© Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Nana Kofi Acquah | Nurses at the Peki Government Hospital in Peki, Ghana | 2018
How legal rights to work support women's economic empowerment
Access to income and assets
Fewer restrictions on women’s basic rights to work are associated with higher female labor force participation
Women, business, and the law 2016: Getting to equal
An increase in the number of legal restrictions on women’s work was associated with a decrease in female labor force participation, after controlling for income per capita.
Iqbal et al. | 2016
Fair play: More equal laws boost female labor force participation
An analysis of six changes to women’s legal rights in Namibia (including the right to pursue a career) were associated with a 10 percent increase in women’s labor force participation in the decade that followed.
Gonzales et al. | 2015
The impact of protective measures for female workers
A case study exploring enforcement of limits on women’s hourly work in Taiwan found a 1 percent decrease in women’s employment following implementation of these restrictions.
Zveglich and Rodgers | 2003
Equal rights to work increase women's earning potential relative to men
Women, business, and the law 2016: Getting to equal
Wage gaps between women and men were more than 10 percent smaller in countries where there are no job restrictions on women's work.
Iqbal et al. | 2016
The impact of protective measures for female workers
In Taiwan, a 1984 law limiting women’s working hours reduced hours worked by 6 percent.
Zveglich and Rodgers | 2003