Context:
Recently, 10th edition of the women, business and the law report was published
Women Business and the Law Report 2024:
- Annual studies measuring the enabling environment for women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies.
- Published by – World bank
- It analysed for the 1st time the impact of childcare & safety policies on women’s participation in the labour market
- It analyses laws—de jure— and examines the existence of frameworks supporting implementation of the law and gauges experts’ opinions on the outcome of the law for women—de facto
- 10 indicators – Safety, Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Childcare, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension
- 2 of these indicators were crucial, World Bank pointed out — safety from violence and access to childcare services
Key Findings of the Report:
| Indicators | Findings |
| Workplace | Women around the globe do not experience equal opportunities to men in the workforce in any country |
| Global gender gap | The extent of the gap was more extensive than initially believed, and narrowing it could result in a global GDP increase of over 20% |
| Pay | On a global scale, women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man |
| Pension | In 81 nations, the pension benefits for women do not consider periods of work absences associated with childcare |
| Parenthood | Financial support or tax relief for parents of young children was available in fewer than half of the countries |
| Safety | While 151 countries had laws addressing sexual harassment in the workplace, only 40 countries had legislation that extended to cover abuse in public areas or on public transport. |
| Childcare | Closing the childcare gap would result in an immediate 1% boost in women’s participation in the labor force |
| Legal gap | On average, countries put in place less than 40% of the necessary systems for complete implementationOn average, women have access to only 64% of the legal protections that men do, a decrease from the earlier estimate of 77% |
India’s initiatives for gender equality in workplace:
- The Code on Wages, 2019 – Prohibits gender discrimination in wages and employee recruitment for identical or similar work.
- Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017 – Provides for maternity benefits and on-site childcare for establishments with fifty or more employees.
- Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act)
Read more about: Gender Disparities in the Labour Market, Increasing Crimes against Women
Source: World Bank Report
Previous Year Question
India’s ranking in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following has declared that ranking?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2016 Prelims]
(a) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
(b) World Economic Forum
(c) World Bank
(d) World Trade Organization (WTO)
Answer: (c)
