The World Bank (the "World Bank") said in its latest "Women, Business and Law 2022" report that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a greater impact on women's lives and livelihoods.

However, 23 countries have introduced legal reforms in 2021, taking many much-needed steps to promote women's economic inclusion.

  Globally, countries currently have the most reforms in fertility, wages and workplaces, with many focusing on increasing paid maternity and paternity leave and removing restrictions on women’s employment.

" Although progress has been made, the global difference in expected lifetime earnings between men and women is $172 trillion, nearly double the world's total annual gross domestic product (GDP),

  " said Huilan Fung, World Bank Executive Vice President for Development Policy and Partnerships .

"

In its efforts to achieve green, resilient and inclusive development, governments need to accelerate the pace of legal reforms so that women can realize their full potential and benefit equitably and fully."

More and more countries and regions invest in child care

  The report assesses laws and regulations in 190 economies in eight areas that affect women's economic participation, including free movement, workplace, wages, marriage, maternity, entrepreneurship, assets and pensions.

According to the report, 118 economies in the world guarantee women 14 weeks of paid maternity leave.

  Over the past year, Armenia, Switzerland and Ukraine have introduced paid paternity leave; Colombia, Georgia, Greece and Spain have introduced paid parental leave, providing both parents with some form of paid leave to care for a child after birth.

The Bank believes that enacting laws that promote this type of paid leave for fathers can reduce workplace discrimination and improve work-life balance.

  Notably, the report added a pilot survey of childcare laws in 95 countries this year.

Childcare issues are critical to women's success in gaining paid employment.

For example, the report conducted pilot studies on two new areas, the legal environment for childcare services and law enforcement.

More and more economies are now investing in childcare to improve children's skills and recognize unpaid caregiving work by women, who tend to take on more caregiving responsibilities.

  The pilot study analysed the laws of 95 economies and found that most OECD high-income economies, as well as those in Europe and Central Asia, regulate public childcare services, while the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia regulate the private sector or employers Childcare services must be provided for children of working parents.

There is still room for improvement in many parts of the world

  From a regional perspective, in this report, the indicators of developed economies continued to improve.

  Among them, in 2021, Greece, Spain, and Switzerland reformed their laws and improved the paid maternity leave system for both parents.

Twelve economies in the world scored 100 points in the competition, all of which are developed economies, namely Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

  In East Asia and the Pacific, economies continued to undertake legislative reforms to promote gender equality, but at a slow pace.

Two economies in East Asia underwent reforms last year: Cambodia began implementing a pension system with a uniform retirement age for full pensions for men and women, and Vietnam removed all employment restrictions for women.

  Europe and Central Asia came in second with an average score of 84.1.

But there are still important challenges in wages and pensions in the region. For example, almost half of the region's economies do not mandate equal pay for equal work.

The retirement age for men and women to receive full pension benefits remains inconsistent across 17 economies.

  In Latin America and the Caribbean, women have less than three-quarters of the legal rights of men, according to the report.

Two of the region's 32 economies implemented reforms last year.

Argentina explicitly counts periods of absence from work due to childcare as a pension benefit.

Colombia became the first country in Latin America to introduce paid parental leave.

Only half of the economies in the region guarantee relevant paid leave to fathers.

  In South Asia, South Asian women have only two-thirds of the legal rights of men.

Only one economy in the region has reformed, with mixed results.

Pakistan lifted restrictions on women's night work, but at the same time, a decree that permanently allowed women to register businesses as well as men did not turn into law.