Women in Latin America and the Caribbean they have 20% less of the legal rights granted to menindicated Tuesday a World Bank study, although he pointed out that the parity of gender laws in the region is better than the world average.
According to the report “Women, Business and Law 2022”, which evaluates laws and regulations in 190 countries in eight areas that impact female economic participation, in Latin America and the Caribbean, women have an average score of 80.4 out of a total of 100, above the global score of 76.5.
The best-ranked countries in the region in terms of gender equality laws are Peru (95.0) and Paraguay (94.4), and the worst are Haiti (61.3) and Dominica (62.5). Ecuador has a rating of 89.4.
“By revealing how discriminatory laws prevent women from contributing fully and equally to their economies, ‘La Mujer, Empresa y la Derecho’ advocates for concrete reforms towards gender equality,” said World Bank Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart , in the foreword to the report.
To compile its index on legal gender equality, the study is based on eight areas: mobility, work, compensation, marriage, parenthood (laws that affect women’s work after having children), entrepreneurship (restrictions to start and run a business), assets (property and inheritance rights) and retirement.
Latin America and the Caribbean ranks well in terms of assets (average score of 97.5), mobility (92.2), and marriage (90.6).
But there are nuances. In the region, women can travel in the same way as men, there are still eight countries that make differences between men and women in the passport application process. And significant gaps remain in parenting (average score 48.1), pay (72.7) and work (78.1), according to a World Bank statement.
In the area of parenting, 19 of 32 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean do not have legislation guaranteeing 14 weeks of paid maternity leave.
On the other hand, only 11 countries in the region require equal pay for work of equal value and nine limit the industrial jobs that women can do.
In the business area, the average score is good (82.8), but only 11 countries prohibit discrimination in access to credit based on gender, which can potentially restrict women from doing business.
Another aspect to improve is in the field of retirement (81.3), in which 14 of 32 countries do not take into account periods of absence from work due to childcare leave in the calculation of retirement benefits.
Calculation of score in the report “Women, Business and Law 2022”
According to the report, “the dataset and analysis can be used to support research and policy debates on the ways in which the legal environment influences women’s economic activity.” The eight indicators in the report are made up of four or five binary questions, with each indicator representing a different phase of a woman’s life.
Indicator-level scores are obtained by averaging the responses to the questions within that indicator and scaling the result to 100. Overall scores are then calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 representing the highest.
Examining the data for one economy illustrates how the index score works. Ecuador, for example, receives a score of 100 in the areas of mobility, work, compensation, marriage, assets and retirementwhich indicates that there are no legal restrictions in the areas measured under these indicators.
However, in parenting, the lack of at least 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, government-administered maternity leave benefits, or paid paternity leave results in a score of 40. The entrepreneurship score is 75 because “the The law does not prohibit discrimination based on gender in access to credit,” according to the report.
Based on this information, Ecuador thus obtains a rating of 89.4. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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