Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data

Islam, Asif ; Muzi, Silvia ; Amin, Mohammad

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: GENDER;    EMPOWERMENT;    FINANCIAL INCLUSION;    EMPLOYMENT;    INEQUALITY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8202
RP-ID  :  WPS8202

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Institutions are defined as the set ofrules that govern human interactions. When these rules arediscriminatory, they may disempower segments of a populationin the economic spheres of activity. This study exploreswhether laws that discriminate against women influence theirengagement in the economy. The study adopts a holisticapproach, exploring an overall measure of unequal laws alsoknown as legal gender disparities, and relates it to severallabor market outcomes for women. Using data for more than60,000 firms across 104 economies, the study finds thatunequal laws not only discourage women's participationin the private sector workforce, but also their likelihoodto become top managers and owners of firms. Suggestiveevidence indicates that access to finance and corruption arepathways by which legal gender disparities disempower womenin the labor market.