Accelerating Gender Equality Through Reforming Legal Frameworks

This thematic note emphasizes the role of laws and regulations in safeguarding women's economic opportunities, for the purpose of informing the update of the World Bank Group's Gender Strategy. The note demonstrates the importance of legal gender equality and draws on data and analysis from the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law initiative and other evidence to explore legal barriers that hinder women's economic participation and showcase successful reforms. It also offers examples of how World Bank projects have addressed legal frameworks toward gender equality and concludes with proposals for future areas of operational focus and research