WASHINGTON: Full workplace equality does not exist anywhere in the world and only a tiny fraction of women live in countries with a labor market that comes close to it, the World Bank said Tuesday.
Even when workplace equality laws are passed by lawmakers they are truly enforced in only about half of all cases, the bank said in a report on women, business and the law.
“Even in economies that have modernized their laws, women still face constraints that shape the work they can do, the businesses they can start, and the safety they need to pursue opportunities,” said Indermit Gill, the lender’s chief economist.
The report assesses not only equality laws that have been passed but also public services created to help women in the workplace and ensure these laws are enforced.
The bank insisted that reforms are needed because 1.2 billion young people — half of them women — will enter the workplace over the next decade.
