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

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

Institutions are defined as the set of rules that govern human interactions. When these rules are discriminatory, they may disempower segments of a population in the economic spheres of activity. This study explores whether laws that discriminate a...

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Main Authors: Islam, Asif, Muzi, Silvia, Amin, Mohammad
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
GENDER
EMPOWERMENT
FINANCIAL INCLUSION
EMPLOYMENT
INEQUALITY
LABOR MARKET
FEMALE LABOR FORCE
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/454601505997236193/Unequal-laws-and-the-disempowerment-of-women-in-the-labor-market-evidence-from-firm-level-data
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28447
id okr-10986-28447
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-284472021-06-08T14:42:45Z Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data Islam, Asif Muzi, Silvia Amin, Mohammad GENDER EMPOWERMENT FINANCIAL INCLUSION EMPLOYMENT INEQUALITY LABOR MARKET FEMALE LABOR FORCE Institutions are defined as the set of rules that govern human interactions. When these rules are discriminatory, they may disempower segments of a population in the economic spheres of activity. This study explores whether laws that discriminate against women influence their engagement in the economy. The study adopts a holistic approach, exploring an overall measure of unequal laws also known as legal gender disparities, and relates it to several labor market outcomes for women. Using data for more than 60,000 firms across 104 economies, the study finds that unequal laws not only discourage women's participation in the private sector workforce, but also their likelihood to become top managers and owners of firms. Suggestive evidence indicates that access to finance and corruption are pathways by which legal gender disparities disempower women in the labor market. 2017-10-05T16:34:26Z 2017-10-05T16:34:26Z 2017-09 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/454601505997236193/Unequal-laws-and-the-disempowerment-of-women-in-the-labor-market-evidence-from-firm-level-data http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28447 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8202 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic GENDER
EMPOWERMENT
FINANCIAL INCLUSION
EMPLOYMENT
INEQUALITY
LABOR MARKET
FEMALE LABOR FORCE
spellingShingle GENDER
EMPOWERMENT
FINANCIAL INCLUSION
EMPLOYMENT
INEQUALITY
LABOR MARKET
FEMALE LABOR FORCE
Islam, Asif
Muzi, Silvia
Amin, Mohammad
Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8202
description Institutions are defined as the set of rules that govern human interactions. When these rules are discriminatory, they may disempower segments of a population in the economic spheres of activity. This study explores whether laws that discriminate against women influence their engagement in the economy. The study adopts a holistic approach, exploring an overall measure of unequal laws also known as legal gender disparities, and relates it to several labor market outcomes for women. Using data for more than 60,000 firms across 104 economies, the study finds that unequal laws not only discourage women's participation in the private sector workforce, but also their likelihood to become top managers and owners of firms. Suggestive evidence indicates that access to finance and corruption are pathways by which legal gender disparities disempower women in the labor market.
format Working Paper
author Islam, Asif
Muzi, Silvia
Amin, Mohammad
author_facet Islam, Asif
Muzi, Silvia
Amin, Mohammad
author_sort Islam, Asif
title Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
title_short Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
title_full Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
title_fullStr Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
title_full_unstemmed Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
title_sort unequal laws and the disempowerment of women in the labor market : evidence from firm-level data
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/454601505997236193/Unequal-laws-and-the-disempowerment-of-women-in-the-labor-market-evidence-from-firm-level-data
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28447
_version_ 1764466931268583424

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