Women’s Legal Rights over 50 Years : What Is the Impact of Reform?

This study uses a newly compiled database of women's property rights and legal capacity covering 100 countries over 50 years to test for the impact of legal reforms on employment, health, and education outcomes for women and girls. The database demonstrates gender gaps in the ability to access and own property, sign legal documents in one's own name, and have equality or non-discrimination as a guiding principle of the country's constitution. In the initial period, 75 countries had gender gaps in at least one of these areas and often multiple ones. By 2010, 57 countries had made reforms that strengthened women's economic rights, including 28 countries that had eliminated all of the constraints monitored here. In the cross-section and within countries over time, the removal of gender gaps in rights is associated with greater participation of women in the labor force, greater movement out of agricultural employment, higher rates of women in wage employment, lower adolescent fertility, lower maternal and infant mortality, and higher female educational enrollment. This paper provides evidence on how the strengthening of women's legal rights is associated with important development outcomes.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Hallward-Driemeier, Mary, Hasan, Tazeen, Bogdana Rusu, Anca
Language:	en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2013-09
Subjects:	access to bank accounts, Access to Capital, access to contraceptives, access to finance, adolescent fertility, adult literacy, age at marriage, age of marriage, agricultural sector, Armed Conflict, armed conflicts, bank account, bank accounts, bank loan, bargaining, bargaining power, childbirth, citizen, citizens, civil law, Civil War, Codes, collateral, common law, constitutions, contraception, Contraceptive prevalence, corruption, court, courts, Credit Access, credit constraints, crime, criminal, customary law, Developing Countries, Development Economics, development policy, discrimination, divorce, domestic violence, economic activities, economic activity, economic benefits, Economic Development, Economic Empowerment, Economic Growth, economic opportunities, Economic Policy, economic rights, Economics, educational attainment, employee, employer, employers, employment opportunities, Empowering Women, empowerment, enrollment, equal access, equal rights, equal rights for women, equality, equality before the law, family law, Farmers, female, female Access, female employment, female population, females, fertility rate, financial support, first marriage, Foreign law, formal financial institution, gender, Gender Differentials, Gender Disparities, Gender Equality, gender gap, gender gaps, Gender Law, gender parity, gender rights, global development, greater access, gross domestic product, head of household, health care, home, household investment, household surveys, household Work, Human Capital, Human Rights, husband, husbands, immovable property, income, income categories, income groups, inequality, infant, infant health, infant mortality, Infant mortality rate, Informal Economy, inheritance, inheritance rights, International Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute, labor force, labor force participation, Labor Market, labor market indicators, Labor Markets, labor supply, Labour, Land Banks, land rights, Law Reform, laws, legal age, legal agreements, legal capacity, legal pluralism, legal reform, legal reforms, Legal Rights, legal status, Legal Systems, legislation, legislators, level of development, levels of education, life expectancy, literacy, live births, loan, low-income countries, marital property, marital status, marriage age, married couples, married man, married woman, maternal mortality, Maternal mortality ratio, natural resource, natural resources, newborn, number of births, number of women, occupations, outputs, ownership rights, parliamentary seats, Parliamentary Union, participation of women, Peace, Personal Status, Personal Status laws, policy discussions, Policy Makers, Policy Research, Policy Research Working Paper, Political Economy, political leadership, political participation, Practitioners, pregnancy, primary education, primary school, principle of equality, productivity, progress, property ownership, Property right, property rights, Ratio of women, real estate, recognition of rights, reform laws, religious law, rule of law, Rule_of_Law, rural populations, sanction, secondary education, secondary school, Self employed, Self employed workers, self-employment, sex, sexual partners, sexual violence, Small Business, spouse, spouses, start-ups, tertiary education, tertiary level, Treaties, unmarried men, unmarried women, unpaid family workers, virtual libraries, wife, will, wives, woman, women in parliament, young adult,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16318
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