 27

FIGURE ES.6. In 2023-25, 68 economies across all regions enacted reforms toward legal gender equality 29

FIGURE 1.1. Women's participation in the labor market remains lower than men's, with higher rates of part-time work and unemployment,... 41

FIGURE 1.2. Equality laws are associated with more women working, owning businesses, and participating in politics, as well as smaller gender gaps 47

FIGURE 1.3. Female labor force participation is found to be higher where legal protections are stronger 49

FIGURE 2.1. Women, Business and the Law assesses women's economic rights across three interconnected pillars and 10 topics 62

FIGURE 2.2. The enforcement perceptions pillar tailors questions based on the particular type of law reviewed and whether it exists... 70

FIGURE 3.1. An uneven legal landscape: Unequal laws continue to limit women's opportunities for more and better jobs 87

FIGURE 3.2. Global averages reveal laws are much stronger than support or enforcement 88

FIGURE 3.3. Economies show the widest range of scores on the legal frameworks index, followed by narrower ranges for supportive frameworks... 91

FIGURE 3.4. Legal frameworks index scores vary across and within regions and income groups 93

FIGURE 3.5. Supportive frameworks are strongest in advanced economies 96

FIGURE 3.6. Scores on the enforcement perceptions index are lowest in South Asia and low-income economies 97

FIGURE 3.7. Scores on the supportive frameworks index are higher where laws are stronger, but they still fall short of scores on the legal frameworks index 99

FIGURE 3.8. Legal equality and enforcement are positively aligned, though enforcement perceptions trail laws 102

FIGURE 3.9. Legal equality across a woman's economic life cycle: Strongest in the areas of Mobility, Pay, and Marriage; weakest in the areas of... 104

FIGURE 3.10. Supportive frameworks across a woman's economic life cycle: Strongest in the areas of Mobility, Marriage, and Safety;... 107

FIGURE 3.11. Perceived enforcement across a woman's economic life cycle: Strongest in the areas of Mobility, Marriage, and Assets;... 112

FIGURE 3.12. Legal frameworks are stronger than supportive frameworks and enforcement perceptions in respect to almost every Women,... 116

FIGURE 3.13. Pronounced weaknesses in the areas of Safety and Childcare drive uneven performance across all regions and income groups 118

FIGURE 3.14. In 2023-25, 68 economies across all regions enacted reforms toward legal equality 122

Boxes 7

BOX ES.1. Women, Business and the Law is the World Bank Group's benchmark for bridging economic gender gaps 20

BOX 1.1. Reforms across all areas measured by Women, Business and the Law are associated with more and better jobs and growth 46

BOX 1.2. Women, Business and the Law data inform country reforms and have global impact 50

BOX 2.1. Building reliable data: Experts' inputs and rigorous validation 65

BOX 2.2. Women, Business and the Law applies general and topic-specific parameters to ensure data comparability 66

BOX 2.3. Women, Business and the Law 2026 uses vignette-based questions to capture expert perceptions of how laws are enforced in practice 71

BOX 3.1. Identifying legal and policy barriers at the subnational level: Evidence from Nigeria 94

BOX 3.2. Supportive frameworks across economies put laws into action 100

BOX 3.3. Technology and women's economic participation: Both a cross-cutting enabler and a growing barrier 109

BOX 3.4. Do laws translate into equal pay? Evidence from a Women, Business and the Law-Gallup pilot survey 114

FIGURE BES.1.1. Women, Business and the Law assesses women's economic rights across three pillars and 10 topics 21

FIGURE B2.3.1. Respondents accurately understood hypothetical scenarios that showed low, medium, and high levels of enforcement 72

FIGURE B3.1.1. A subnational study in Nigeria reveals critical legal and implementation gaps for women's economic opportunity across states 95

FIGURE B3.4.1. Perceived pay equality across pilot economies 115

Map 9

MAP 3.1. Laws, supportive frameworks, and enforcement vary across economies 89

TABLE ES.A.1. Women, Business and the Law 2026 scores 31

TABLE 3.B.1. Women, Business and the Law 2026 scores 143