Women, business and the law: measuring legal gender parity for entrepreneurs and workers
Purpose – Given the importance of legal parity between women and men in today's world and lack of research in this domain, the purpose of this paper is to identify gender‐based distinctions in formal laws and institutions that may directly or indirectly affect women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees.Design/methodology/approach – Covering 128 economies, it establishes six indicators of gender differences in formal laws and institutions: accessing institutions; using property; getting a job; dealing with taxes; building credit; and going to court. The first three indicators capture laws that have direct gender dimensions and are based on a reading of such laws from the perspective of individual women. The fourth indicator examines the direct and indirect gender implications of tax policy from the perspective of four standardised families with varying tax liabilities. The last two indicators examine the ease of access to credit bureaus and courts to examine the indirect effects that microfinance ins...