The pace of reforms to reduce gender inequality slowed in 2022 to its lowest level in 20 years, the World Bank (WB) said Thursday in a report in which Latin America is the third region with the highest score .
The index that measures the progress of the reforms in favor of greater legal equality has only increased 0.5 points to stand at 77.1, “which indicates that, on average, women enjoy only 77% of the rights that men have before the law”, writes the institution in its report for 2022.
During the last year, 34 reforms were carried out in 18 countries, which is the lowest total since the beginning of the century.
At the current pace of reforms, a young woman entering the workforce today will retire without having achieved the same rights as men in most countries, the report warns.
“Not only is it unfair to them, it is also an obstacle that undermines the ability of countries to promote green, resilient and inclusive development,” said Indermit Gill, chief economist at the World Bank Group, quoted in a statement.
The institution estimates that the reduction of the gender gap in employment could increase the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the long term by an average of almost 20% in all countries, with estimated global economic gains between 5 and 6 trillion dollars, if women started and expanded new businesses at the same rate as men.
advanced economies
The level of equality is higher in advanced economies, but among the 44 with scores above 90 are three Latin Americans: Costa Rica (91.9), Paraguay (94.4) and Peru (95). By contrast, Haiti has the lowest (61.3). In general, Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the third highest score (80.9) in the report “Women, Business and the Law 2023”.
Costa Rica reached 100 points in the labor remuneration indicator after the elimination of restrictions on female employment in jobs considered dangerous.
The World Bank studied all laws and regulations passed or implemented in 190 countries in 2022, taking into account eight areas: mobility, work, income, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, wealth, and retirement.
The economies of Latin America and the Caribbean perform well in the areas of assets (average score of 97.5), mobility (92.2), and marriage (90.6).
In the field of mobility, all have implemented legislation that allows women to leave their homes and travel abroad in the same way as men.
Despite the challenges, the countries of the region have improved their parenting score (+0.7 points on average), compared to the previous report, although more than half (19 of 32) do not have legislation guaranteeing 14 weeks of paid maternity leave.
