New Initiative
Focuses on Opportunities for Women
Doing
Business has launched a two-year initiative to identify legal and regulatory
barriers facing businesswomen in 178 countries, and to advocate change.
Doing Business will form partnership with governments and women’s groups. The
primary objectives will be to:
- Identify laws and regulations that discriminate against
women.
- Investigate which reforms on business regulations have
the highest impact on opportunities for women. This research will utilize
data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys website, which has employment data on
women and data on women entrepreneurs.
- Prepare case studies of women entrepreneurs to describe
the reasons for their success and obstacles they faced.
"Doing
Business 2008 finds that the benefits of reforming business regulations and
leveling the playing field are especially significant for women," said IFC
Executive Vice President Lars Thunell on Oct. 19. "Countries with higher
rankings for the ease of doing business have more women entrepreneurs and more
women in the workforce. Reform is good for women and fuels development."
Payoffs from reform can be large. Higher rankings on the ease of doing business
are associated with more growth, more jobs and a smaller share of the economy
in the informal sector. The benefits are especially large for women. Countries
with higher scores on the ease of doing business have larger shares of women in
the ranks of both entrepreneurs and workers (see chart).
Women Entrepreneurs
Resources
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IFC Empowers Women by Promoting Entrepreneurship, Job
Creation, and Growth
Washington,
D.C., October 19, 2007 — Lars Thunell, IFC Executive Vice President and CEO,
today emphasized IFC’s commitment to creating opportunities in business and
access to jobs for women. Speaking at the USAID conference, “Empowering Women –
Promoting Growth,” Thunell announced a groundbreaking initiative led by IFC and
the World Bank’s Doing Business project. The team, in partnership with
governments and women’s groups, will identify legal and regulatory barriers
facing businesswomen in 178 countries and advocate change.
Each year IFC
and the World Bank publish the Doing Business report, which compares
regulations from around the world that affect the ease of doing business.
Higher country rankings are associated with growth, more jobs, and a smaller
number of businesses in the informal, unregulated sector.
“Doing
Business 2008 finds that the benefits of reforming business regulations and
leveling the playing field are especially significant for women,” said Thunell.
“Countries with higher rankings for the ease of doing business have more women
entrepreneurs and more women in the workforce. Reform is good for women and
fuels development.”
Thanks to the
new initiative, over the next two years Doing Business reports will
identify laws and regulations that discriminate against women. For example, in
the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, the law forbids women to work at night. To
start a business in the Democratic Republic of Congo, married women need their
husband’s consent and single women require a judge’s approval. In Yemen, a
woman is unable to travel abroad for business without her husband’s written
permission to obtain a passport and travel. In Lao PDR, women are banned from
performing certain types of manual work. In many African countries, women have
fewer inheritance rights than men, either by law or custom. Such obstacles
prevent women from realizing their economic potential, as well as constrain
economic development.
IFC supports
women’s participation in business as an important part of its mission to foster
sustainable private sector growth in developing countries. IFC creates
opportunities for women entrepreneurs, by providing financial products and
advisory services that help increase their access to finance, reduce
gender-based barriers in the business environment, and improve the
sustainability of IFC’s projects. In 2006, IFC made its first line of credit
dedicated to women, by providing funding to Access Bank in Nigeria to help ease
access to credit. The bank has extended $16.5 million in loans to 117
women entrepreneurs and a microfinance institution with a reach of 1,500 women.
In Uganda, IFC has worked with civil society to advocate a level playing field
for women regarding legal and regulatory issues in the private sector.
Doing
Business 2008
rankings are based on 10 business regulation indicators that track the time and
cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade,
taxation, and closure. The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic
policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions,
or crime rates. Since 2003 Doing Business has inspired or informed more
than 113 reforms around the world. For more information, visit www.doingbusiness.org.
About IFC
IFC, a member
of the World Bank Group, fosters sustainable economic growth in developing
countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing private capital in
local and international financial markets, and providing advisory and risk
mitigation services to businesses and governments. IFC’s vision is that poor
people have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives. In FY07,
IFC committed $8.2 billion and mobilized an additional $3.9 billion through
loan participations and structured finance for 299 investments in 69 developing
countries. IFC also provided advisory services in 97 countries. For more
information, visit www.ifc.org.
