East Asia & Pacific | Women Business and the Law Index Score (scale 1-100)
The index measures how laws and regulations affect women’s economic opportunity. Overall scores are calculated by taking the average score of each index (Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets and Pension), with 100 representing the highest possible score. Development relevance: The knowledge and analysis provided by Women, Business and the Law make a strong economic case for laws that empower women. Better performance in the areas measured by the Women, Business and the Law index is associated with more women in the labor force and with higher income and improved development outcomes. Equality before the law and of economic opportunity are not only wise social policy but also good economic policy. The equal participation of women and men will give every economy a chance to achieve its potential. Given the economic significance of women's empowerment, the ultimate goal of Women, Business and the Law is to encourage governments to reform laws that hold women back from working and doing business. Limitations and exceptions: The Women, Business and the Law methodology has limitations that should be considered when interpreting the data. All eight indicators are based on standardized assumptions to ensure comparability across economies. Comparability is one of the strengths of the data, but the assumptions can also be limitations as they may not capture all restrictions or represent all particularities in a country. It is assumed that the woman resides in the economy's main business city. In federal economies, laws affecting women can vary by state or province. Even in nonfederal economies, women in rural areas and small towns could face more restrictive local legislation. Such restrictions are not captured by Women, Business and the Law unless they are also found in the main business city. The woman has reached the legal age of majority and is capable of making decisions as an adult, is in good health and has no criminal record. She is a lawful citizen of the economy being examined, and she works as a cashier in the food retail sector in a supermarket or grocery store that has 60 employees. She is a cisgender, heterosexual woman in a monogamous first marriage registered with the appropriate authorities (de facto marriages and customary unions are not measured), she is of the same religion as her husband, and is in a marriage under the rules of the default marital property regime, or the most common regime for that jurisdiction, which will not change during the course of the marriage. She is not a member of a union, unless membership is mandatory. Membership is considered mandatory when collective bargaining agreements cover more than 50 percent of the workforce in the food retail sector and when they apply to individuals who were not party to the original collective bargaining agreement. Where personal law prescribes different rights and obligations for different groups of women, the data focus on the most populous group, which may mean that restrictions that apply only to minority populations are missed. Women, Business and the Law focuses solely on the ways in which the formal legal and regulatory environment determines whether women can work or open their own businesses. The data set is constructed using laws and regulations that are codified (de jure) and currently in force, therefore implementation of laws (de facto) is not measured. The data looks only at laws that apply to the private sector. These assumptions can limit the representativeness of the data for the entire population in each country. Finally, Women, Business and the Law recognizes that the laws it measures do not apply to all women in the same way. Women face intersectional forms of discrimination based on gender, sex, sexuality, race, gender identity, religion, family status, ethnicity, nationality, disability, and a myriad of other grounds. Women, Business and the Law therefore encourages readers to interpret the data in conjunction with other available research. Statistical concept and methodology: Women, Business and the Law tracks progress toward legal equality between men and women in 190 economies. Data are collected with standardized questionnaires to ensure comparability across economies. Questionnaires are administered to over 2,000 respondents with expertise in family, labor, and criminal law, including lawyers, judges, academics, and members of civil society organizations working on gender issues. Respondents provide responses to the questionnaires and references to relevant laws and regulations. The Women, Business and the Law team collects the texts of these codified sources of national law - constitutions, codes, laws, statutes, rules, regulations, and procedures - and checks questionnaire responses for accuracy. Thirty-five data points are scored across eight indicators of four or five binary questions, with each indicator representing a different phase of a woman’s career. Indicator-level scores are obtained by calculating the unweighted average of the questions within that indicator and scaling the result to 100. Overall scores are then calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 representing the highest possible score.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
East Asia & Pacific
Records
63
Source
East Asia & Pacific | Women Business and the Law Index Score (scale 1-100)
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970 48.36206897
1971 48.44827586
1972 48.6637931
1973 49.48275862
1974 50.49568966
1975 50.49568966
1976 50.68965517
1977 51.42241379
1978 51.74568966
1979 51.85344828
1980 51.85344828
1981 52.24137931
1982 52.67241379
1983 52.78017241
1984 53.10344828
1985 53.38362069
1986 53.55603448
1987 53.94396552
1988 54.78448276
1989 55.0862069
1990 55.5387931
1991 56.20689655
1992 56.31465517
1993 56.31465517
1994 56.81034483
1995 57.56465517
1996 58.18965517
1997 59.11637931
1998 59.56896552
1999 60.30172414
2000 60.79741379
2001 60.88362069
2002 62.04741379
2003 62.54310345
2004 63.16810345
2005 63.51293103
2006 63.98706897
2007 64.41810345
2008 65.60344828
2009 66.14224138
2010 66.74568966
2011 67.71551724
2012 69.20258621
2013 70.56034483
2014 71.50862069
2015 71.875
2016 72.67241379
2017 72.84482759
2018 73.125
2019 73.40517241
2020 74.05172414
2021 74.4612069
2022 74.95689655
East Asia & Pacific | Women Business and the Law Index Score (scale 1-100)
The index measures how laws and regulations affect women’s economic opportunity. Overall scores are calculated by taking the average score of each index (Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets and Pension), with 100 representing the highest possible score. Development relevance: The knowledge and analysis provided by Women, Business and the Law make a strong economic case for laws that empower women. Better performance in the areas measured by the Women, Business and the Law index is associated with more women in the labor force and with higher income and improved development outcomes. Equality before the law and of economic opportunity are not only wise social policy but also good economic policy. The equal participation of women and men will give every economy a chance to achieve its potential. Given the economic significance of women's empowerment, the ultimate goal of Women, Business and the Law is to encourage governments to reform laws that hold women back from working and doing business. Limitations and exceptions: The Women, Business and the Law methodology has limitations that should be considered when interpreting the data. All eight indicators are based on standardized assumptions to ensure comparability across economies. Comparability is one of the strengths of the data, but the assumptions can also be limitations as they may not capture all restrictions or represent all particularities in a country. It is assumed that the woman resides in the economy's main business city. In federal economies, laws affecting women can vary by state or province. Even in nonfederal economies, women in rural areas and small towns could face more restrictive local legislation. Such restrictions are not captured by Women, Business and the Law unless they are also found in the main business city. The woman has reached the legal age of majority and is capable of making decisions as an adult, is in good health and has no criminal record. She is a lawful citizen of the economy being examined, and she works as a cashier in the food retail sector in a supermarket or grocery store that has 60 employees. She is a cisgender, heterosexual woman in a monogamous first marriage registered with the appropriate authorities (de facto marriages and customary unions are not measured), she is of the same religion as her husband, and is in a marriage under the rules of the default marital property regime, or the most common regime for that jurisdiction, which will not change during the course of the marriage. She is not a member of a union, unless membership is mandatory. Membership is considered mandatory when collective bargaining agreements cover more than 50 percent of the workforce in the food retail sector and when they apply to individuals who were not party to the original collective bargaining agreement. Where personal law prescribes different rights and obligations for different groups of women, the data focus on the most populous group, which may mean that restrictions that apply only to minority populations are missed. Women, Business and the Law focuses solely on the ways in which the formal legal and regulatory environment determines whether women can work or open their own businesses. The data set is constructed using laws and regulations that are codified (de jure) and currently in force, therefore implementation of laws (de facto) is not measured. The data looks only at laws that apply to the private sector. These assumptions can limit the representativeness of the data for the entire population in each country. Finally, Women, Business and the Law recognizes that the laws it measures do not apply to all women in the same way. Women face intersectional forms of discrimination based on gender, sex, sexuality, race, gender identity, religion, family status, ethnicity, nationality, disability, and a myriad of other grounds. Women, Business and the Law therefore encourages readers to interpret the data in conjunction with other available research. Statistical concept and methodology: Women, Business and the Law tracks progress toward legal equality between men and women in 190 economies. Data are collected with standardized questionnaires to ensure comparability across economies. Questionnaires are administered to over 2,000 respondents with expertise in family, labor, and criminal law, including lawyers, judges, academics, and members of civil society organizations working on gender issues. Respondents provide responses to the questionnaires and references to relevant laws and regulations. The Women, Business and the Law team collects the texts of these codified sources of national law - constitutions, codes, laws, statutes, rules, regulations, and procedures - and checks questionnaire responses for accuracy. Thirty-five data points are scored across eight indicators of four or five binary questions, with each indicator representing a different phase of a woman’s career. Indicator-level scores are obtained by calculating the unweighted average of the questions within that indicator and scaling the result to 100. Overall scores are then calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 representing the highest possible score.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
East Asia & Pacific
Records
63
Source