ABSTRACT
If the state of women as per World Bank report 2018 was nothing great to talk about, the pandemic has only worsened it. The World Bank Review, 2018, reflected that 2.7 billion women were restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. Women faced widespread barriers, entrenched in laws that keep them out of jobs and prevent them from owning a business. The World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law report, 2018, also found that 104 economies prevented women from working in certain jobs; 59 economies lacked laws on sexual harassment in the workplace; and, in 18 economies, husbands could legally prevent their wives from working. 1 The World Bank Review, 2022, paints a dismal picture. To quote, “The global pace of reforms toward equal treatment of women under the law has slumped to a 20-year low, constituting a potential impediment to economic growth at a critical time for the global economy”. The Review shared that only 34 gender-related legal reforms were recorded in 18 countries only, that mostly focused on increasing paid leave, removing restrictions on women’s work, and mandating equal pay. The Report noted that “at the current pace, it would take at least 50 years on average to reach that (1,549 reforms) target”. 2
