Women, Business and the Law 2023 is the ninth in a series of annual studies measuring the laws that affect women’s
economic opportunity in 190 economies. The project presents eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they progress through their lives and careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood,
Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.

Women, Business and the Law 2023 identifies barriers to women’s economic participation and encourages the reform
of discriminatory laws. This year, the study also includes new research, a literature review, and analysis of 53 years
of reforms for women’s rights. The indicators build evidence of the critical relationship between legal gender equality
and women’s employment and entrepreneurship. By examining the economic decisions that women make throughout their working lives, as well as the progress made toward gender equality over the last 53 years,

Women, Business and the Law continues to make important contributions to research and policy discussions about the
state of women’s economic empowerment.
Data in Women, Business and the Law 2023 are current as of October 1, 2022.

he State of Women’s Legal Rights
Women, Business and the Law 2023 finds that the global Women, Business and the Law index average is 77.1 out of 100. Only 14 countries, all in the OECD, score 100—which means that women are on an equal legal standing with men across all eight areas measured: mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets, and pensions. This means that 2.4 billion women of working age do not have equal economic opportunity and 176 economies maintain legal barriers that prevent their full economic participation (figure 1). Countries cannot move forward if half of their citizens are held back.