Turkey falls behind Uganda in 'Women and the Law' index

The World Bank has published its 2024 Women, Business and the Law report. The report includes a ranking that measures the equality women have achieved in all their legal rights. Turkey ranks 89th in this index, behind Rwanda, Uganda, and Mozambique.

Like other countries, Turkey celebrates International Women's Day in the first week of March, but for women to realize their potential in every field they desire, they must be protected by legal systems equally with men. Unfortunately, this equality has not been achieved in most countries, with the exception of a few civilized nations.

According to the report by Özlem Ermiş Beyhan from Dünya Gazetesi, Turkey ranks 89th out of 190 countries examined in the World Bank's 2024 Women, Business and the Law report. In the ranking, which measures the protective power of the law in women's participation in the economy, Turkey falls behind countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique, and Fiji.

World Bank Chief Economist Indermit S. Gill stated in the foreword to the report, "Only 36 out of every 100 women in the world are under legal protection. The world cannot afford the cost of casting aside half of its population. Our daughters are ready to make the world a better place for all of us to live, but we need to get out of their way."

The report also examines, for the first time this year, the gap between the legal rights women have on paper and the actual rights they encounter in practice. Women do not even possess two-fifths of the rights offered to them on paper. In the workplace, women have only two-thirds of the rights that men have.

77 CENTS FOR EVERY DOLLAR

For example, while 98 out of 190 countries have laws mandating equal pay for equal work for women, only 35 countries have implemented this requirement. As a result, women earn on average only 77 cents for every 1 dollar earned by men globally.

The top 10 countries in the report were identified as Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, and Luxembourg.

With Atatürk's introduction of the Civil Code in 1926, Turkey had achieved equality in women's rights even before many developed countries. However, today, Turkey's score in women's legal rights is 82.5. Countries that surpass Turkey in the ranking include the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Guyana, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan, and Rwanda. Furthermore, Turkey's score in the supportive framework is much lower at 55.8. This score reveals the adequacy and functionality of legal regulations that ensure the support of women, especially in their participation in working life.

In the presentation of the World Bank report, it was stated that ending discriminatory laws and practices that prevent women from working or starting a business could increase global gross domestic product by more than 20%, which could double the global growth rate over the next 10 years.

The report stated that the obstacles women face in global workforce participation include barriers to starting a business, persistent wage gaps, and bans on working at night or in jobs considered "dangerous." Additionally, it was revealed that in the 190 countries examined, women have only one-third of the legal protection needed against domestic violence, sexual harassment, child marriage, and femicide.

The Women, Business and the Law report showed that women have, on average, only 64% of the legal protections that men have, a figure that does not reach the previously estimated 77%, and that no country—not even the wealthiest ones—provides true equality of opportunity.

In addition to areas such as pay, marriage, parenthood, the workplace, mobility, assets, entrepreneurship, and retirement, the report identified for the first time this year a "shocking" gap between policy and practice in countries. Security, entrepreneurship, and childcare were identified as the areas with the widest gaps between laws on paper and actual practice.