The World Bank report, published on Thursday, notes a deceleration. The index measuring the progress of reforms in favor of greater legal equality has only increased by 0.5 points and stands at 77.1 points, indicates the institution in his report “Women, business and the law” for 2022.
In concrete terms, 34 reforms were carried out over the past year, in 18 countries, which makes it the lowest total since the beginning of the century. At the current pace of reform, a young woman entering working life today will not achieve legal equality when she retires in most countries, says the report, which points to a risk of hampering “economic growth at a critical time for the global economy”.
Equality between men and women would increase GDP
“The fact that a large part of the world does not grant women the same rights as men constitutes not only an injustice with regard to them but also an obstacle in the capacity of these countries to promote a development green, resilient and inclusive,” said World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill.
The institution estimates that legal equality would make it possible to increase gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the long term by nearly 20% on average, with global economic gains estimated at between 5,000 and 6,000 billion dollars if the women could start and grow new businesses as easily as men.
While the level of equality is highest in the advanced economies, sub-Saharan Africa is the region to have carried out the most reforms in this area by 2022, with half of the total being carried out in seven countries in the zone.