About 2.4 billion women of working age are not afforded the same equal economic opportunities as men, even as they struggle to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has set back their economic empowerment, according to a new report from the World Bank.
In 86 countries, women face some form of job restriction and 95 countries do not guarantee equal pay for equal work, according to the Women, Business and the Law 2022 report, which surveyed more than 2,300 lawyers, judges, academics, civil society representatives and public officials from 190 countries.
About 178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent women’s full economic participation and they have only three quarters of the legal rights afforded to men, according to the Washington-based lender. Just 12 countries, all part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, have achieved legal gender parity.
Governments need to accelerate the pace of legal reforms so that women can realise their full potential and benefit fully and equally
Mari Pangestu,
World Bank managing director of development policy and partnerships
However, despite the pandemic's disproportionate effect on women’s lives and livelihood, 23 countries reformed their laws last year to advance women’s economic inclusion, according to the report that was released on Tuesday.
“While progress has been made, the gap between men’s and women’s expected lifetime earnings globally is $172 trillion — nearly two times the world’s annual gross domestic product,” said Mari Pangestu, World Bank's managing director of development policy and partnerships.
“As we move forward to achieve green, resilient and inclusive development, governments need to accelerate the pace of legal reforms so that women can realise their full potential and benefit fully and equally.”
Women will have to wait almost a century for the same economic, political, health and educational opportunities as men, taking more than a lifetime to achieve equality, according to a 2019 World Economic Forum report.
In terms of the “economic opportunity gap”, it will take women 257 years to achieve parity with the other gender, the report found, even longer than the 202 years predicted by the WEF in 2018.
Women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable amid the coronavirus crisis than men’s jobs globally, at 5.7 per cent versus 3.1 per cent, respectively, according to a McKinsey survey. Although women represent 39 per cent of global employment, they account for 54 per cent of overall job losses during the pandemic.
In its report, the World Bank measured laws and regulations across eight areas that continue to affect women’s economic opportunities in 190 countries. These include mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets and pension.
The Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa regions showed the largest improvements in the WBL Index in 2021, although they continue to lag behind other parts of the world overall, the report revealed.
Gabon made the most comprehensive reforms to its civil code and enacted a law on the elimination of violence against women, the World Bank said.
Globally, the highest number of reforms were made in the parenthood, pay and workplace indicators, the report said. Many reforms focused on protection against sexual harassment in the workplace, prohibiting gender discrimination, increasing paid leave for new parents and removing job restrictions for women.
“Women cannot achieve equality in the workplace if they are on an unequal footing at home,” said Carmen Reinhart, senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank Group.
“That means levelling the playing field and ensuring that having children doesn’t mean women are excluded from full participation in the economy and realising their hopes and ambitions.”
The gains in the parenthood indicator have largely been around paternity leave and shared parental leave, but the low score of 55.6 out of 100 highlights the need to accelerate reforms in this area, the World Bank added.
START-UPS%20IN%20BATCH%204%20OF%20SANABIL%20500'S%20ACCELERATOR%20PROGRAMME
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Gulf rugby
Who’s won what so far in 2018/19
Western Clubs Champions League: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Dubai Hurricanes
West Asia Premiership: Bahrain
What’s left
UAE Conference
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Hurricanes II v Al Ain Amblers, Jebel Ali Dragons II v Dubai Tigers
March 29, final
UAE Premiership
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Exiles v Jebel Ali Dragons, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Hurricanes
March 29, final
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An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
