Global Laws Fail to Fully Enforce Women's Economic Equality

Only 4% of women worldwide live in economies with nearly full legal equality, World Bank report finds.

Published on Feb. 25, 2026

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A new World Bank report finds that laws designed to ensure equal economic opportunities for women are only half-enforced on average across the world, indicating that the barriers keeping women from contributing fully to growth and prosperity are far steeper than previously thought. Even if the laws were fully enforced, women would still enjoy barely two-thirds of the legal rights of men.

Why it matters

Ensuring equal economic opportunity for women is crucial for economic growth and development, as it allows economies to reach their full potential. However, the report shows that despite progress in establishing new equal-opportunity laws, enforcement remains a major challenge, leaving a large untapped pool of economic potential.

The details

The report assesses not only the degree of equality in laws on the books, but also the extent to which those laws are enforced. Legal experts surveyed estimated that laws encouraging full economic participation by women are only half-enforced on average. Even as countries make progress in new equal-opportunity laws, economies on average have fewer than half of the policies and services needed for enforcement. Only 4% of women across the world live in economies that provide nearly full legal equality.

  • The latest Women, Business and the Law report was published on February 24, 2026.

The players

Indermit Gill

The World Bank Group's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.

Norman Loayza

Director of the World Bank's Policy Indicators Group.

Tea Trumbic

Manager for the Women, Business and the Law project and the report's lead author.

World Bank Group

The organization that published the Women, Business and the Law report.

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What they’re saying

“On paper, most countries are doing reasonably well: the average country scores 67 out of 100 on the adequacy of laws to enable economic equality between women and men. But when it comes to enforcing the laws, the average score drops to 53. And when the systems needed to implement those rights are assessed, the adequacy score is just 47. These numbers reflect huge opportunity gaps- and the findings of this report provide policymakers with intelligence to reverse the decline in the growth potential of developing economies.”

— Indermit Gill, World Bank Group's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics

“True equality begins with safety. Whether at home, at work, or in public, women deserve protection to thrive. Globally, we're falling short. We have only a third of the safety laws we need, and even then, enforcement is failing 80% of the time.”

— Norman Loayza, Director of the World Bank's Policy Indicators Group

“Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people-half of them girls-will enter the workforce. Many will come of age in regions where women face the biggest barriers, and where the GDP boost that would result from their participation is most needed. Ensuring equal opportunity for women here-and everywhere-benefits societies as a whole, not just women. It's an economic must-have, in short, not just a nice-to-have.”

— Tea Trumbic, Manager for the Women, Business and the Law project and the report's lead author

The takeaway

This report highlights the critical need for governments to not only enact laws promoting women's economic equality, but to also prioritize enforcement and implementation of those laws. Ensuring equal opportunity for women is an economic imperative that can unlock significant growth potential for developing economies.