Watch the replay

This event took place on March 01, 2022

Read the transcript

01:37 [Raj Kumar]
02:22 Well, hello everyone from around the world. It's great to be with you. I'm Raj Kumar. I'm
02:26 the president and editor-in-chief here at Devex. I am just delight to get to spend some time with
02:32 leaders and advocates on such an important issue as women's economic empowerment. We're going to
02:37 have a great conversation today. We're going to hear from a lot of experts and leaders on this
02:40 topic. The timing is really relevant because we are just a few months before the exact halfway
02:48 point of these sustainable development goals, you see me wearing my pin. That halfway point,
02:54 things don't look so great, right? For a while, maybe at the beginning of the SDG era, there were
03:00 some real progress on a lot of key issues. Some areas were not doing well, but this pandemic has
03:04 set back everything. We knew at the beginning that one of the key through lines across all of
03:10 the 17 SDGs was going to be whether women were treated equally in societies around the world.
03:16 As all of you were joining this, I think we all know as the video demonstrated we're far from that
03:21 end goal. There's a long way to go. The pandemic has made it really clear. As you've seen,
03:26 women have to choose between caregiving roles and employment roles and dropout of the labor force
03:32 in many places. As you've seen countries where there's a high percentage of women in informal
03:37 workforce who lost their livelihoods during lockdowns and business disruptions. It's had
03:43 a really hard toll on women, this pandemic. Here we are entering a new moment. Pandemic
03:49 is still going on. It's much worse in some places than others, and the world needs
03:54 to kind of lean forward and think about where do we go from here with just seven and a half
03:59 years left before we reach the end of this 2030 period, and the SDGs are going to be measured.
04:06 We're here to talk about what are we doing on the law, on regulations? How does that environment
04:11 look when it comes to women? The World Bank has been on this issue for many years now. In fact,
04:16 this is the eighth year that the Women, Business and the Law study has been conducted. It's a way
04:22 to measure how countries are doing, I think it's 190 countries, how they're doing against bringing
04:27 women and men at some level of equality in the legal and regulatory structure of the country.
04:32 You're going to hear a lot more detail on that today, but that's the core topic we're here to
04:36 talk about. Really the person's who's going to get us going is someone who is probably
04:41 well-known to all of you for her leadership on these issues. You've heard from her in the past
04:46 because she is the Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development
04:51 an that's of course her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. I'd like to give her the
04:56 floor to get us started. [Queen Máxima]
05:01 Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to be with you today. Financial services
05:08 are a means to an end. They provide people with the tools needed to respond to economic shocks
05:16 and build better futures for their families.
05:20 I am grateful for the tremendous progress we have made. Since 2010, more than 1.2 billion people
05:29 have gained access to financial services and therefore have a chance to transform their lives.
05:36 But opportunities are not evenly distributed. In most countries, women are facing more barriers
05:44 than men. This disparity has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
05:53 Time and time again, I see that financial inclusion is insufficient when it is not
06:00 backed by policies that give women equal economic opportunities. For example, can a woman and a man
06:10 access the same jobs? Can she own land or sign a contract? Far too often, the answer is no.
06:21 Globally, women have only three quarters of the legal rights afforded to men.
06:28 Women in 86 countries cannot legally do the same jobs as men.
06:36 As a result, we are leaving a full economic potential untapped.
06:43 The 2022 Women, Business and the Law publication makes this abundantly clear.
06:51 The barriers to women's development are affecting their productivity and livelihoods.
06:57 Such restrictions impact nearly 2 billion women worldwide. This inequality is not only unjust, it
07:07 also makes no business sense. McKinsey estimates that achieving equal labor force participation
07:16 would yield an additional 28 trillion dollars to global GDP at 2025. We have many good examples
07:25 of countries that have taken concrete steps. Women in Gabon now have equal rights to property
07:33 as their husbands. Egypt made it illegal for financial institutions to discriminate
07:39 based on gender and Pakistan lifted restrictions on women's ability to work at night. Technology
07:48 is also presenting some new opportunities that help bridge traditional barriers faced by women.
07:55 Digital platforms and online marketplaces can help women-owned SMEs grow and reach new markets.
08:04 But while technology is part of the solution, it is not a panacea. We need
08:10 to consider the significant digital gender divide. For example, there are still 234 million
08:19 fewer women accessing mobile internet than men. So, affordable digital connectivity,
08:26 building digital literacy and safeguards such as consumer protection are all necessary
08:33 to make technology work for women. Looking ahead, I urge policy makers to dive deep
08:41 into the findings of this rich report, identify the shortcomings, prioritize this agenda,
08:48 and accelerate reforms. We need to address legal biases against women in terms of accessing credit,
08:57 signing contracts and registering a business. The private sector also has a big role to play. It
09:05 is important that we bring more women into key supply chains, either as suppliers, employees,
09:12 consumers, or entrepreneurs. This will drive inclusion, innovation and improved profits.
09:21 It is important that we all commit to monitoring the pace of reforms and their implementation.
09:29 Congratulations to the World Bank team on this important report. Now is a time to get to work
09:36 and create a brighter future for women around the globe. For the women, for their children,
09:43 their communities, and for all our economies. [Raj Kumar]
09:52 Well, that was a great call to action and summation, I think from Queen Máxima that
09:56 will help guide us through the conversation today. We're going to try to touch on all of
09:59 those topics. I now want to bring to the floor, Carmen Reinhart. Carmen's of course, the vice
10:03 president and chief economist at the World Bank. You all know Carmen, and you probably know that
10:08 her department, the development economics department is the group that produces this
10:11 report every year. So we'd love to hear from you, Carmen, please. You are muted if you're talking,
10:22 we're not hearing you yet. [Carmen Reinhart]
10:25 Thank you and thank you everyone for joining us today to launch the Women, Business and the Law
10:34 2022 Report. Ten years ago, the World Bank published a World Development Report on
10:44 Gender Equality and Development. That message was very clear. Though the lives of women and girls
10:52 have improved over the years, not enough had been done to ensure their equal rights and
11:02 opportunities. Now, here we are entering the third year of a once in a century global pandemic.
11:14 Not only is the task still unfinished, but we are seeing setbacks, we are seeing reversals.
11:25 This is a challenge ahead. Women have been disproportionately affected by the crisis because
11:34 they're more vulnerable going into it. This is the old last-in-first-out. The recent World Bank data
11:44 on the Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report also revealed a substantial increase in global poverty,
11:53 particularly concentrated among women. Many of the new poor that were identified
12:02 are likely to live in urban settings, be engaged in informal services and be better
12:12 educated than the chronic poor. To reiterate, disproportionately the new poor were women.
12:23 This really forces us to consider effective long-lasting solutions. A good start is revealing
12:33 how discriminatory laws can prevent women from fully and equally contributing to their economies.
12:43 Women, Business and the Law makes the case for reforms, starting with legal reforms toward
12:51 gender equality. Women, Business and the Law 2022 is the eighth report in this series. It covers
13:00 190 countries and it is hoping to show us a more gender equal, prosperous world the way forward.
13:16 Whether it's a young woman starting her first job, a mother balancing work with caring
13:24 for her children, or a woman who's getting ready for retirement, the eight indicators in the
13:33 report show the ways in which laws can affect women at each and every stage in their life,
13:42 whether they are working at home or in the formal or informal workplace.
13:49 This year, we're happy to note that the report also explores the
13:57 issue of childcare and bridging the gap between laws on paper
14:05 and their implementation. In other words, I think this is, it marks a solid start towards going
14:13 from strictly de jure to de facto, to actually seeing those laws have an impact empowering women
14:23 in the day-to-day work. Both are critical components, the law and the practice,
14:30 to narrowing the gender gap. The report finds that nearly 2.4 billion women of working age
14:39 are not afforded equal opportunities and 95 countries do not mandate equal pay for equal work.
14:49 Only 12 countries put women on equal legal standing with men across all the areas measured.
14:58 While progress has been made, and I noted earlier, unfortunately, receiving some setbacks,
15:08 at least on the practice side, the pace of reform needs to move faster.
15:15 In the past year, 23 countries have introduced reforms, increasing women's empowerment,
15:23 prioritizing them as essential drivers of economic growth and setting an example for their peers.
15:33 There are new laws providing more benefits to working parents and improving gender equality
15:41 in the workplace. The regions that are furthest behind the Middle East,
15:47 North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa have instituted the most positive changes,
15:54 which is good to report. The country that improved the most on the index this year is Gabon,
16:03 with comprehensive reforms to its civil code and the enactment of a law on the elimination of
16:10 violence against women. We're honored to have with us today, Madam Damas, the Minister of Justice of
16:19 Gabon to tells more about these impactful changes. Last I heard we had some connection issues. Is
16:28 the minister I hope joining us? It is countries like Gabon that will reap the benefits of
16:40 prioritizing equality. Women, Business and the Law research shows that societies with more equal laws
16:48 provide women with more jobs, higher wages. This is part of creating a thriving business economy
16:59 and opening opportunities for positions also at managerial and more senior levels.
17:09 What the data show is that inclusive recovery starts with inclusive laws,
17:16 legal reforms that encourage and incentivize women's work, not only empower them,
17:21 but strengthen the communities that they are part of and their economies, especially in the
17:27 face of challenges like the crisis we've been through in these last three years. There's much
17:34 more work to be done, and it will take governments,
17:38 international organizations, civil society, the private sector, and everyone really to achieve.
17:45 There are many resources at your disposal to help, including the World's Bank Accelerate Equality
17:52 Initiative and the revamp Gender Data Portal, which will go live on March 8 and feature among
17:59 other interesting data, 50 years of Women, Business and the Law data. This is a major
18:09 new resource, public resource. Thank you for coming together to address
18:14 this issue. I invite you all to read the report to disseminate its findings widely in your networks.
18:22 For those of you who have power to enact legal reforms, I urge you to consider removing
18:27 discriminatory laws and reform towards gender equality. Our economies and society all stand
18:35 to benefit enormously from such a change. Again, thank you. I look forward to working with you
18:43 to accelerate gender equality. [Raj Kumar]
18:46 Thank you so much, Carmen. We're going to test that people who were paying close us attention
18:50 to your very compelling remarks because I think there's a quiz that is on the World Bank live
18:55 platform, if people are paying attention. The answers to that quiz were somewhere embedded
19:00 in what Carmen said, some of the most shocking statistics about the disparities in the legal and
19:05 regulatory environment for women. We're going to hear a little bit more about what's in the report,
19:08 some of the findings. We've got Tea Trumbic with us, who's a program manager at the World Bank.
19:12 Tea, your team produces this report every year. We'd love to hear from you before we
19:17 jump into our panel. [Tea Trumbic]
19:21 Thank you. Let me start first with a big thank you to the more than 2000 respondents around the
19:26 world that have provided their time and expertise to contribute to our research. Without your local
19:32 knowledge, we would not be able to stand here today and raise awareness on the disturbing effect
19:37 of inequality. It is shocking that in 2022, there are still so many discriminatory laws
19:44 that hold women back from working and starting businesses. Today is the first day of March,
19:50 which is traditionally when around the world we celebrate women. So let me ask a question. How
19:55 many women around the world do not have access to equal economic opportunities? The answer may
20:02 shock you. More than 2 billion women, which is practically all women of working age. The economic
20:09 potential of the world is untapped when half of its population is not able to participate fully.
20:16 I also want to acknowledge the incredible difficulties that the world is experiencing
20:20 right now, war and displacement, climate change, and a global pandemic are affecting so many.
20:28 But crisis is never gender neutral and women have been disproportionately affected
20:33 by the realities of our ever changing world. One reason that women are more negatively
20:38 affected by these events is because they start at a disadvantage. All over the world, discriminatory
20:44 laws force women onto an uneven playing field, threatening not only their economic security
20:50 but the economic security of their communities and countries. Gender equality is essential,
20:55 not only for peace and security but to achieve key development goals and boost economic growth.
21:07 This year's Women, Business and the Law 2022 Report is part of the World Bank Group's year
21:12 long Accelerate Equality Initiative, building on 10 years of progress since the World Development
21:17 Report 2012. Progress has been made but it is painfully slow. Our reports findings confirm
21:25 this message this year. This year's report updates the data, noting where geographically
21:30 and thematically countries are reforming and where more gaps remain. This year, we also
21:35 introduced two new areas on legal frameworks for childcare and measuring laws in practice.
21:42 Gender equality is still smart economics, and I hope our data and research will inspire you to
21:46 help us accelerate equality so that in 10 years we are not disappointed by the slow progress.
21:53 For more than a decade, Women, Business and the Law has set out to identify
21:57 where exactly laws are preventing women from contributing to their economies as employees
22:02 and business owners. Our data explores laws across eight areas and highlights opportunities
22:09 for reform in 190 economies globally. Whether a 25 year old starting her first job,
22:16 a mother balancing work with caring for her children, or a woman preparing for retirement,
22:21 the eight indicators show the ways in which laws affect women throughout their working lives.
22:27 This year, what we find is that worldwide, on average,
22:30 women have just three fourths of the legal rights of men. The global average score is 76.5.
22:38 Many discriminatory provisions still exist. For example, in 95 countries, women are not guaranteed
22:44 equal pay for equal work. In 46 countries, women are not protected against sexual harassment in
22:50 the workplace. 86 countries impose at least one legal restriction on women's employment
22:57 and 30 countries still do not have laws against domestic violence. Only three countries provide
23:03 equal amounts of paid leave for mothers and fathers. Inequalities like these contribute
23:08 to an earnings gap in which women's lifetime earnings are only two thirds those of men.
23:13 A recent study finds that closing this gap could add 172 trillion U.S. dollars to the world's
23:20 economy. That is equivalent to two times the annual global GDP. Just 12 countries
23:26 in the world receive a score of 100 out of 100, meaning that women and men are an equal
23:31 legal standing across the areas measured. This means that the remaining 178 economies measured
23:38 have legal gaps to close between men and women, impacting opportunities for 2.4 billion women.
23:47 Gradually, we are making progress. This is a difficult time for any country to reform.
23:52 Yet, despite the pandemic, 23 countries across all regions enacted reforms to increase gender
24:00 equality in 2021. Many of the new laws are in the areas that needed the most,
24:05 providing more benefits for working parents and improving conditions for women in the workplace.
24:12 Countries are recognizing the need for shared caregiving and this benefits not only the
24:16 women themselves, but also their children. Geographically, most reforms were passed in
24:21 the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, which are the regions that needed the most. For example,
24:27 Bahrain continued its reform drive as it has for the last three years. This year,
24:32 Bahrain mandated equal pay for work of equal value and also lifted restrictions in women's work.
24:38 Kuwait and Lebanon enacted laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, and
24:42 Egypt passed the law against domestic violence. But the country that reformed the most was Gabon.
24:49 We've already heard a little bit of about it from Carmen and we hope to hear more.
24:54 As a result of the comprehensive set of reforms passed by Gabon, its score rose from 57.5
25:00 last year to 82.5 this year. I would love to see more of this type of comprehensive
25:05 reform effort in more countries around the world. We are excited to hear more about
25:10 how these important changes came about out from Minister Damas, an example we can all learn from.
25:17 We have no doubt that Gabon and other reforming countries will soon see the
25:21 benefits of prioritizing gender equality. Our research shows that more equal laws are
25:26 associated with more women working, higher wages, and more women-owned businesses.
25:32 This increase, economic empowerment from women will no doubt translate into economic growth,
25:38 because we know what works for women works for the economy. But we must also continue to explore the
25:45 critical relationship between women's rights and economic outcomes, and further build the
25:50 case for gender equality in all areas of life. This year, Women, Business and the Law is doing
25:56 just that by expanding its research to critical areas of childcare and implementation of the law.
26:03 Taking care of children should not be treated as a women's issue and is essential for building
26:07 inclusive societies. Our pilot data on childcare in 95 countries measures legal frameworks around
26:13 the availability, affordability, and quality of services. It is clear that this must be a
26:20 priority going forward to achieve better outcomes for women, children, and the economy as a whole.
26:26 Childcare services need to be available in the first place, but they must also be affordable
26:31 and of high quality. There's currently a lack of adequate policies governing the provision
26:35 of affordable and quality childcare around the world. This needs to change. Implementation and
26:43 enforcement of laws are also critical barriers to gender equality. We don't just want to see a
26:48 law in equal pay for equal work, we want women to actually receive equal pay for equal work.
26:54 A pilot exercise of 25 countries reveals gaps between the laws and the books and actual
26:59 practice across the board, confirming that laws alone are not enough to ensure gender equality.
27:08 As you can see, there's a lot work left to be done to advance the gender equality agenda.
27:13 While progress has been made, the pace of reforms must be accelerated. There's great
27:18 variation of laws, both across and within regions. Every region has examples of economies whose
27:24 governments have enacted good practice laws, and those that still have room to improve. Countries
27:29 can look to their neighbors for examples when seeking to reform or inspire others to do so. If
27:36 the last few years have taught us anything it is that we cannot wait to make this a priority.
27:41 The need for reform is even more urgent today because the COVID-19 pandemic
27:47 and other challenges have widened longstanding gender inequalities around the world.
27:52 Data reveals a larger drop in the proportion of female full-time employees relative to male.
27:57 The gender pay gap has also widened, and women are more likely than men
28:02 to take leave from work, resign their positions and experience domestic violence.
28:07 The pandemic has also affected the share of the urban poor, affecting women in particular.
28:13 There is a small silver lining. Recent data showed that some women-owned firms adapted to digital
28:19 platforms faster than men, therefore, access to digital technologies such as mobile phones,
28:24 computers, and the internet are critical to enable women to start new businesses, discover
28:30 new markets, and find better jobs. Reforming laws to achieve greater gender equality should
28:35 be a priority as governments enact measures to recover from the shocks imposed by this crisis.
28:43 Achieving gender equality requires an effort by governments, civil society, international
28:48 organizations, and the private sectors, but legal and regulatory reforms can serve as an important
28:54 catalyst to improve the lives of women as well as their families and communities. Women, Business
29:00 and the Law and the World Bank are ready to assist in this effort by continuing to celebrate
29:04 the progress made and emphasize opportunities for positive change. For more information, including
29:10 50 years of data and country specific results, please visit our website at wbl.worldbank.org.
29:17 Download the report, read it, and use the data and evidence in your own work, so that together
29:22 we can accelerate equality. What will the world look like in another 10 years? With this, I want
29:29 to thank our partners and thank you for listening. Back to you, Raj. I look forward to learning from
29:33 a wonderful expert panel discussion. [Raj Kumar]
29:38 Thank you so much, Tea. You gave us a lot to chew on in our panel conversation. Let me just
29:42 welcome our panelists to this virtual stage. We have Jamila Belabidi, who is the director for
29:49 supplier diversity in women's economic empowerment at Procter and Gamble. We have Henriette Kolb, who
29:54 is the head of gender and economic inclusion group at the IFC. We hope to be joined, maybe soon,
30:01 let's see by the minister of justice of Gabon and that's the honorable Erlyne Antonella Ndembet
30:10 Damas. We have with us, maybe to get us started, Greta Bull, who is the director
30:13 for Women's Economic Empowerment at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hi Greta.
30:17 Nice to be with all of you. [Raj Kumar]
30:18 Greta, maybe I could just start with you. I remember being at the event,
30:22 it may have been a Women Deliver event in Copenhagen, maybe someone remembers,
30:25 but when Melinda first really put forward the foundation's kind of strong stamp on these sets
30:31 of issues and decided to make a large investment, particularly in data so we could better understand
30:38 some of the challenges here, you've been working on these issues for a really long time.
30:42 How do you see the moment we're in now? How do you prioritize the various issues around this broad
30:48 area of women's economic empowerment? How has the pandemic shifted things in your mind? I'd
30:53 just love to get some kind of the lay of the land from you to get us going in this panel, Greta.
30:56 [Greta Bull] Great. Thanks a lot,
30:58 Raj. Good morning to everyone. It's a real honor to be here. We are proud supporters of the Women,
31:03 Business and Law Report every year. We're thrilled to see the report that came out this week.
31:11 As you've referred to it, the foundation, our cornerstone belief is that every life
31:14 has equal value, but it's abundantly clear that today, no matter where in the world you are,
31:19 life is harder if you're born a girl. As this report so eloquently points out, it's harder in
31:24 some places than others. We know that in virtually every country and community around the world,
31:31 women and girls lack full agency over the most fundamental aspects of their lives, their
31:35 families and the societies in which they live. Those inequalities can be traced to structural
31:40 barriers, like discriminatory laws and policies that result in non-equal pay or restricted access
31:46 to land or property, but they also result from less tangible barriers that women experience in
31:51 their day-to-day lives such as cultural norms and expectations about women's roles as wives,
31:56 caregivers, and the people solely responsible for unpaid household work. I think the pieces
32:02 in the report this year really speak to that. While the law is a powerful lever, we can't
32:08 always expect that change to be taken up on the ground. I think some of the new findings that
32:12 we're seeing are going to help us to get at some of those more challenging issues that are around
32:17 social norms that are baked into societies. Just to quickly summarize the foundation's
32:22 commitment to gender equality writ large, but also women's economic empowerment,
32:27 we are literally running gender as a thread through everything we do, from our work on
32:32 pandemic response and polio eradication and HIV, to our work on economic empowerment.
32:40 I can speak in more depth to the work on economic empowerment. We are really formulating that work
32:45 around a woman's ability to earn an income and control that income and the assets that come with
32:50 it. We're working on this problem across four main areas. The first is public policy, where we're
32:56 supporting the development of sex disaggregated data as Melinda announced all those years ago,
33:02 and other forms of evidence that can guide policy makers in developing laws and policies
33:06 that support women's empowerment. In addition to our support for Women, Business and the Law,
33:10 we have a number of other partnerships with the Bank that support better sex disaggregated data.
33:16 The second lever that we think is really important is increasing women's access to productive
33:20 resources, that could be access to financial resources or productive assets, it could be
33:25 access to digital tools, like smartphones and the information and connectivity that comes with them,
33:30 it involves developing the skills and competence to use those tools effectively.
33:34 I think equally importantly, it involves women's ownership of a far more precious resource,
33:39 which is her time. Women spend hours each day in unpaid work, whether it's looking after children
33:45 or elders or doing unpaid and undervalued domestic work. We are actively working on ways to help
33:50 relieve the burden of unpaid care so that women can use their time in a way that maximizes their
33:55 empowerment and their contribution to economic growth. We, in fact, recently sign an agreement
34:00 with the Bank for a large facility that's aimed at improving access to childcare. Third area where
34:06 we're engaging is women's access to markets. I think we've seen a lot of change in this, in
34:10 the pandemic, and it's really accelerated a push towards digital, but that could be anything from
34:16 running a smaller micro business with the funding and know-how required to do that out effectively.
34:21 It could involve selling in a digital marketplace or getting work on a gig platform,
34:25 but it could also improve women's access to public procurement opportunities or public works programs
34:30 as we are working on in India. It could involve improved access to value chains. I'm sure we'll
34:35 hear a lot more about that from other panelists. The final area that we're really looking at
34:41 hard is this complex space of social norms, which we're beginning to get at in the Women, Business
34:46 and Law Report, it's not enough to change the law. We also have to change hearts and minds.
34:51 I was reminded of this in a conversation last week with a colleague in Kenya who said, "Yeah,
34:54 we changed the law in Kenya for women to be able to own land." But none of that's trickling down to
35:00 women actually own land. I think the report really speaks to that gap and tries to quantify that gap
35:06 we're seeing between laws being implemented and actual implementation of those legal
35:10 rights on the ground. I think that's an area that's going to require patience, a very deep
35:15 understanding of context, and quite frankly, a long view. But I think change is possible. What
35:20 it's going to take is a lot of us working together to make that kind of change happen on the ground.
35:25 In terms of the COVID pandemic, I mean, I think others have spoken to this. It really
35:30 has hit women harder than men. I think we have a lot of work to do to recover the ground that
35:36 we've lost because of the COVID pandemic and double down, and really build on what
35:42 was begun prior to the pandemic. I think the work of Women, Business and the Law is clearly
35:47 implicated in pretty much every one of those areas. Why don't I pause there for now and-
35:53 [Raj Kumar] Yeah, let's
35:55 dig into some of those topics of the other panelists, because I think you gave us a good
35:58 lay of the land here to get started. I do want to mention to people who are following along,
36:02 if you have questions, you want to put them into the chat function, go ahead and do that. We may
36:05 not have time to get to specific questions, but I'll try to weave them in as we go here. One of
36:10 the things that Greta mentioned was childcare. I know that's a focus in the report. To me,
36:14 it is one of these areas where it's both a strong structural barrier and it touches on cultural
36:19 norms. Maybe Henriette, we can go to you and just to dig a little bit deeper on that question.
36:24 How do you see childcare fitting into this broader landscape around women's economic
36:29 empowerment? What are some things that are actually being done that are working
36:33 on this front? [Henriette Kolb]
36:35 Thank you so much, Raj and thanks to all of you joining us on the World Bank live stream.
36:41 First of all, let me say, I hope your loved ones are safe and well and as healthy as possible.
36:46 Let me also kick off by congratulating Tea and the team for just another outstanding report.
36:52 It's incredibly inspiring to see you've been able to pull this off in an even shorter timeframe
36:57 than in the past. I've been a fan since, if you can tell, the first edition. More importantly,
37:03 I think the eight indicators that Women, Business and the Law highlights are absolutely
37:09 fundamental for our private sector clients at the International Finance Corporation because they so
37:14 closely speak to the barriers and opportunities that women have to be joining the private sector,
37:21 in the leadership, in the workforce, in the supply chain, as consumers, in the community.
37:27 This report is wide-ranging impact and is incredibly useful to us
37:31 when we advocate for gender equality in the private sector. So I'm particularly delighted Raj,
37:37 to come back to your question to see this report amplify so squarely the work on
37:42 childcare and how much is left to do. What the report also makes clear, I think that yes, we have
37:47 to look at childcare provision from a government, civil society, and private sector perspective,
37:54 but just providing childcare services, for example, in private sector might not be enough.
37:59 It really is only affected if you embed it in a whole suite of services and legal reforms,
38:05 such as parental leave for example. And while the report gives us hope that parental leave was one
38:11 of the reform efforts that accelerated during the pandemic, we also know from the report,
38:16 that is the area where we really sincerely have to accelerate progress and make inroads.
38:23 Now, some of you might wonder why this is relevant for private sector investment bank, the topic of
38:29 childcare. Well, frankly, we've worked on advancing women's employment for many, many
38:34 decades, to make sure we don't just copy-paste the world, but we change the world when we invest in
38:40 emerging markets. So the one stumbling block over and over and over again was very clearly
38:48 the unfair distribution of childcare, paid and unpaid work, and who gets to make choices
38:55 over when to do which one. So even before the pandemic, in 2017, we started to work with
39:04 companies and clients around the world. In fact, it's now over a thousand companies and we looked
39:08 at what is the business case for companies to invest in childcare? Why would the private
39:14 sector care? We've done that globally, Tackling Childcare, hashtag if you want to check it out.
39:19 We've done it at the country level because of course the situation is incredibly different
39:25 in the many countries we are active in. We found the one common denominator in
39:30 every single report, there is a strong business case, be it around productivity increases, savings
39:36 around retention, not having to retrain stuff, be it around ideas and talent, and innovation.
39:42 It's pretty clear that actually the private sector has an intrinsic interest to be asking
39:49 the working parents of their companies, "What is it that you want us to do?" So that was the
39:55 second step, where we pull together with 30 different organizations around the world,
40:00 childcare experts, to not just understand why, but then really how. So how can companies engage
40:07 in this topic? That's not their core business. It's something that in fact is often very far
40:11 removed from their core business. So how can they make sure to provide affordable, safe,
40:17 quality childcare in a regulatory environment that might not quite be as clear to them?
40:24 If companies are not entirely convinced from a business case perspective, in fact,
40:29 actually in collaboration with Women, Business and the Law, we looked at what countries and
40:34 markets are making it already mandatory for the private sector to provide childcare services.
40:38 We found this to be the case in over 26 countries. There is a huge amount of regulations related to
40:46 the number of employees, but if you hit a certain threshold of women employees or employees overall,
40:52 you got to provide childcare. But we wanted to better understand, well,
40:56 what does that look like? So is it onsite childcare, which frankly, in most instances,
41:00 it's probably not the way to go or is it offsite, is it backup childcare? And so on and so forth.
41:06 We've come out with a whole range of solutions and opportunities and I hope to be engaging with
41:11 as many of you in conversations and follow-up, and how can we build a capability of the private
41:17 sector, not to work on its own, incredibly critical to work with governments who might
41:23 have faced the constraints in shouldering some of the financing, but who are absolutely intentional
41:28 in building these public private partnerships. Because the private sector alone can certainly
41:32 and should not do it, but there has to be really strong partnership between the two.
41:37 Just to make this a little bit more practical before turning it back to you Raj, I just wanted
41:42 to share with you last week, a colleague of mine wrote from Papua New Guinea, certainly a place
41:48 where women experience high gender-based violence very much, not represented in the private sector
41:55 as much as men. We learn from one of our clients who we've worked with to advance their women's
42:01 retention, recruitment and promotion, and we got the EDGE gender certification done with them,
42:06 which stands for economic dividend for gender equality, they proactively leaned in and actually
42:12 recognized that as a mining servicing company, they had done nothing much on providing their
42:19 working parents with childcare. They opened the facility in tandem with the government and they
42:24 have now 80 kids involved, but the beauty of it, it's not just for the employees. I think
42:29 that speaks to some of the inequities that Greta mentioned. We need to make sure that we think of
42:34 solutions that involve the community, that involve people who are in vulnerable work or informal work
42:39 so we don't create first class, second class and third class childcare arrangement.
42:45 So there's a lot more to do. We are certainly excited to expanding that into elderly care and
42:50 mental health care, and look forward to hearing a little bit how we can do that even further in
42:55 partnership with all of you. [Raj Kumar]
42:57 Yeah. That's a great example, Henriette. It makes me think about this idea of the care economy,
43:01 right? That if you can think of this at a larger scale, and maybe that's a combination
43:05 of government mandate, financial support, but then really building this as an economic sector
43:10 that you have more potential to... The business case maybe alone isn't enough, but if you can
43:16 build the market, there's an opportunity to really scale quickly, which is what we're all
43:19 after here and think about scaling quickly, we've got Jamila with us. So maybe we can bring you into
43:23 the discussion, Jamila, because you are at one of the world's largest companies, Procter and Gamble.
43:28 You're thinking about very large supply chains. Supply chains are very much in the news right now,
43:32 as people have a hard time fulfilling orders and getting product, but you're thinking of it from
43:37 the perspective, how do you ensure diversity within your supply chain? How it connects to
43:41 these issues. So, is it a business case for you? Or is it more of an ESG question? How do you look
43:47 at this portfolio that you run there at P&G? [Jamila Belabidi]
43:52 Sure. Thank you. My pleasure. Well, first, let me thank you for the invitation to celebrate
43:56 with you the eighth Women, Business and the Law Report. A lot has been already said, but I'd like
44:03 to build on it and say that first, I'd like to remind everyone that the private sector is a truly
44:08 powerful partner in advancing gender equality as a whole, especially for women entrepreneurs, women
44:14 employees, and consumers, as we heard earlier. So think of the private sector as having the
44:21 role of a catalyst, almost like a role of a role model for change. Without the full engagement,
44:31 the full action from the private sector, gender quality gap might never be closed. What
44:38 can happen as we heard it as well earlier that typically threatens the achievement of the SDGs.
44:46 For this reason, my goal here is make sure that private sector is part of the dialogue and
44:52 at an early stage, at the design phase. To your point about CSR activities and how we think about
45:00 this. Well, I would say we are at a turning point, the private sector is transforming.
45:06 Those interventions are going today beyond the traditional CSR scope. If I think of P&G,
45:14 internally gender equality is actually a business strategy. We heard it earlier because it's simply
45:20 a business growth opportunity. It is a business case. This is why today it is an integral part
45:27 of our business plans. We like to think about it as integrated into our business versus just
45:33 bolted on, right? It is intentional. It's not just an add-on. Within gender equality, we have,
45:40 of course, women economic empowerment as this is the core of our conversation today is a big,
45:45 big part. It plays internally within our own walls, but as you said as well, externally
45:51 within our supply chain. So let me start with the supply chain, as this was your question.
45:56 We developed in P&G a pretty holistic program around women economic empowerment to really
46:03 support those women entrepreneurs. We did that in four specific areas where we know we can make and
46:12 drive an impact, and ultimately to make sure that those women can take part of the economy, right?
46:19 We looked at the whole value chain and the four components are first, the supply chain.
46:24 The supply chain, basically, as we heard earlier, it's about adding more women-owned
46:29 companies, women, entrepreneurs. But it is also about how we are enabling, we are inspiring,
46:37 we are engaging our business partners to also drive changes within their own walls. Adopting
46:44 the right E&I practices, the right E&I policies. I will tell you, this is one of our largest
46:50 program where we are really counting on the engagement and positive response from our large
46:55 suppliers. P&G is very large and we work with very large companies. If we are able to make this
47:00 change, then really we are able to create this ripple effect and creating an impact at scale.
47:09 I would also say that today this is an area that is not obvious for everyone. Leveraging companies'
47:17 purchasing power is an asset that is very little used and very little understood. Here as well,
47:25 this is one that we really want to push and we need help and we need support from all key
47:31 stakeholders, public, private sector, everyone. The second pillar of our intervention under
47:38 the women economic empowerment program is the creative chain. You might know, but P&G is one of
47:44 the largest advertiser in the world. What we are seeing there as well is a huge gender inequality,
47:49 very low representation of women in key roles. We've decided to make a shift there to make an
47:55 intervention and influence. For example, we've committed to have 50% of our advertising to be
48:02 directed, to be led by women by 2023. These are ways for us to make sure that the representation
48:09 is equal. We offer equal opportunities to women. The third focus is the innovation chain.
48:18 Innovation is vital for any company and specifically for us. So here, we want to
48:23 support women-led startups and women founders, creators, right? How to help them set and grow
48:31 their business. We do this through accelerator programs, mentorship grants, and other things.
48:38 Finally, the fourth pillar where we intervene intentionally is the sales chain. We heard about
48:45 how important it is to leverage the digital platforms to enable women entrepreneurs to
48:52 sell. This is what we're doing. We are seeking to integrate more and more women entrepreneurs in our
48:59 distribution channels, we are equipping them with entrepreneurship skills, sales competencies, so
49:07 that they can also sustain over time. As you can see, it's a pretty holistic approach, but
49:12 I will also say very few things. The importance of commitments. We only get what we measure.
49:20 At the Generation Equality Forum back in June, we've announced that we are committed to spending
49:25 $10 billion by 2025 with women-owned and women-led businesses. That is very important.
49:32 We really recommend all companies to also step up, the private sector in general, to step up.
49:37 The second thing I would like to highlight here is the importance of not only looking at
49:41 the ownership of the companies, it is absolutely foundational and important to make space in our
49:48 supply chain to what we call the underrepresented groups and specifically women owners. To help them
49:54 build their self, to create wealth, but it is as well important to economically empower all those
49:59 women employees in those large corporations and even less large corporations. Being curious about
50:05 how our suppliers are driving their representation inside their own walls is something we care about
50:13 out. Finally, we talked about- [Raj Kumar]
50:14 Because it's going to be easy to check the box otherwise and say, "We've done this," but
50:19 really when you look inside the company, they haven't actually achieved that level of diversity
50:23 that you're going for. [Jamila Belabidi]
50:24 It's an end to end. It's a holistic approach to equality.
50:28 [Raj Kumar] I just want to get Greta
50:30 back in the discussion, if I can. You mentioned earlier a point that's raised in the report, and
50:36 that's about not just passing a law or regulation, but actually implementing it. I think you gave the
50:41 example of Kenya and that women can now own land, but it's not actually translating into real life
50:47 examples. What is the tension there? Now that the report is focused on that, how much should
50:53 we be paying attention to this question of implementation versus laws on the books?
50:57 [Greta Bull] Yeah, I think that's a great question,
51:00 Raj, and it's one we're really wrestling with because changing a law is really tangible,
51:06 changing social norm is really kind of intangible sometimes in a bit squishy, but I
51:11 think it's absolutely crucial. In development, we see this happen all the time. We think something's
51:17 going to work and it runs into a brick wall that's called social norms. I think the great thing about
51:23 the Women, Business and the Law Report is it sort of surfaces those issues. A couple of other
51:28 people have spoken to this. When you have data, when you can measure stuff, it makes it visible.
51:33 It makes it visible to the private sector so that they can think about not leaving
51:37 money on the table and investing in the right way. It makes public policy smarter as well.
51:42 I think the Bank plays a really important role here in just pushing for sex disaggregated data
51:48 and making all of this stuff visible. But then, and to get at your question, what we have to do
51:52 is build partnerships to act on them, right? If the pandemic's made it abundantly clear that the
51:56 lack of decent childcare is a major challenge for women's workforce, participation and wellbeing,
52:01 frankly. We're investing in helping to solve that problem as are a number of other donors. As I
52:07 mentioned, we've recently signed a hundred million plus multi donor facility to stimulate the
52:11 development of childcare facilities in emerging markets together with the Bank. There's far more
52:16 work that we can do together to make sure that those kinds of legal changes are happening,
52:20 but then that we're shifting social norms. That requires really different kinds of partnerships.
52:26 It's going to require partnerships with policy makers and the institutions of government actually
52:30 support the law, but it will also involve civil society, women's groups, the private sector,
52:35 media organizations, and communities on the ground. Importantly, I think we have
52:39 to really think hard about how we bring men on board as allies and make the case that bringing
52:44 women into the economy as productive actors in their own right is a win-win for everyone,
52:49 including men and others in the community. I think this is a long-term effort. It's hard to do.
52:56 It's going to involve attacking things from multiple perspectives and really trying to get it
53:01 root causes. There's a role for all of us to play.
53:05 [Raj Kumar] Yeah. It's always good to look at examples that are working.
53:08 So we've heard a bit today about Gabon, and we now have the Minister Damas with us.
53:14 I'd like to go to you if I can minister, because your name has come up many times, you may have
53:18 had your ears burning, we were talking about how much Gabon has increased in this index this year,
53:25 and some of the legal successes you've had recently. So I wonder if you can
53:30 just share with us your thoughts on how that success was made possible, just in a few minutes,
53:35 as we're somewhat running out of time here today.
53:46 [Translator] Thank you so much. I'm very sorry for the delay. As you know, I am a human rights advisor and I was
53:54 involved in another... First of all, how this reform was achieved,
53:58 first of all, it's a vision of our president. We are an emerging country
54:06 and in order to progress, we need everyone to participate,
54:10 all components and that includes women. They are 50% of the population. He confirmed his vision
54:22 by decreeing the decade of women, 2015-2025. Then, an analysis was done of the situation of women
54:34 to check the status diagnosis that was really very complete. It was based on this diagnosis
54:40 of women's position that this strategy was implemented. Behind this strategy, there are main
54:48 actors. There's the president of the republic, the first lady, who really took charge of this
54:55 effort, she hired the firm that carried out this study and she's participating
55:02 as an important actor with the government, there's also the prime minister,
55:08 who is coordinating the activity of all the departments
55:14 that have contributed to these reforms.
55:17 It's a task force that gets together regularly to monitor the implementation we began
55:25 with the process of developing the laws, and now we are at the implementation stage. As
55:33 of the implementation, in September, we're going to start a training process of all the actors who
55:42 will use these laws. Our ministry was in charge of this program. October, November, December, we
55:58 worked in the entire country. In January, we continued to the capital and we are looking at
56:07 a different aspect of this awareness raising work. Now, we're working with all actors, even religious
56:16 actors. We have focal points that promote these laws in the churches to really communicate the
56:24 spirit of the law and show that these are not laws that go against our traditions or
56:31 our religions, that these are humanist laws for the development of women, the cohesion
56:37 of the family, and development of society. The success of these reforms
56:47 is really the result of our president's vision. [Raj Kumar]
56:54 Thank you. [Translator]
56:54 Can you hear me? [Raj Kumar]
56:55 I hope I'm not cutting you off. I don't think I am, minister, because
56:58 we are running out of time, but I appreciate very much your remarks and it's good to hear good news,
57:03 it's to hear progress when we're facing such a significant set of challenges
57:08 here on these issues. It is very interesting how you have weaved in both the legal aspect
57:13 and the attempt to change social norms, including working with religious leaders, because we've
57:18 discussed in our short session today, how much those two things are intertwined. Now, because
57:22 we're running out of time, I would just ask our other panelists, if they have a brief comment that
57:27 they want to make as they leave us. Is there some short message you want to share with the audience
57:33 in just 30 seconds or so before we go? I'll start with you Henriette, and we'll come back to the
57:39 minister for a final thought before we close. [Henriette Kolb]
57:43 Thanks, Raj. The one message I would say, we need everyone on board to resolve childcare
57:48 issues and to expand it into elderly care and mental health care. We've seen how the pandemic
57:53 has actually opened room for mental health care conversations. Let's take that room and make sure
57:58 this is not a niche issue, but really is something that we tackle from all angles. Back to you.
58:03 [Raj Kumar] Yeah, that's a great
58:05 point. It should not be a niche issue. It touches every aspect of society. Jamila, can I go to you?
58:10 [Jamila Belabidi] Yeah. Well, my only ask is that we also, again,
58:14 work together on gender responsive sourcing, like public sector, private sector, all of us, all the
58:19 stake holders, there is so much that we need to learn together because there are a lot of barriers
58:24 in front of us. How do we work together, hand in hand, drive a change faster and at scale? So,
58:31 that's my asking. [Raj Kumar]
58:32 I loved your point about the untapped potential of these supply chains. I mean, your example that
58:36 P&G will tell advertising companies that 50% of ads have to be directed by women.
58:41 That's huge. That's an enormous shift right there, given the size of your annual ad budget.
58:45 Maybe Greta, we can go to you for a final thought. [Greta Bull]
58:48 I guess I would say, let's keep this issue on the agenda. I think there's a risk that as the next
58:53 big development challenge comes online, let's say climate change, we somehow drop the gender
58:59 agenda in favor of solving the next crisis. But I think we have to be really clear that women are
59:03 pivotal in literally every development challenge facing the world. We have to keep gender front and
59:08 center. At the Gates Foundation, we're doing that in everything we do, from preventing the
59:12 next pandemic, to climate change, to the economic recovery. We have to make sure that we keep gender
59:18 and the women's agenda central to absolutely everything we do, and it should stay there
59:22 until we're all done with the SDGs. [Raj Kumar]
59:26 It is one of those cross-cutting issues. So it can be harder to communicate, but I think
59:29 childcare is an issue everybody can connect to in some way. So,
59:33 that's a great way for us to communicate it and hopefully have people hold onto it.
59:37 Finally, Minister Damas, a final thought from you before we go to our last speaker.
59:57 Just waiting for the translation. I don't know if it's gone through or not,
01:00:00 but if you're there minister, we'd love a final thought from you. If you've got
01:00:05 one. Very brief. [Translator]
01:00:27 I didn't follow the whole debate, but I would say something about the reforms undertaken in Gabon.
01:00:37 We need men and women of courage, we need men to involve themselves in the process, we need
01:00:45 courageous men and women to undertake these reforms. That's not automatic,
01:00:54 even if we make some initiatives. We had to have of course, leadership by the president,
01:01:04 the first lady, the prime minister, so that altogether we could undertake these reforms.
01:01:11 A great number of women in our country are happy because they feel they're protected
01:01:17 and they can prosper and develop themselves. Thanks to their autonomy
01:01:25 and empowerment that they have received, then they can actively participate in the economic life of
01:01:32 our country. Thank you. [Raj Kumar]
01:01:35 Thank you so much, minister. Thank you to all of our panelists. I know people who are following
01:01:39 this are hopefully giving you a virtual round of applause for a great discussion.
01:01:44 We really appreciate it. Congratulations again on this report. I want to bring in
01:01:48 Norman Loayza who directs the Global Indicators Group at the World Bank to give us some final
01:01:54 thoughts as we close out today. [Norman Loayza]
01:01:56 Many thanks, Raj and my warm thanks to all speakers this morning for a great event.
01:02:03 Certainly be fitting the launch of our report, such as Women, Business and the Law 2022.
01:02:10 As director of the Global Indicators Group, where Women, Business and the Law project is housed,
01:02:17 I want to express my deep gratitude to Tea and every member of the team who made WBL 2022 happen.
01:02:26 Behind every strong report, there is a group of pride, dedicated and committed people,
01:02:32 Women, Business and the Law is no exception. For the countless numbers of hours checking day data,
01:02:38 for all the effort spent reading and brainstorming for ways to improve the report,
01:02:44 for the insights in drawing messages worth conveying to the world,
01:02:49 I want to thank each member of the team. Your project, our project makes a difference.
01:02:55 Reforming laws for gender equality paves the way for changing social norms and actions.
01:03:02 The result is women's empowerment and also more resilient economy and a stable
01:03:10 society. Thank you very much. [Raj Kumar]
01:03:15 Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone here. Again, congratulations on the report. Maybe
01:03:21 just as a way to close, I can tell you all what you may have heard during the course of the
01:03:26 conversation, the answers to those quiz questions, which are really quite dramatic that globally
01:03:30 women have only three-fourths of the legal rights afforded to men, that 2.4 billion women around the
01:03:36 world lack the same economic rights as men, that 95 countries still do not guarantee women and men
01:03:41 equal remuneration for work of equal value, and that in 12 countries around the world, women have
01:03:48 legal gender parity with men, in only 12 countries. So, there is a lot of work to do, but
01:03:53 hopefully you leave inspired by the report and the opportunities you heard from our great panelists
01:03:59 today for such great work that is happening around the world and what we can actually do
01:04:04 if we continue on these efforts. Thanks so much. It's great to be a part of it. Be well, everyone.

Women, Business and the Law 2022

Follow the event on Twitter #WomenBizLaw

^{Simultaneous translation in: Français | Español}

A legal environment that supports women is more important than ever. The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected women. Besides the health impacts, lockdowns also exacerbated instances of domestic violence. Economically, women have been slower to regain lost jobs, and have struggled to care for their families while trying to stay in the paid workforce.

The Women Business and the Law 2022 report is the eighth in a series of annual studies measuring the laws and regulations in 190 economies, in eight areas impacting women’s economic participation – mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets, and pensions. This year’s report also includes pilot research on the legal frameworks for available, affordable and quality childcare, as well as on the implementation of laws.

Drawing on the findings from the latest Women, Business and the Law report, this event will contribute to the public conversation on women’s economic empowerment and a more equitable, prosperous world. It is part of the World Bank Group’s yearlong Gender Equality and Development +10: Accelerate Equality initiative, which explores the important progress made and lessons learned in reducing gender gaps and increasing women’s economic empowerment over the last 10 years, and takes stock of remaining challenges, while strengthening partnerships with a diverse group of stakeholders in the quest to #AccelerateEquality.

Go to List of speakers ▼

Use the following timestamps to navigate different sections of the video.

00:00 Welcome! Animation video and opening remarks
05:01 Reflections by Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
10:27 Remarks by Dr. Carmen Reinhart, World Bank Group Chief Economist
19:22 Key findings of the Women, Business and the Law 2022 report
30:42 Women economic empowerment: current situation, priorities, COVID-19 impact
36:25 Child care and women economic empowerment
43:38 Ensuring diversity within supply chains: business case or ESG question?
50:37 Implementation vs laws on the books
53:16 The successful case of Gabon
57:24 Closing remarks

THE REPORT

Visit the website

Download the full report (PDF)

Read the press release

Data & Scores | Methodology | Watch the Video

Read the Executive Summary: English | Arabic | French | Spanish

Download the presentation (PDF)

Read the transcript

01:37 [Raj Kumar]
02:22 Well, hello everyone from around the world. It's great to be with you. I'm Raj Kumar. I'm
02:26 the president and editor-in-chief here at Devex. I am just delight to get to spend some time with
02:32 leaders and advocates on such an important issue as women's economic empowerment. We're going to
02:37 have a great conversation today. We're going to hear from a lot of experts and leaders on this
02:40 topic. The timing is really relevant because we are just a few months before the exact halfway
02:48 point of these sustainable development goals, you see me wearing my pin. That halfway point,
02:54 things don't look so great, right? For a while, maybe at the beginning of the SDG era, there were
03:00 some real progress on a lot of key issues. Some areas were not doing well, but this pandemic has
03:04 set back everything. We knew at the beginning that one of the key through lines across all of
03:10 the 17 SDGs was going to be whether women were treated equally in societies around the world.
03:16 As all of you were joining this, I think we all know as the video demonstrated we're far from that
03:21 end goal. There's a long way to go. The pandemic has made it really clear. As you've seen,
03:26 women have to choose between caregiving roles and employment roles and dropout of the labor force
03:32 in many places. As you've seen countries where there's a high percentage of women in informal
03:37 workforce who lost their livelihoods during lockdowns and business disruptions. It's had
03:43 a really hard toll on women, this pandemic. Here we are entering a new moment. Pandemic
03:49 is still going on. It's much worse in some places than others, and the world needs
03:54 to kind of lean forward and think about where do we go from here with just seven and a half
03:59 years left before we reach the end of this 2030 period, and the SDGs are going to be measured.
04:06 We're here to talk about what are we doing on the law, on regulations? How does that environment
04:11 look when it comes to women? The World Bank has been on this issue for many years now. In fact,
04:16 this is the eighth year that the Women, Business and the Law study has been conducted. It's a way
04:22 to measure how countries are doing, I think it's 190 countries, how they're doing against bringing
04:27 women and men at some level of equality in the legal and regulatory structure of the country.
04:32 You're going to hear a lot more detail on that today, but that's the core topic we're here to
04:36 talk about. Really the person's who's going to get us going is someone who is probably
04:41 well-known to all of you for her leadership on these issues. You've heard from her in the past
04:46 because she is the Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development
04:51 an that's of course her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. I'd like to give her the
04:56 floor to get us started. [Queen Máxima]
05:01 Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to be with you today. Financial services
05:08 are a means to an end. They provide people with the tools needed to respond to economic shocks
05:16 and build better futures for their families.
05:20 I am grateful for the tremendous progress we have made. Since 2010, more than 1.2 billion people
05:29 have gained access to financial services and therefore have a chance to transform their lives.
05:36 But opportunities are not evenly distributed. In most countries, women are facing more barriers
05:44 than men. This disparity has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
05:53 Time and time again, I see that financial inclusion is insufficient when it is not
06:00 backed by policies that give women equal economic opportunities. For example, can a woman and a man
06:10 access the same jobs? Can she own land or sign a contract? Far too often, the answer is no.
06:21 Globally, women have only three quarters of the legal rights afforded to men.
06:28 Women in 86 countries cannot legally do the same jobs as men.
06:36 As a result, we are leaving a full economic potential untapped.
06:43 The 2022 Women, Business and the Law publication makes this abundantly clear.
06:51 The barriers to women's development are affecting their productivity and livelihoods.
06:57 Such restrictions impact nearly 2 billion women worldwide. This inequality is not only unjust, it
07:07 also makes no business sense. McKinsey estimates that achieving equal labor force participation
07:16 would yield an additional 28 trillion dollars to global GDP at 2025. We have many good examples
07:25 of countries that have taken concrete steps. Women in Gabon now have equal rights to property
07:33 as their husbands. Egypt made it illegal for financial institutions to discriminate
07:39 based on gender and Pakistan lifted restrictions on women's ability to work at night. Technology
07:48 is also presenting some new opportunities that help bridge traditional barriers faced by women.
07:55 Digital platforms and online marketplaces can help women-owned SMEs grow and reach new markets.
08:04 But while technology is part of the solution, it is not a panacea. We need
08:10 to consider the significant digital gender divide. For example, there are still 234 million
08:19 fewer women accessing mobile internet than men. So, affordable digital connectivity,
08:26 building digital literacy and safeguards such as consumer protection are all necessary
08:33 to make technology work for women. Looking ahead, I urge policy makers to dive deep
08:41 into the findings of this rich report, identify the shortcomings, prioritize this agenda,
08:48 and accelerate reforms. We need to address legal biases against women in terms of accessing credit,
08:57 signing contracts and registering a business. The private sector also has a big role to play. It
09:05 is important that we bring more women into key supply chains, either as suppliers, employees,
09:12 consumers, or entrepreneurs. This will drive inclusion, innovation and improved profits.
09:21 It is important that we all commit to monitoring the pace of reforms and their implementation.
09:29 Congratulations to the World Bank team on this important report. Now is a time to get to work
09:36 and create a brighter future for women around the globe. For the women, for their children,
09:43 their communities, and for all our economies. [Raj Kumar]
09:52 Well, that was a great call to action and summation, I think from Queen Máxima that
09:56 will help guide us through the conversation today. We're going to try to touch on all of
09:59 those topics. I now want to bring to the floor, Carmen Reinhart. Carmen's of course, the vice
10:03 president and chief economist at the World Bank. You all know Carmen, and you probably know that
10:08 her department, the development economics department is the group that produces this
10:11 report every year. So we'd love to hear from you, Carmen, please. You are muted if you're talking,
10:22 we're not hearing you yet. [Carmen Reinhart]
10:25 Thank you and thank you everyone for joining us today to launch the Women, Business and the Law
10:34 2022 Report. Ten years ago, the World Bank published a World Development Report on
10:44 Gender Equality and Development. That message was very clear. Though the lives of women and girls
10:52 have improved over the years, not enough had been done to ensure their equal rights and
11:02 opportunities. Now, here we are entering the third year of a once in a century global pandemic.
11:14 Not only is the task still unfinished, but we are seeing setbacks, we are seeing reversals.
11:25 This is a challenge ahead. Women have been disproportionately affected by the crisis because
11:34 they're more vulnerable going into it. This is the old last-in-first-out. The recent World Bank data
11:44 on the Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report also revealed a substantial increase in global poverty,
11:53 particularly concentrated among women. Many of the new poor that were identified
12:02 are likely to live in urban settings, be engaged in informal services and be better
12:12 educated than the chronic poor. To reiterate, disproportionately the new poor were women.
12:23 This really forces us to consider effective long-lasting solutions. A good start is revealing
12:33 how discriminatory laws can prevent women from fully and equally contributing to their economies.
12:43 Women, Business and the Law makes the case for reforms, starting with legal reforms toward
12:51 gender equality. Women, Business and the Law 2022 is the eighth report in this series. It covers
13:00 190 countries and it is hoping to show us a more gender equal, prosperous world the way forward.
13:16 Whether it's a young woman starting her first job, a mother balancing work with caring
13:24 for her children, or a woman who's getting ready for retirement, the eight indicators in the
13:33 report show the ways in which laws can affect women at each and every stage in their life,
13:42 whether they are working at home or in the formal or informal workplace.
13:49 This year, we're happy to note that the report also explores the
13:57 issue of childcare and bridging the gap between laws on paper
14:05 and their implementation. In other words, I think this is, it marks a solid start towards going
14:13 from strictly de jure to de facto, to actually seeing those laws have an impact empowering women
14:23 in the day-to-day work. Both are critical components, the law and the practice,
14:30 to narrowing the gender gap. The report finds that nearly 2.4 billion women of working age
14:39 are not afforded equal opportunities and 95 countries do not mandate equal pay for equal work.
14:49 Only 12 countries put women on equal legal standing with men across all the areas measured.
14:58 While progress has been made, and I noted earlier, unfortunately, receiving some setbacks,
15:08 at least on the practice side, the pace of reform needs to move faster.
15:15 In the past year, 23 countries have introduced reforms, increasing women's empowerment,
15:23 prioritizing them as essential drivers of economic growth and setting an example for their peers.
15:33 There are new laws providing more benefits to working parents and improving gender equality
15:41 in the workplace. The regions that are furthest behind the Middle East,
15:47 North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa have instituted the most positive changes,
15:54 which is good to report. The country that improved the most on the index this year is Gabon,
16:03 with comprehensive reforms to its civil code and the enactment of a law on the elimination of
16:10 violence against women. We're honored to have with us today, Madam Damas, the Minister of Justice of
16:19 Gabon to tells more about these impactful changes. Last I heard we had some connection issues. Is
16:28 the minister I hope joining us? It is countries like Gabon that will reap the benefits of
16:40 prioritizing equality. Women, Business and the Law research shows that societies with more equal laws
16:48 provide women with more jobs, higher wages. This is part of creating a thriving business economy
16:59 and opening opportunities for positions also at managerial and more senior levels.
17:09 What the data show is that inclusive recovery starts with inclusive laws,
17:16 legal reforms that encourage and incentivize women's work, not only empower them,
17:21 but strengthen the communities that they are part of and their economies, especially in the
17:27 face of challenges like the crisis we've been through in these last three years. There's much
17:34 more work to be done, and it will take governments,
17:38 international organizations, civil society, the private sector, and everyone really to achieve.
17:45 There are many resources at your disposal to help, including the World's Bank Accelerate Equality
17:52 Initiative and the revamp Gender Data Portal, which will go live on March 8 and feature among
17:59 other interesting data, 50 years of Women, Business and the Law data. This is a major
18:09 new resource, public resource. Thank you for coming together to address
18:14 this issue. I invite you all to read the report to disseminate its findings widely in your networks.
18:22 For those of you who have power to enact legal reforms, I urge you to consider removing
18:27 discriminatory laws and reform towards gender equality. Our economies and society all stand
18:35 to benefit enormously from such a change. Again, thank you. I look forward to working with you
18:43 to accelerate gender equality. [Raj Kumar]
18:46 Thank you so much, Carmen. We're going to test that people who were paying close us attention
18:50 to your very compelling remarks because I think there's a quiz that is on the World Bank live
18:55 platform, if people are paying attention. The answers to that quiz were somewhere embedded
19:00 in what Carmen said, some of the most shocking statistics about the disparities in the legal and
19:05 regulatory environment for women. We're going to hear a little bit more about what's in the report,
19:08 some of the findings. We've got Tea Trumbic with us, who's a program manager at the World Bank.
19:12 Tea, your team produces this report every year. We'd love to hear from you before we
19:17 jump into our panel. [Tea Trumbic]
19:21 Thank you. Let me start first with a big thank you to the more than 2000 respondents around the
19:26 world that have provided their time and expertise to contribute to our research. Without your local
19:32 knowledge, we would not be able to stand here today and raise awareness on the disturbing effect
19:37 of inequality. It is shocking that in 2022, there are still so many discriminatory laws
19:44 that hold women back from working and starting businesses. Today is the first day of March,
19:50 which is traditionally when around the world we celebrate women. So let me ask a question. How
19:55 many women around the world do not have access to equal economic opportunities? The answer may
20:02 shock you. More than 2 billion women, which is practically all women of working age. The economic
20:09 potential of the world is untapped when half of its population is not able to participate fully.
20:16 I also want to acknowledge the incredible difficulties that the world is experiencing
20:20 right now, war and displacement, climate change, and a global pandemic are affecting so many.
20:28 But crisis is never gender neutral and women have been disproportionately affected
20:33 by the realities of our ever changing world. One reason that women are more negatively
20:38 affected by these events is because they start at a disadvantage. All over the world, discriminatory
20:44 laws force women onto an uneven playing field, threatening not only their economic security
20:50 but the economic security of their communities and countries. Gender equality is essential,
20:55 not only for peace and security but to achieve key development goals and boost economic growth.
21:07 This year's Women, Business and the Law 2022 Report is part of the World Bank Group's year
21:12 long Accelerate Equality Initiative, building on 10 years of progress since the World Development
21:17 Report 2012. Progress has been made but it is painfully slow. Our reports findings confirm
21:25 this message this year. This year's report updates the data, noting where geographically
21:30 and thematically countries are reforming and where more gaps remain. This year, we also
21:35 introduced two new areas on legal frameworks for childcare and measuring laws in practice.
21:42 Gender equality is still smart economics, and I hope our data and research will inspire you to
21:46 help us accelerate equality so that in 10 years we are not disappointed by the slow progress.
21:53 For more than a decade, Women, Business and the Law has set out to identify
21:57 where exactly laws are preventing women from contributing to their economies as employees
22:02 and business owners. Our data explores laws across eight areas and highlights opportunities
22:09 for reform in 190 economies globally. Whether a 25 year old starting her first job,
22:16 a mother balancing work with caring for her children, or a woman preparing for retirement,
22:21 the eight indicators show the ways in which laws affect women throughout their working lives.
22:27 This year, what we find is that worldwide, on average,
22:30 women have just three fourths of the legal rights of men. The global average score is 76.5.
22:38 Many discriminatory provisions still exist. For example, in 95 countries, women are not guaranteed
22:44 equal pay for equal work. In 46 countries, women are not protected against sexual harassment in
22:50 the workplace. 86 countries impose at least one legal restriction on women's employment
22:57 and 30 countries still do not have laws against domestic violence. Only three countries provide
23:03 equal amounts of paid leave for mothers and fathers. Inequalities like these contribute
23:08 to an earnings gap in which women's lifetime earnings are only two thirds those of men.
23:13 A recent study finds that closing this gap could add 172 trillion U.S. dollars to the world's
23:20 economy. That is equivalent to two times the annual global GDP. Just 12 countries
23:26 in the world receive a score of 100 out of 100, meaning that women and men are an equal
23:31 legal standing across the areas measured. This means that the remaining 178 economies measured
23:38 have legal gaps to close between men and women, impacting opportunities for 2.4 billion women.
23:47 Gradually, we are making progress. This is a difficult time for any country to reform.
23:52 Yet, despite the pandemic, 23 countries across all regions enacted reforms to increase gender
24:00 equality in 2021. Many of the new laws are in the areas that needed the most,
24:05 providing more benefits for working parents and improving conditions for women in the workplace.
24:12 Countries are recognizing the need for shared caregiving and this benefits not only the
24:16 women themselves, but also their children. Geographically, most reforms were passed in
24:21 the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, which are the regions that needed the most. For example,
24:27 Bahrain continued its reform drive as it has for the last three years. This year,
24:32 Bahrain mandated equal pay for work of equal value and also lifted restrictions in women's work.
24:38 Kuwait and Lebanon enacted laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, and
24:42 Egypt passed the law against domestic violence. But the country that reformed the most was Gabon.
24:49 We've already heard a little bit of about it from Carmen and we hope to hear more.
24:54 As a result of the comprehensive set of reforms passed by Gabon, its score rose from 57.5
25:00 last year to 82.5 this year. I would love to see more of this type of comprehensive
25:05 reform effort in more countries around the world. We are excited to hear more about
25:10 how these important changes came about out from Minister Damas, an example we can all learn from.
25:17 We have no doubt that Gabon and other reforming countries will soon see the
25:21 benefits of prioritizing gender equality. Our research shows that more equal laws are
25:26 associated with more women working, higher wages, and more women-owned businesses.
25:32 This increase, economic empowerment from women will no doubt translate into economic growth,
25:38 because we know what works for women works for the economy. But we must also continue to explore the
25:45 critical relationship between women's rights and economic outcomes, and further build the
25:50 case for gender equality in all areas of life. This year, Women, Business and the Law is doing
25:56 just that by expanding its research to critical areas of childcare and implementation of the law.
26:03 Taking care of children should not be treated as a women's issue and is essential for building
26:07 inclusive societies. Our pilot data on childcare in 95 countries measures legal frameworks around
26:13 the availability, affordability, and quality of services. It is clear that this must be a
26:20 priority going forward to achieve better outcomes for women, children, and the economy as a whole.
26:26 Childcare services need to be available in the first place, but they must also be affordable
26:31 and of high quality. There's currently a lack of adequate policies governing the provision
26:35 of affordable and quality childcare around the world. This needs to change. Implementation and
26:43 enforcement of laws are also critical barriers to gender equality. We don't just want to see a
26:48 law in equal pay for equal work, we want women to actually receive equal pay for equal work.
26:54 A pilot exercise of 25 countries reveals gaps between the laws and the books and actual
26:59 practice across the board, confirming that laws alone are not enough to ensure gender equality.
27:08 As you can see, there's a lot work left to be done to advance the gender equality agenda.
27:13 While progress has been made, the pace of reforms must be accelerated. There's great
27:18 variation of laws, both across and within regions. Every region has examples of economies whose
27:24 governments have enacted good practice laws, and those that still have room to improve. Countries
27:29 can look to their neighbors for examples when seeking to reform or inspire others to do so. If
27:36 the last few years have taught us anything it is that we cannot wait to make this a priority.
27:41 The need for reform is even more urgent today because the COVID-19 pandemic
27:47 and other challenges have widened longstanding gender inequalities around the world.
27:52 Data reveals a larger drop in the proportion of female full-time employees relative to male.
27:57 The gender pay gap has also widened, and women are more likely than men
28:02 to take leave from work, resign their positions and experience domestic violence.
28:07 The pandemic has also affected the share of the urban poor, affecting women in particular.
28:13 There is a small silver lining. Recent data showed that some women-owned firms adapted to digital
28:19 platforms faster than men, therefore, access to digital technologies such as mobile phones,
28:24 computers, and the internet are critical to enable women to start new businesses, discover
28:30 new markets, and find better jobs. Reforming laws to achieve greater gender equality should
28:35 be a priority as governments enact measures to recover from the shocks imposed by this crisis.
28:43 Achieving gender equality requires an effort by governments, civil society, international
28:48 organizations, and the private sectors, but legal and regulatory reforms can serve as an important
28:54 catalyst to improve the lives of women as well as their families and communities. Women, Business
29:00 and the Law and the World Bank are ready to assist in this effort by continuing to celebrate
29:04 the progress made and emphasize opportunities for positive change. For more information, including
29:10 50 years of data and country specific results, please visit our website at wbl.worldbank.org.
29:17 Download the report, read it, and use the data and evidence in your own work, so that together
29:22 we can accelerate equality. What will the world look like in another 10 years? With this, I want
29:29 to thank our partners and thank you for listening. Back to you, Raj. I look forward to learning from
29:33 a wonderful expert panel discussion. [Raj Kumar]
29:38 Thank you so much, Tea. You gave us a lot to chew on in our panel conversation. Let me just
29:42 welcome our panelists to this virtual stage. We have Jamila Belabidi, who is the director for
29:49 supplier diversity in women's economic empowerment at Procter and Gamble. We have Henriette Kolb, who
29:54 is the head of gender and economic inclusion group at the IFC. We hope to be joined, maybe soon,
30:01 let's see by the minister of justice of Gabon and that's the honorable Erlyne Antonella Ndembet
30:10 Damas. We have with us, maybe to get us started, Greta Bull, who is the director
30:13 for Women's Economic Empowerment at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hi Greta.
30:17 Nice to be with all of you. [Raj Kumar]
30:18 Greta, maybe I could just start with you. I remember being at the event,
30:22 it may have been a Women Deliver event in Copenhagen, maybe someone remembers,
30:25 but when Melinda first really put forward the foundation's kind of strong stamp on these sets
30:31 of issues and decided to make a large investment, particularly in data so we could better understand
30:38 some of the challenges here, you've been working on these issues for a really long time.
30:42 How do you see the moment we're in now? How do you prioritize the various issues around this broad
30:48 area of women's economic empowerment? How has the pandemic shifted things in your mind? I'd
30:53 just love to get some kind of the lay of the land from you to get us going in this panel, Greta.
30:56 [Greta Bull] Great. Thanks a lot,
30:58 Raj. Good morning to everyone. It's a real honor to be here. We are proud supporters of the Women,
31:03 Business and Law Report every year. We're thrilled to see the report that came out this week.
31:11 As you've referred to it, the foundation, our cornerstone belief is that every life
31:14 has equal value, but it's abundantly clear that today, no matter where in the world you are,
31:19 life is harder if you're born a girl. As this report so eloquently points out, it's harder in
31:24 some places than others. We know that in virtually every country and community around the world,
31:31 women and girls lack full agency over the most fundamental aspects of their lives, their
31:35 families and the societies in which they live. Those inequalities can be traced to structural
31:40 barriers, like discriminatory laws and policies that result in non-equal pay or restricted access
31:46 to land or property, but they also result from less tangible barriers that women experience in
31:51 their day-to-day lives such as cultural norms and expectations about women's roles as wives,
31:56 caregivers, and the people solely responsible for unpaid household work. I think the pieces
32:02 in the report this year really speak to that. While the law is a powerful lever, we can't
32:08 always expect that change to be taken up on the ground. I think some of the new findings that
32:12 we're seeing are going to help us to get at some of those more challenging issues that are around
32:17 social norms that are baked into societies. Just to quickly summarize the foundation's
32:22 commitment to gender equality writ large, but also women's economic empowerment,
32:27 we are literally running gender as a thread through everything we do, from our work on
32:32 pandemic response and polio eradication and HIV, to our work on economic empowerment.
32:40 I can speak in more depth to the work on economic empowerment. We are really formulating that work
32:45 around a woman's ability to earn an income and control that income and the assets that come with
32:50 it. We're working on this problem across four main areas. The first is public policy, where we're
32:56 supporting the development of sex disaggregated data as Melinda announced all those years ago,
33:02 and other forms of evidence that can guide policy makers in developing laws and policies
33:06 that support women's empowerment. In addition to our support for Women, Business and the Law,
33:10 we have a number of other partnerships with the Bank that support better sex disaggregated data.
33:16 The second lever that we think is really important is increasing women's access to productive
33:20 resources, that could be access to financial resources or productive assets, it could be
33:25 access to digital tools, like smartphones and the information and connectivity that comes with them,
33:30 it involves developing the skills and competence to use those tools effectively.
33:34 I think equally importantly, it involves women's ownership of a far more precious resource,
33:39 which is her time. Women spend hours each day in unpaid work, whether it's looking after children
33:45 or elders or doing unpaid and undervalued domestic work. We are actively working on ways to help
33:50 relieve the burden of unpaid care so that women can use their time in a way that maximizes their
33:55 empowerment and their contribution to economic growth. We, in fact, recently sign an agreement
34:00 with the Bank for a large facility that's aimed at improving access to childcare. Third area where
34:06 we're engaging is women's access to markets. I think we've seen a lot of change in this, in
34:10 the pandemic, and it's really accelerated a push towards digital, but that could be anything from
34:16 running a smaller micro business with the funding and know-how required to do that out effectively.
34:21 It could involve selling in a digital marketplace or getting work on a gig platform,
34:25 but it could also improve women's access to public procurement opportunities or public works programs
34:30 as we are working on in India. It could involve improved access to value chains. I'm sure we'll
34:35 hear a lot more about that from other panelists. The final area that we're really looking at
34:41 hard is this complex space of social norms, which we're beginning to get at in the Women, Business
34:46 and Law Report, it's not enough to change the law. We also have to change hearts and minds.
34:51 I was reminded of this in a conversation last week with a colleague in Kenya who said, "Yeah,
34:54 we changed the law in Kenya for women to be able to own land." But none of that's trickling down to
35:00 women actually own land. I think the report really speaks to that gap and tries to quantify that gap
35:06 we're seeing between laws being implemented and actual implementation of those legal
35:10 rights on the ground. I think that's an area that's going to require patience, a very deep
35:15 understanding of context, and quite frankly, a long view. But I think change is possible. What
35:20 it's going to take is a lot of us working together to make that kind of change happen on the ground.
35:25 In terms of the COVID pandemic, I mean, I think others have spoken to this. It really
35:30 has hit women harder than men. I think we have a lot of work to do to recover the ground that
35:36 we've lost because of the COVID pandemic and double down, and really build on what
35:42 was begun prior to the pandemic. I think the work of Women, Business and the Law is clearly
35:47 implicated in pretty much every one of those areas. Why don't I pause there for now and-
35:53 [Raj Kumar] Yeah, let's
35:55 dig into some of those topics of the other panelists, because I think you gave us a good
35:58 lay of the land here to get started. I do want to mention to people who are following along,
36:02 if you have questions, you want to put them into the chat function, go ahead and do that. We may
36:05 not have time to get to specific questions, but I'll try to weave them in as we go here. One of
36:10 the things that Greta mentioned was childcare. I know that's a focus in the report. To me,
36:14 it is one of these areas where it's both a strong structural barrier and it touches on cultural
36:19 norms. Maybe Henriette, we can go to you and just to dig a little bit deeper on that question.
36:24 How do you see childcare fitting into this broader landscape around women's economic
36:29 empowerment? What are some things that are actually being done that are working
36:33 on this front? [Henriette Kolb]
36:35 Thank you so much, Raj and thanks to all of you joining us on the World Bank live stream.
36:41 First of all, let me say, I hope your loved ones are safe and well and as healthy as possible.
36:46 Let me also kick off by congratulating Tea and the team for just another outstanding report.
36:52 It's incredibly inspiring to see you've been able to pull this off in an even shorter timeframe
36:57 than in the past. I've been a fan since, if you can tell, the first edition. More importantly,
37:03 I think the eight indicators that Women, Business and the Law highlights are absolutely
37:09 fundamental for our private sector clients at the International Finance Corporation because they so
37:14 closely speak to the barriers and opportunities that women have to be joining the private sector,
37:21 in the leadership, in the workforce, in the supply chain, as consumers, in the community.
37:27 This report is wide-ranging impact and is incredibly useful to us
37:31 when we advocate for gender equality in the private sector. So I'm particularly delighted Raj,
37:37 to come back to your question to see this report amplify so squarely the work on
37:42 childcare and how much is left to do. What the report also makes clear, I think that yes, we have
37:47 to look at childcare provision from a government, civil society, and private sector perspective,
37:54 but just providing childcare services, for example, in private sector might not be enough.
37:59 It really is only affected if you embed it in a whole suite of services and legal reforms,
38:05 such as parental leave for example. And while the report gives us hope that parental leave was one
38:11 of the reform efforts that accelerated during the pandemic, we also know from the report,
38:16 that is the area where we really sincerely have to accelerate progress and make inroads.
38:23 Now, some of you might wonder why this is relevant for private sector investment bank, the topic of
38:29 childcare. Well, frankly, we've worked on advancing women's employment for many, many
38:34 decades, to make sure we don't just copy-paste the world, but we change the world when we invest in
38:40 emerging markets. So the one stumbling block over and over and over again was very clearly
38:48 the unfair distribution of childcare, paid and unpaid work, and who gets to make choices
38:55 over when to do which one. So even before the pandemic, in 2017, we started to work with
39:04 companies and clients around the world. In fact, it's now over a thousand companies and we looked
39:08 at what is the business case for companies to invest in childcare? Why would the private
39:14 sector care? We've done that globally, Tackling Childcare, hashtag if you want to check it out.
39:19 We've done it at the country level because of course the situation is incredibly different
39:25 in the many countries we are active in. We found the one common denominator in
39:30 every single report, there is a strong business case, be it around productivity increases, savings
39:36 around retention, not having to retrain stuff, be it around ideas and talent, and innovation.
39:42 It's pretty clear that actually the private sector has an intrinsic interest to be asking
39:49 the working parents of their companies, "What is it that you want us to do?" So that was the
39:55 second step, where we pull together with 30 different organizations around the world,
40:00 childcare experts, to not just understand why, but then really how. So how can companies engage
40:07 in this topic? That's not their core business. It's something that in fact is often very far
40:11 removed from their core business. So how can they make sure to provide affordable, safe,
40:17 quality childcare in a regulatory environment that might not quite be as clear to them?
40:24 If companies are not entirely convinced from a business case perspective, in fact,
40:29 actually in collaboration with Women, Business and the Law, we looked at what countries and
40:34 markets are making it already mandatory for the private sector to provide childcare services.
40:38 We found this to be the case in over 26 countries. There is a huge amount of regulations related to
40:46 the number of employees, but if you hit a certain threshold of women employees or employees overall,
40:52 you got to provide childcare. But we wanted to better understand, well,
40:56 what does that look like? So is it onsite childcare, which frankly, in most instances,
41:00 it's probably not the way to go or is it offsite, is it backup childcare? And so on and so forth.
41:06 We've come out with a whole range of solutions and opportunities and I hope to be engaging with
41:11 as many of you in conversations and follow-up, and how can we build a capability of the private
41:17 sector, not to work on its own, incredibly critical to work with governments who might
41:23 have faced the constraints in shouldering some of the financing, but who are absolutely intentional
41:28 in building these public private partnerships. Because the private sector alone can certainly
41:32 and should not do it, but there has to be really strong partnership between the two.
41:37 Just to make this a little bit more practical before turning it back to you Raj, I just wanted
41:42 to share with you last week, a colleague of mine wrote from Papua New Guinea, certainly a place
41:48 where women experience high gender-based violence very much, not represented in the private sector
41:55 as much as men. We learn from one of our clients who we've worked with to advance their women's
42:01 retention, recruitment and promotion, and we got the EDGE gender certification done with them,
42:06 which stands for economic dividend for gender equality, they proactively leaned in and actually
42:12 recognized that as a mining servicing company, they had done nothing much on providing their
42:19 working parents with childcare. They opened the facility in tandem with the government and they
42:24 have now 80 kids involved, but the beauty of it, it's not just for the employees. I think
42:29 that speaks to some of the inequities that Greta mentioned. We need to make sure that we think of
42:34 solutions that involve the community, that involve people who are in vulnerable work or informal work
42:39 so we don't create first class, second class and third class childcare arrangement.
42:45 So there's a lot more to do. We are certainly excited to expanding that into elderly care and
42:50 mental health care, and look forward to hearing a little bit how we can do that even further in
42:55 partnership with all of you. [Raj Kumar]
42:57 Yeah. That's a great example, Henriette. It makes me think about this idea of the care economy,
43:01 right? That if you can think of this at a larger scale, and maybe that's a combination
43:05 of government mandate, financial support, but then really building this as an economic sector
43:10 that you have more potential to... The business case maybe alone isn't enough, but if you can
43:16 build the market, there's an opportunity to really scale quickly, which is what we're all
43:19 after here and think about scaling quickly, we've got Jamila with us. So maybe we can bring you into
43:23 the discussion, Jamila, because you are at one of the world's largest companies, Procter and Gamble.
43:28 You're thinking about very large supply chains. Supply chains are very much in the news right now,
43:32 as people have a hard time fulfilling orders and getting product, but you're thinking of it from
43:37 the perspective, how do you ensure diversity within your supply chain? How it connects to
43:41 these issues. So, is it a business case for you? Or is it more of an ESG question? How do you look
43:47 at this portfolio that you run there at P&G? [Jamila Belabidi]
43:52 Sure. Thank you. My pleasure. Well, first, let me thank you for the invitation to celebrate
43:56 with you the eighth Women, Business and the Law Report. A lot has been already said, but I'd like
44:03 to build on it and say that first, I'd like to remind everyone that the private sector is a truly
44:08 powerful partner in advancing gender equality as a whole, especially for women entrepreneurs, women
44:14 employees, and consumers, as we heard earlier. So think of the private sector as having the
44:21 role of a catalyst, almost like a role of a role model for change. Without the full engagement,
44:31 the full action from the private sector, gender quality gap might never be closed. What
44:38 can happen as we heard it as well earlier that typically threatens the achievement of the SDGs.
44:46 For this reason, my goal here is make sure that private sector is part of the dialogue and
44:52 at an early stage, at the design phase. To your point about CSR activities and how we think about
45:00 this. Well, I would say we are at a turning point, the private sector is transforming.
45:06 Those interventions are going today beyond the traditional CSR scope. If I think of P&G,
45:14 internally gender equality is actually a business strategy. We heard it earlier because it's simply
45:20 a business growth opportunity. It is a business case. This is why today it is an integral part
45:27 of our business plans. We like to think about it as integrated into our business versus just
45:33 bolted on, right? It is intentional. It's not just an add-on. Within gender equality, we have,
45:40 of course, women economic empowerment as this is the core of our conversation today is a big,
45:45 big part. It plays internally within our own walls, but as you said as well, externally
45:51 within our supply chain. So let me start with the supply chain, as this was your question.
45:56 We developed in P&G a pretty holistic program around women economic empowerment to really
46:03 support those women entrepreneurs. We did that in four specific areas where we know we can make and
46:12 drive an impact, and ultimately to make sure that those women can take part of the economy, right?
46:19 We looked at the whole value chain and the four components are first, the supply chain.
46:24 The supply chain, basically, as we heard earlier, it's about adding more women-owned
46:29 companies, women, entrepreneurs. But it is also about how we are enabling, we are inspiring,
46:37 we are engaging our business partners to also drive changes within their own walls. Adopting
46:44 the right E&I practices, the right E&I policies. I will tell you, this is one of our largest
46:50 program where we are really counting on the engagement and positive response from our large
46:55 suppliers. P&G is very large and we work with very large companies. If we are able to make this
47:00 change, then really we are able to create this ripple effect and creating an impact at scale.
47:09 I would also say that today this is an area that is not obvious for everyone. Leveraging companies'
47:17 purchasing power is an asset that is very little used and very little understood. Here as well,
47:25 this is one that we really want to push and we need help and we need support from all key
47:31 stakeholders, public, private sector, everyone. The second pillar of our intervention under
47:38 the women economic empowerment program is the creative chain. You might know, but P&G is one of
47:44 the largest advertiser in the world. What we are seeing there as well is a huge gender inequality,
47:49 very low representation of women in key roles. We've decided to make a shift there to make an
47:55 intervention and influence. For example, we've committed to have 50% of our advertising to be
48:02 directed, to be led by women by 2023. These are ways for us to make sure that the representation
48:09 is equal. We offer equal opportunities to women. The third focus is the innovation chain.
48:18 Innovation is vital for any company and specifically for us. So here, we want to
48:23 support women-led startups and women founders, creators, right? How to help them set and grow
48:31 their business. We do this through accelerator programs, mentorship grants, and other things.
48:38 Finally, the fourth pillar where we intervene intentionally is the sales chain. We heard about
48:45 how important it is to leverage the digital platforms to enable women entrepreneurs to
48:52 sell. This is what we're doing. We are seeking to integrate more and more women entrepreneurs in our
48:59 distribution channels, we are equipping them with entrepreneurship skills, sales competencies, so
49:07 that they can also sustain over time. As you can see, it's a pretty holistic approach, but
49:12 I will also say very few things. The importance of commitments. We only get what we measure.
49:20 At the Generation Equality Forum back in June, we've announced that we are committed to spending
49:25 $10 billion by 2025 with women-owned and women-led businesses. That is very important.
49:32 We really recommend all companies to also step up, the private sector in general, to step up.
49:37 The second thing I would like to highlight here is the importance of not only looking at
49:41 the ownership of the companies, it is absolutely foundational and important to make space in our
49:48 supply chain to what we call the underrepresented groups and specifically women owners. To help them
49:54 build their self, to create wealth, but it is as well important to economically empower all those
49:59 women employees in those large corporations and even less large corporations. Being curious about
50:05 how our suppliers are driving their representation inside their own walls is something we care about
50:13 out. Finally, we talked about- [Raj Kumar]
50:14 Because it's going to be easy to check the box otherwise and say, "We've done this," but
50:19 really when you look inside the company, they haven't actually achieved that level of diversity
50:23 that you're going for. [Jamila Belabidi]
50:24 It's an end to end. It's a holistic approach to equality.
50:28 [Raj Kumar] I just want to get Greta
50:30 back in the discussion, if I can. You mentioned earlier a point that's raised in the report, and
50:36 that's about not just passing a law or regulation, but actually implementing it. I think you gave the
50:41 example of Kenya and that women can now own land, but it's not actually translating into real life
50:47 examples. What is the tension there? Now that the report is focused on that, how much should
50:53 we be paying attention to this question of implementation versus laws on the books?
50:57 [Greta Bull] Yeah, I think that's a great question,
51:00 Raj, and it's one we're really wrestling with because changing a law is really tangible,
51:06 changing social norm is really kind of intangible sometimes in a bit squishy, but I
51:11 think it's absolutely crucial. In development, we see this happen all the time. We think something's
51:17 going to work and it runs into a brick wall that's called social norms. I think the great thing about
51:23 the Women, Business and the Law Report is it sort of surfaces those issues. A couple of other
51:28 people have spoken to this. When you have data, when you can measure stuff, it makes it visible.
51:33 It makes it visible to the private sector so that they can think about not leaving
51:37 money on the table and investing in the right way. It makes public policy smarter as well.
51:42 I think the Bank plays a really important role here in just pushing for sex disaggregated data
51:48 and making all of this stuff visible. But then, and to get at your question, what we have to do
51:52 is build partnerships to act on them, right? If the pandemic's made it abundantly clear that the
51:56 lack of decent childcare is a major challenge for women's workforce, participation and wellbeing,
52:01 frankly. We're investing in helping to solve that problem as are a number of other donors. As I
52:07 mentioned, we've recently signed a hundred million plus multi donor facility to stimulate the
52:11 development of childcare facilities in emerging markets together with the Bank. There's far more
52:16 work that we can do together to make sure that those kinds of legal changes are happening,
52:20 but then that we're shifting social norms. That requires really different kinds of partnerships.
52:26 It's going to require partnerships with policy makers and the institutions of government actually
52:30 support the law, but it will also involve civil society, women's groups, the private sector,
52:35 media organizations, and communities on the ground. Importantly, I think we have
52:39 to really think hard about how we bring men on board as allies and make the case that bringing
52:44 women into the economy as productive actors in their own right is a win-win for everyone,
52:49 including men and others in the community. I think this is a long-term effort. It's hard to do.
52:56 It's going to involve attacking things from multiple perspectives and really trying to get it
53:01 root causes. There's a role for all of us to play.
53:05 [Raj Kumar] Yeah. It's always good to look at examples that are working.
53:08 So we've heard a bit today about Gabon, and we now have the Minister Damas with us.
53:14 I'd like to go to you if I can minister, because your name has come up many times, you may have
53:18 had your ears burning, we were talking about how much Gabon has increased in this index this year,
53:25 and some of the legal successes you've had recently. So I wonder if you can
53:30 just share with us your thoughts on how that success was made possible, just in a few minutes,
53:35 as we're somewhat running out of time here today.
53:46 [Translator] Thank you so much. I'm very sorry for the delay. As you know, I am a human rights advisor and I was
53:54 involved in another... First of all, how this reform was achieved,
53:58 first of all, it's a vision of our president. We are an emerging country
54:06 and in order to progress, we need everyone to participate,
54:10 all components and that includes women. They are 50% of the population. He confirmed his vision
54:22 by decreeing the decade of women, 2015-2025. Then, an analysis was done of the situation of women
54:34 to check the status diagnosis that was really very complete. It was based on this diagnosis
54:40 of women's position that this strategy was implemented. Behind this strategy, there are main
54:48 actors. There's the president of the republic, the first lady, who really took charge of this
54:55 effort, she hired the firm that carried out this study and she's participating
55:02 as an important actor with the government, there's also the prime minister,
55:08 who is coordinating the activity of all the departments
55:14 that have contributed to these reforms.
55:17 It's a task force that gets together regularly to monitor the implementation we began
55:25 with the process of developing the laws, and now we are at the implementation stage. As
55:33 of the implementation, in September, we're going to start a training process of all the actors who
55:42 will use these laws. Our ministry was in charge of this program. October, November, December, we
55:58 worked in the entire country. In January, we continued to the capital and we are looking at
56:07 a different aspect of this awareness raising work. Now, we're working with all actors, even religious
56:16 actors. We have focal points that promote these laws in the churches to really communicate the
56:24 spirit of the law and show that these are not laws that go against our traditions or
56:31 our religions, that these are humanist laws for the development of women, the cohesion
56:37 of the family, and development of society. The success of these reforms
56:47 is really the result of our president's vision. [Raj Kumar]
56:54 Thank you. [Translator]
56:54 Can you hear me? [Raj Kumar]
56:55 I hope I'm not cutting you off. I don't think I am, minister, because
56:58 we are running out of time, but I appreciate very much your remarks and it's good to hear good news,
57:03 it's to hear progress when we're facing such a significant set of challenges
57:08 here on these issues. It is very interesting how you have weaved in both the legal aspect
57:13 and the attempt to change social norms, including working with religious leaders, because we've
57:18 discussed in our short session today, how much those two things are intertwined. Now, because
57:22 we're running out of time, I would just ask our other panelists, if they have a brief comment that
57:27 they want to make as they leave us. Is there some short message you want to share with the audience
57:33 in just 30 seconds or so before we go? I'll start with you Henriette, and we'll come back to the
57:39 minister for a final thought before we close. [Henriette Kolb]
57:43 Thanks, Raj. The one message I would say, we need everyone on board to resolve childcare
57:48 issues and to expand it into elderly care and mental health care. We've seen how the pandemic
57:53 has actually opened room for mental health care conversations. Let's take that room and make sure
57:58 this is not a niche issue, but really is something that we tackle from all angles. Back to you.
58:03 [Raj Kumar] Yeah, that's a great
58:05 point. It should not be a niche issue. It touches every aspect of society. Jamila, can I go to you?
58:10 [Jamila Belabidi] Yeah. Well, my only ask is that we also, again,
58:14 work together on gender responsive sourcing, like public sector, private sector, all of us, all the
58:19 stake holders, there is so much that we need to learn together because there are a lot of barriers
58:24 in front of us. How do we work together, hand in hand, drive a change faster and at scale? So,
58:31 that's my asking. [Raj Kumar]
58:32 I loved your point about the untapped potential of these supply chains. I mean, your example that
58:36 P&G will tell advertising companies that 50% of ads have to be directed by women.
58:41 That's huge. That's an enormous shift right there, given the size of your annual ad budget.
58:45 Maybe Greta, we can go to you for a final thought. [Greta Bull]
58:48 I guess I would say, let's keep this issue on the agenda. I think there's a risk that as the next
58:53 big development challenge comes online, let's say climate change, we somehow drop the gender
58:59 agenda in favor of solving the next crisis. But I think we have to be really clear that women are
59:03 pivotal in literally every development challenge facing the world. We have to keep gender front and
59:08 center. At the Gates Foundation, we're doing that in everything we do, from preventing the
59:12 next pandemic, to climate change, to the economic recovery. We have to make sure that we keep gender
59:18 and the women's agenda central to absolutely everything we do, and it should stay there
59:22 until we're all done with the SDGs. [Raj Kumar]
59:26 It is one of those cross-cutting issues. So it can be harder to communicate, but I think
59:29 childcare is an issue everybody can connect to in some way. So,
59:33 that's a great way for us to communicate it and hopefully have people hold onto it.
59:37 Finally, Minister Damas, a final thought from you before we go to our last speaker.
59:57 Just waiting for the translation. I don't know if it's gone through or not,
01:00:00 but if you're there minister, we'd love a final thought from you. If you've got
01:00:05 one. Very brief. [Translator]
01:00:27 I didn't follow the whole debate, but I would say something about the reforms undertaken in Gabon.
01:00:37 We need men and women of courage, we need men to involve themselves in the process, we need
01:00:45 courageous men and women to undertake these reforms. That's not automatic,
01:00:54 even if we make some initiatives. We had to have of course, leadership by the president,
01:01:04 the first lady, the prime minister, so that altogether we could undertake these reforms.
01:01:11 A great number of women in our country are happy because they feel they're protected
01:01:17 and they can prosper and develop themselves. Thanks to their autonomy
01:01:25 and empowerment that they have received, then they can actively participate in the economic life of
01:01:32 our country. Thank you. [Raj Kumar]
01:01:35 Thank you so much, minister. Thank you to all of our panelists. I know people who are following
01:01:39 this are hopefully giving you a virtual round of applause for a great discussion.
01:01:44 We really appreciate it. Congratulations again on this report. I want to bring in
01:01:48 Norman Loayza who directs the Global Indicators Group at the World Bank to give us some final
01:01:54 thoughts as we close out today. [Norman Loayza]
01:01:56 Many thanks, Raj and my warm thanks to all speakers this morning for a great event.
01:02:03 Certainly be fitting the launch of our report, such as Women, Business and the Law 2022.
01:02:10 As director of the Global Indicators Group, where Women, Business and the Law project is housed,
01:02:17 I want to express my deep gratitude to Tea and every member of the team who made WBL 2022 happen.
01:02:26 Behind every strong report, there is a group of pride, dedicated and committed people,
01:02:32 Women, Business and the Law is no exception. For the countless numbers of hours checking day data,
01:02:38 for all the effort spent reading and brainstorming for ways to improve the report,
01:02:44 for the insights in drawing messages worth conveying to the world,
01:02:49 I want to thank each member of the team. Your project, our project makes a difference.
01:02:55 Reforming laws for gender equality paves the way for changing social norms and actions.
01:03:02 The result is women's empowerment and also more resilient economy and a stable
01:03:10 society. Thank you very much. [Raj Kumar]
01:03:15 Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone here. Again, congratulations on the report. Maybe
01:03:21 just as a way to close, I can tell you all what you may have heard during the course of the
01:03:26 conversation, the answers to those quiz questions, which are really quite dramatic that globally
01:03:30 women have only three-fourths of the legal rights afforded to men, that 2.4 billion women around the
01:03:36 world lack the same economic rights as men, that 95 countries still do not guarantee women and men
01:03:41 equal remuneration for work of equal value, and that in 12 countries around the world, women have
01:03:48 legal gender parity with men, in only 12 countries. So, there is a lot of work to do, but
01:03:53 hopefully you leave inspired by the report and the opportunities you heard from our great panelists
01:03:59 today for such great work that is happening around the world and what we can actually do
01:04:04 if we continue on these efforts. Thanks so much. It's great to be a part of it. Be well, everyone.

Browse Our Events

Event Finder

Search past and upcoming events by keyword, by topic or by region.

Search by Speakers

Browse the list of speakers for our events.

Pre-recorded keynote speech

Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands

UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development
@UNSGSA

Speakers

Carmen M. Reinhart

Former Senior Vice President and World Bank Group Chief Economist, Development Economics
@carmenmreinhart
Erlyne Antonella Ndembet Damas

Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, in charge of human rights of Gabon
Tea Trumbic

Manager, Women, Business and the Law, World Bank
@twitrum
Greta Bull

Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
@bull_greta
Henriette Kolb

Head, Gender Secretariat, IFC
@HenrietteKolb
Jamila Belabidi

Director of Supplier Diversity and Women Economic Empowerment, Procter & Gamble
@belabidi2

Moderator

Raj Kumar

President & Editor-in-Chief, Devex
@raj_devex

Watch previous editions of Women, Business and the Law

Safeguarding Women’s Economic Opportunity in Times of Crisis

Replay

March 01, 2021

Safeguarding Women’s Economic Opportunity in Times of Crisis

Women, Business and the Law 2019

Replay

March 04, 2019

Women, Business and the Law 2019

Women, Business and the Law 2018 Report Launch

Replay

March 29, 2018

Women, Business and the Law 2018 Report Launch

Status message

Thank you for requesting an event reminder for email We have just sent you a confirmation.

Error message

It looks as though the e-mail address: email is already registered for reminders for this event.

Error message

Something went wrong