A newly released report by the World Bank Group about Women, Business, and the Law 2024 illustrates that the gender gap in the workplace is even more pronounced than previously thought. Once protection from violence and childcare are added as considerations, women have only 64% of the legal rights as compared to men, not the previous assumption of 77. No country in the world provides women with equal opportunity, and even the most affluent economies are not even close to achieving this equality.

The report makes clear that there is a huge void between law and practice. Many economies have implemented legal reforms, but there are fewer than 40% of the systems that should support the successful practice of the reforms. For example, almost 100 economies have achieved equal pay, but fewer than 20% of these economies put systems, such as pay transparency, into place to support the law, and limit their success in moving forward.

There are also major gaps when it comes to women’s safety and childcare. Women have, on average, one-third of the formal protections against domestic abuse, harassment, and femicide they need. Many economies have some form of workplace harassment protections, but so few protections for women in public spaces, which limits their mobility and access to jobs. Likewise, childcare support is limited; only 1/3 of economies have quality standards related to childcare, despite research showing that better access increases the participation of women in the labor force significantly.

These gaps create significant economic costs. Women earn 77 cents for every dollar paid to men and are likely to retire with smaller pensions. Gender gaps could increase global GDP by around 20%, but there has been progress at a slower rate. Experts advocate for the urgent acceleration of legal and policy changes needed to include women, as excluding women not only jeopardizes fairness but also economic growth.