Empowering Women : Legal Rights and Economic Opportunities in Africa

Hallward-Driemeier, Mary ; Hasan, Tazeen

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ECONOMIC INTEGRATION;    AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION;    ANNUAL GROWTH;    BARRIERS TO ENTRY;    BONDS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-9533-2
RP-ID  :  73071

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This book looks at the effect of legaland economic rights on women's economic opportunities.It focuses on entrepreneurship because women in Africa areactive entrepreneurs, and the links between property rightsand the ability to enter contracts in one's own nameaffect entrepreneurial activities. The laws that are thefocus of this book are not business laws and regulations,which are generally gender blind and presuppose thatindividuals can own property or enter into contracts.Instead, the book examines family, inheritance, and landlaws, which oft en restrict these rights in ways that hurtwomen. This book surveys constitutions and statutes in all47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to document where gendergaps in these laws impinge on women's legal capacity,property rights, or both. The book also looks at some laborlaw issues, such as restrictions on the types of industriesor hours of work in which women may engage and provisionsfor equal pay for work of equal value. These laws affectwomen as employees and influence the attractiveness of wageemployment versus entrepreneurship. They were also selectedbecause they affect the choice of enterprise women may run.The equal pay for work of equal value provisions are also ofinterest as an indicator of the recognition of women'sbroader economic rights. This book provides a series ofindicators that show whether a country does or does notprovide particular legal provisions. Several points areworth emphasizing in interpreting these indicators. First,the indicators are binary; there is no attempt todifferentiate between small and large gender gaps. Second,the indicators are not used to generate an index orotherwise aggregate the indicators; no weights are given todifferentiate the relative importance of different sets oflaws. Third, the indicators reflect whether certain legalprovisions are recognized in a country or not; because thelink between the indicator and gender gaps is not alwaysstraightforward, care must be taken in making valuejudgments. Although some indicators reveal that women aretreated equally or identify gender differences in treatment,others do not. Although recognition of these sources of lawcan have implications for women's rights, it does notnecessarily imply that women's rights are stronger orweaker. Conversely, the inclusion of some protections forwomen's rights may reflect not the strong standing ofwomen but rather the fact that gender equality is not seenas axiomatic and needs to be explicitly stated. Second andthird chapters focus on formal rights and how they have beenupheld in court decisions. Fourth chapter examines the gapbetween laws on the books and practice on the ground. Fifthchapter looks at how both the substance of law andwomen's access to justice issues can be improved toexpand women's ability to pursue economic opportunities.