Home topics news Credit: Juan Marin News News Women face unequal opportunities worldwide Yajush Gupta March 6, 2024 A recent report from the World Bank has shed light on the stark reality facing women in the workforce worldwide: no country offers them the same opportunities as men, with the global gender gap proving to be even wider than previously assumed. The report underscores the potential economic benefits of bridging this gap, suggesting that doing so could boost global gross domestic product by over 20%. Examining childcare and safety policies across 190 countries, the report found that women, on average, have only 64% of the legal protections enjoyed by men, a notable drop from the previous estimate of 77%. Tea Trumbic, the report’s author, emphasized how issues like childcare accessibility and safety concerns disproportionately affect women’s ability to work, with violence and childcare expenses serving as significant barriers. Furthermore, the report, now in its 10th edition, for the first time evaluates the gap between enacted laws and their actual implementation. Shockingly, it reveals that countries have established less than 40% of the necessary systems for full implementation on average. Despite progress, only 35 out of 95 countries with laws on equal pay have implemented measures to address the gender pay gap, where women globally earn just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. Sub-Saharan African countries like Togo, while boasting a high number of gender equality laws, struggle with effective implementation. The report underscores the importance of addressing childcare disparities,