A Decade of Global Gender Equality Reform

The World Bank report, *Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform*, analyzes ten years of index data on gender discrimination in the workplace across 187 countries and the changes over that decade.

According to the report, the data shows significant growth in gender-friendly workplace laws over the past 10 years. 131 countries have reformed 274 laws and regulations, demonstrating a high level of awareness of gender equality in the workplace. This includes 35 countries that have implemented laws related to sexual harassment, protecting nearly two million more women than a decade ago.

However, the global average score of 74.71—compared to 70.06 a decade ago—indicates that only three-quarters of women worldwide have equal opportunities to men.

The same report shows that South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa have seen improvements in gender equality. Indonesia scored 64.38. This is higher than Malaysia (50) and Brunei Darussalam (53.13). However, it remains lower than Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines, which scored 82.50, 81.88, and 81.25 respectively.

The Middle East and North Africa had the lowest index score at 47.37, where women receive only half the rights of men. Meanwhile, only six countries have truly implemented equal rights for male and female workers: Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Sweden, all scoring 100 on the index. This means women in these countries have equal rights to men in the workplace.