Women still discriminated in the workplace in many countries - report

Women still have less employment rights and are treated worse than men in many countries, according to the latest report “Women, business and the law 2021” published by the World Bank. Although the situation for women has improved year on year and in some states, especially highly-developed ones, they now enjoy the same range of employment rights as men, at a global level women still have 75% of legal rights compared to men, the report noted.

There are still areas where women are particularly discriminated against, especially in terms of reproduction policy, the report specified, with as many as 38 out of 190 economies continuing to fire pregnant women. Only two regions ensure the full legal protection of pregnant women in the workplace – OECD high-income, Europe, and Central Asia, where they cannot be fired when pregnant. This is also the case in 50% of the economies of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, 44% of the economies in East Asia and the Pacific, 21% of sub-Saharan Africa, and 9% of the economies in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Women tend to be fired during the early stages of pregnancy before they can take maternity leave thus jeopardizing their economic stability when they need it the most. The report noted that even in countries where it is legally prohibited to dismiss pregnant women, they still experience discrimination, that is, in one-fifth of the global economies. Moreover, pregnant workers very often experience discriminatory action and behavior such as promotion blocks and redundancy as well as decreases in pay or job assignments.

In terms of ranking, the World Bank pointed out that 10 economies ensure the best practices and full equality on the job market for women – Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Sweden as they scored 100 in Women, Business and the Law 2021 Index. The 10 worst countries for women on the employment market are West Bank of Gaza (26.3), Yemen (26.9), Kuwait (28.8), Sudan (29.4), Qatar (29.4), Iran (31.3), Oman (29.4), Syria (36.9), Afghanistan (38.1) and Guinea-Bissau (42.5). The index found that the worst positions in terms of equal rights on the employment market are in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and the best are in developed OECD countries.

The publication also revealed that since 2019, 27 states from all over the world have introduced reforms that have enhanced gender equality with the majority of the changes having taken place in the Middle East, North Africa, and OECD states. Some countries also decided to lift restrictions related to the professions that can be followed by women. Bahrain, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam removed the restrictions that banned women from finding employment in professions perceived to be dangerous for women with Montenegro and Saudi Arabia now allowing women to find jobs in such industries as mining, construction, and manufacturing which had previously been reserved for men alone.