1. Women, Business and the Law
Nayda Almodovar-Reteguis
March 20, 2018

2. WHAT DOES WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW DO?
Women, Business and the Law examines laws that treat men and women differently in ways that affect women’s economic opportunities
It looks at legal disadvantages women face relative to men, as well as gender- neutral laws that may have a disproportionately negative affect on women
It publishes a global report every 2 years and maintains a online database with country-level data and links to primary legal sources
Currently expanding to 189 economies.
Research by the World Bank, the IMF and others has shown that legal gender differences significantly decrease female labor force participation and undermine GDP growth
Legal gender equality is associated with lower gender gaps in labor force participation without any significant effect on male participation rates
Gender gaps in women’s entrepreneurship and labor force participation account for estimated income losses of 27% in the Middle East and North Africa, 19% in South Asia, 14% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 10% in Europe
Research estimates that eliminating barriers discriminating against women working in certain sectors or occupations could increase labor productivity by as much as 25% in some economies, simply by increasing women’s labor force participation

3. What does Women, Business and the Law Cover?
Accessing Institutions
Getting a Job
Using
Property
Going to Court
Protecting Women from Violence
Building Credit
Providing Incentives to Work
173 economies across 7 indicators, examining:
Constitutional Law
Family Law
Labor Law
Property Law
Criminal Law
Domestic Violence Law
Tax Law
Social Security Law
Land Law
Education Law
Personal Status Law
Violence Against Women Legislation
Quotas
…and more

4. 90% OF ECONOMIES STILL HAVE AT LEAST ONE GENDER DIFFERENTIATED LAW ON THE BOOKS
No restrictions
≥ 10 restrictions
0 < restrictions < 3
≤ 5 restrictions < 10
Lower Legal gender equality is associated with fewer girls attending secondary school, fewer women working or running businesses, and a wider gender wage gap
3 ≤ restrictions < 5
In total, there are 943 legal gender differences across 173 economies
Out of 30 economies that have 10 and more restrictions, 26 are in the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

5. Protecting a wife’s interests
Women’s Access to PROPERTY: HIGHLIGHTS FROM the using property indicator
Ownership/control rights over property
Differences in ownership rights over property, including the right to control the property, can also impact women’s access to property, such as land
Marital regimes impact women’s access to property
Inheritance rights can also impact women’s access to property
Marital property regimes and inheritance laws
Recognition of non-monetary contributions (unpaid work such as childcare)
Laws governing transactions concerning the marital home that establish certain protections
Protecting a wife’s interests
“Formal land and property laws, policies, and regulations may overtly discriminate against women. Even where they do not, implementation and enforcement is often problematic. The formal laws may not clearly define the rights for women. “
“Even where the laws are clear, regulations that guide implementation might insufficiently reflect the rights promised by law. For example, even where law mandates joint ownership by spouses, forms for registering land might fail to include a second line to record both spouses. Furthermore, land laws may be undermined by other laws such as those governing inheritance or marriage.”
“Rights to land and natural resources increase a woman’s bargaining power within the household, which results in increased allocation of household resources to children and women as well as increased household welfare. ”
Tonga example:
INHERITANCE (d) the male issue shall be preferred to female issue of the same degree; Examples On the death of a holder leaving a son and a daughter, the son is entitled to succeed. On the death of a holder leaving a grand-daughter and grandson, children of the same parents, the grand-son will succeed.
Right to allotment. Every male Tongan subject by birth upon making application in the prescribed form to the Minister of Lands shall be entitled to receive subject to the provisions of this Act a grant of land not exceeding hectares as a tax allotment and where any such grant is less than hectares the Minister may from time to time as land becomes available and as he deems expedient make further grants to such holder until the area granted to him as a tax allotment has a total area of hectares. He shall also be entitled to receive on making application as aforesaid and subject to the provisions of this Act a grant of an area not exceeding square metres in a town as a town allotment. (Substituted by Act 8 of 1955 and Amended by Acts 11 of 1980 and 21 of 1984.)
74 Allotment holder’s duty to plant, etc. (1) Every male Tongan subject who has been granted a tax allotment by the Minister shall within one year from the date of the grant have growing on such allotment 200 coconut trees planted in rows and so arranged that the trees are 9 metres apart or 4.5 metres apart in rows 18 metres distant from each other. (Amended by Acts 13 of 1936 and 11 of 1980.) (2) Every holder of a tax allotment shall carefully attend to the coconut trees growing thereon and keep them reasonably clean and free from weeds. (3) Any holder who shall neglect or omit to comply with any of the requirements of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50. (Amended by Act 4 of 1980.)

6. A CLOSER LOOK: MARITAL PROPERTY REGIMES
Separation of property
Partial community of property
Full community of property
Deferred full or partial community of property
64 economies
73 economies
The default marital property regime is the set of rules that apply to the ownership and management of property within marriage and when the marriage ends, when there is no prenuptial agreement. Default marital property regimes are classified as follows:
Separation of property: All assets and income acquired by the spouses both before they marry and during the marriage remain the separate property of the acquiring spouse. At the time of divorce or the death of one of the spouses, each spouse retains ownership of all assets and income brought to the marriage or acquired during marriage by that person and any value that has accrued to that property. 
Partial community of property: Assets acquired before marriage are regarded as the separate property of the acquiring spouse, and assets and income acquired after marriage, with a few exceptions specified by law, are regarded as joint property of the couple. This regime also applies to cases where assets acquired before marriage and assets acquired during marriage are regarded as the separate property of the acquiring spouse but the accrued value of the property acquired by any of the spouses is considered joint property. At the time of dissolution of the marriage by divorce or death, the joint property or its accrued value is divided equally between the spouses. 
Full community of property: All assets and income whether brought into the marriage and acquired during the marriage, with a few exceptions specified by law, become the joint property of the couple. If the marriage is dissolved, all joint property is divided equally between the spouses.  Burundi Namibia Netherlands Philippines Rwanda South Africa
Deferred full or partial community of property: The rules of full or partial community of property apply at the time the marriage is dissolved; until then, separation of property applies.  Austria Switzerland Colombia Costa Rica Germany Denmark Finland Honduras Iceland Israel Norway Panama El Salvador Sweden Taiwan, China
Other: This occurs in economies where the default property regime does not fit any of the four descriptions above. 
There is no default marital property regime: This alternative applies in economies where the law requires the spouse to opt into the marital property regime of their choice - with legal alternatives provided - before or at the time of marriage. In economies where there is no default marital property regime, the most common regime is used instead.
6 economies
15 economies

7. Where husbands control marital property, women are less likely to have an account at a financial institution.
In 7 economies husbands have the sole right to administer joint property.
PROGRAMS TO CREATE AWARENESS ON IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN REGISTERING LAND
WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING POSITIONS WITHIN THE REGISTRIES
LEGAL PROVISIONSTO PROMOTE REGISTRATION OF LAND BY WOMEN (EX. WAIVER OF REGISTRATION FEES)
GENDER OF OWNER INCLUDED IN STANDARD DOCUMENT USED TO PROVE OWNERSHIP
LEGAL MANDATE FOR JOINT TITLING OF MARITAL PROPERTY
LEGAL REQUIREMENT TO VERIFY IDENTITY OF OWNER , MARITAL STATUS, IDENTITY OF THE SPOUSE AND MARITAL PROPERTY REGIME, TO REGISTER A PERSON’S OWNERSHIP RIGHT
CONNECTION BETWEEN PROPERTY AND CIVIL REGISTRIES, TO FACILITATE VERIFICATION OF INFORMATION

8. PROTECTING A WIFE’S INTERESTS IN PROPERTY
If the husband administers property, is spousal consent required for major transactions?
Are there special provisions governing the marital home?
Does the law provide for valuation of nonmonetary contributions?
YES
In 4 of the 7 economies where the husband administers property
YES
In 38 economies
Example: requirement that both spouses agree to any major transaction involving the home, including selling or pledging it as collateral, or that the court will intervene when the spouses disagree. Such provisions are particularly relevant where separation or deferred full or partial community are the default regimes. 
If the husband administers property, is spousal consent required for major transactions?
Chile
Côte d'Ivoire
Congo, Rep.
Congo, Dem. Rep.
YES
In 119 economies

9. INHERITANCE IS A PRIMARY PATHWAY TO PROPERTY OWNERSHIP FOR wOmen
India’s reform of the Hindu Succession Act gave daughters equal rights to inherit property. It altered control over assets within families, increased parental investment in daughters and delayed age of marriage.
The second-generation effects were even larger. Mothers who benefited from the reform spent twice as much on their daughters’ education, women were more likely to have bank accounts, and their households were more likely to have sanitary latrines.
“Inheritance norms is usually the most frequent source of transfer of ownership of land. As a result of customs, women are much less likely to inherit. In addition, there is usually male privilege in marriage, and state programs of land redistribution have tended to be biased towards men.”
39 economies – daughters do not have equal inheritance
37 economies – widows do not have equal inheritance

10. WHERE DO LAWS SUPPORT WOMEN’S ACCESS TO PROPERTY SUCH AS LAND?
Strength of laws supporting women’s access to property
ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS TO PROPERTY UNDER DEFAULT MARITAL PROPERTY REGIME
EQUAL OWNERSHIP RIGHTS TO PROPERTY
EQUAL INHERITANCE RIGHTS
VALUATION OF NONMONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS
SPOUSAL CONSENT FOR MAJOR TRANSACTIONS
WOMEN’S ABILITY TO SIGN CONTRACT
Map Components: Land and Assets
Do husbands legally administer marital property?
Do married men and married women have equal ownership rights to property?
Does the law provide for the valuation of nonmonetary contributions?
If the husband administers property, is spousal consent required for major transactions?
Do sons and daughters have equal rights to inherit assets from their parents?
Do female and male surviving spouses have equal rights to inherit assets?
Can a married woman sign a contract in the same way as a married man?
Top 10 Worst countries:
Swaziland
Afghanistan
Mauritania
Tonga
United Arab Emirates
Bangladesh
Bahrain
Brunei Darussalam
Cameroon
Djibouti
Weak
Strong
Source: World Bank Group's Women, Business and the Law database

11. VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE at wbl.worldbank.org
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NEW WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2018 REPORT TO BE LAUNCH ON MARCH 29, 2018.