World Bank: Across the globe, women lack equality in the workplace

Mar 17, 2010, 17:51 GMT

Washington - Women face a litany of restrictions across the globe that limit their ability to work or start a business, the World Bank said Wednesday, in the first of what will become an annual report on laws and regulations over gender equality.

The World Bank found that just 20 of 128 economies surveyed have equal working rights for men and women, a fact that is hampering the growth of many developing countries.

'Women's economic empowerment is not only the right thing to do. It's the smart thing to do from an economic perspective,' World Bank President Robert Zoellick said at the report's unveiling.

The vast majority of the 20 were industrial nations. None of them were in Eastern Europe, South Asia or the Middle East. One country, Botswana, was in Africa.

The restrictions on women getting jobs range from barring access to specific industries, to owning a company or - as in the Democratic Republic of Congo - requiring a husband's approval before signing a work contract.

The World Bank found that a number of restrictions are put in place ostensibly to protect women - preventing them from working at night or in dangerous fields such as mining. The report argued this, too, stops women from contributing to economic growth as they would choose.

'The issue is mindset,' Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, a civil rights group involved with the report, told the German Press Agency dpa. 'Having these protective laws is patronizing in my opinion.'