It's a Man's World, Business Study Finds

(March 17) -- In most of the world, discrimination against women in business isn't just a bad idea -- it's the law.

A World Bank study of business laws related to women in 128 countries found that in only 20 are men and women equal when it comes to using and owning property, getting loans, accessing courts and obtaining jobs in all or some industries.

From the Democratic Republic of Congo, where wives need their husbands' permission to sign a contract, to Russia, where women are banned from working underground or in "unhealthy" professions, women lack equal opportunities to earn money for themselves and their families.

"For men and women throughout the developing world, the chance to start and run a business or to get a good job is the surest hope of a way out of poverty," said Janamitra Devan, vice president for financial and private-sector development at the World Bank. "But how to be sure that as governments improve business regulation, women entrepreneurs and workers benefit alongside men?"

The report outlines just how the legal constraints on potential female entrepreneurs and employees keep them from starting businesses and navigating the workforce, and that's without taking into account the equal-pay issues, obstacles to education and cultural customs that often make women subservient and amount to de facto discrimination.

The legal labor rights of women are largely determined by geography. Of the 20 countries that don't have discriminatory laws on their books, only one, Botswana, is in sub-Saharan Africa; two -- China's Hong Kong territory and Taiwan -- are in Asia; and four are in Latin America and the Caribbean. The rest are richer countries like the United States, Canada, Britain and some other European nations, including the Nordic countries.

But "every region contains economies with unequal rules for men and women," the World Bank says. And even economic success doesn't prevent it.

Italy, one of the world's riches countries, is among those where nursing mothers aren't allowed to work in the same industries and with the same hours as men. Italian women are also expected by law to retire at an earlier age than men.

Belgium, like Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan and most countries in the Middle East, bans women from working in some industries.

Also in the Middle East, as well as in Chile, Jamaica, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, women aren't seen as equal to men before the law, and married women lack legal equality with married men.

The World Bank points out that previous studies have shown a strong association between women's independent earnings and the well-being of families and communities as a whole, and that higher income for women and access to and control over their resources usually improve their children's chances of having better health and nutrition.

The report also notes that "the majority of countries covered in this study grant equal rights under their national constitutions, making many of the gender differentiated provisions highlighted throughout the report unconstitutional." That says a lot about the rule of law in countries that legally discriminate against women.

And the World Bank adds that only three of the countries covered by the report are not party to the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which means the women in those countries should have access to formal equality.

And the three countries that are not a party to the treaty? They are Iran, Sudan and the United States.