UAE tops MENA rankings in World Bank’s ‘Women, Business and the Law’ 2021 report

Dubai: The UAE has topped the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region rankings in the World Bank’s newly released 2021 ‘Women, Business and the Law’ (WBL) report.

The country’s ratings in the World Bank report saw a significant leap by virtue of ground-breaking legislative reforms implemented over the past few years.

Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, said the massive strides made by the UAE in the latest report are the result of new laws and more than 20 legislative reforms focused on enhancing women’s economic participation.

Sheikha Manal said these achievements are significant additions to the UAE’s scientific, economic and social accomplishments that are set to propel the country’s accelerated progress in the next fifty years.

Eight indicators

The UAE’s scores in the ‘Women, Business and the Law’ report saw marked increases as a result of legislative reforms related to women’s economic participation enacted over the last three years. Considered one of the most significant global indexes that analyses laws and regulations affecting women’s economic inclusion in 190 economies, the annual report is composed of eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they begin, progress through, and end their careers. The indicators are: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.

Over the past three years, the UAE amended more than 20 legal provisions related to employee benefits such as equal pay for equal value, parental leave, prohibition on firing pregnant women, and equal access to credit.

In the 2021 ‘Women, Business and the Law’ report, the UAE achieved 82.5 points out of a total of 100 points, compared to 56 points in the 2020 edition and 29 points in the 2019 edition. The UAE also achieved a full score (100 points) in five indicators in the latest report: Movement, Workplace, Wages, Entrepreneurship, and Pension.