‘Saudi laws most limit women’s potential’

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September 25, 2013

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‘Saudi laws most limit women’s potential’

Source: Agencies | September 25, 2013, Wednesday |

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‘Saudi laws most limit women’s potential’

Saudi Arabia tops the list of countries for laws that limit women’s economic potential, while South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa have made the least progress over the last 50 years in improving women’s economic opportunities, a report issued yesterday says.

In the past 50 years, women’s rights worldwide have improved significantly and yet in almost 90 percent of the 143 countries surveyed in the World Bank study, at least one law remains barring women from certain jobs, opening a bank account, accessing capital or making decisions.

Twenty-eight countries make 10 or more legal distinctions between the rights of men and women, and half of these countries are in the Middle East and North Africa, followed by 11 in sub-Saharan Africa, it said.

The report shows that when there is a gender gap in legal rights, fewer women own businesses and income inequality is greatest.

“When women and men participate in economic life on an equal footing, they can contribute their energies to building a more cohesive society and more resilient economy,” said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in releasing the report, “Women Business and the Law.”

Empowering women

Kim has set as a World Bank priority ending extreme poverty by 2030. Empowering women is viewed by development experts as crucial to achieving that goal.

Countries everywhere have started removing legal obstacles to women’s economic participation, but progress is uneven. In Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, restrictions have been halved since 1960, said Augusto Lopez-Claros, World Bank director of global indicators.

But the Middle East region shows the least progress and some countries have gone backwards. Yemen and Egypt have removed from their constitutions bans on gender discrimination. Iran has allowed husbands to prevent their wives from working, placed restrictions on women’s mobility and limited their work in the judicial sector, the report said.

About 25 percent of countries surveyed have no laws on domestic violence, with the Middle East and North Africa with the least protections, the report found.

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‘Saudi laws most limit women’s potential’

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