Laws meant to level the economic playing field for women are enforced only halfway on average worldwide, limiting growth, productivity and job creation, according to a new report by the World Bank Group.
The latest Women, Business and the Law report finds that while many countries have made progress passing equal-opportunity legislation, weak enforcement and poor implementation mean women still enjoy barely two-thirds of the legal rights available to men. Just 4% of women globally live in economies offering near-full legal equality, a shortfall the Bank says is constraining economic potential.
“On paper, most countries are doing reasonably well,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist. “But when it comes to enforcing the laws, the average score drops sharply. These gaps represent lost growth opportunities for developing economies.”
For the first time, the report measures not only laws on the books but how effectively they are enforced. Legal experts surveyed estimate that pro-women economic laws are enforced at just 50%, while economies have fewer than half the policies and services needed to make those rights real.
Safety, finance and childcare emerge as major bottlenecks
The study assesses women’s economic participation across 10 areas, including safety from violence, entrepreneurship, employment protections, asset ownership and retirement security. Safety stands out as a critical weakness: only about a third of the laws needed to protect women are in place globally, and where they exist, enforcement fails most of the time.
“True equality begins with safety,” said Norman Loayza, warning that insecurity limits women’s ability to work consistently and advance economically.
Entrepreneurship also lags. Although women can legally start businesses in most countries, only about half of economies promote equal access to credit, keeping many women-led firms locked out of financing.
Childcare is another decisive constraint. Less than half of the 190 economies surveyed offer financial or tax support for families, and only 30% of the policies needed for affordable, high-quality childcare are in place. In low-income economies, just 1% of childcare support mechanisms exist, sharply reducing women’s labour participation.
Growth stakes rising as youth enter workforce
Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people half of them women are expected to enter the global workforce. Tea Trumbic, the report’s lead author, said ensuring equal opportunity is no longer optional.
“The GDP boost from women’s participation is most needed in regions where barriers are highest,” she said, calling gender equality an “economic must-have.”
Reforms accelerating, but gaps remain
Despite enforcement challenges, momentum is building. Over the past two years, 68 economies enacted 113 legal reforms, with Sub-Saharan Africa leading in volume. Countries including Egypt, Jordan and Oman expanded parental leave and strengthened equal pay provisions, while others lifted bans on women working in sectors such as construction and manufacturing.
The Bank cautions, however, that passing laws is only the first step. Without credible enforcement, financing access and childcare systems, economies will continue to forgo growth and jobs leaving a substantial share of their workforce underutilized.
