Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
Institutions are defined as the set of rules that govern human interactions. When these rules are discriminatory, they may disempower segments of a population in the economic spheres of activity. This study explores whether laws that discriminate a...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/454601505997236193/Unequal-laws-and-the-disempowerment-of-women-in-the-labor-market-evidence-from-firm-level-data http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28447 |
| Summary: | Institutions are defined as the set of
rules that govern human interactions. When these rules are
discriminatory, they may disempower segments of a population
in the economic spheres of activity. This study explores
whether laws that discriminate against women influence their
engagement in the economy. The study adopts a holistic
approach, exploring an overall measure of unequal laws also
known as legal gender disparities, and relates it to several
labor market outcomes for women. Using data for more than
60,000 firms across 104 economies, the study finds that
unequal laws not only discourage women's participation
in the private sector workforce, but also their likelihood
to become top managers and owners of firms. Suggestive
evidence indicates that access to finance and corruption are
pathways by which legal gender disparities disempower women
in the labor market. |
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