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.
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
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Ukraine
Capital: Kiev
Population: 44.13 million
Armed conflict in Donbass
Russia-backed fighters control territory
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
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Fixtures
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Our legal advisor
Rasmi Ragy is a senior counsel at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Prosecutor in Egypt with more than 40 years experience across the GCC.
Education: Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1978.
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The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
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Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
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65
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
more from Janine di Giovanni
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT
Price, base / as tested Dh460,000
Engine 8.4L V10
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
