Women, Business and the Law

Despite significant progress in improving women's legal status around the world, many laws remain in place that make it difficult for them to participate in economic life. Discriminatory rules bar women from certain jobs, restrict access to capital for women-owned firms and limit women's capacity to make legal decisions. Gender differences in laws affect both developing and developed economies, and women in all regions. The World Bank recently detailed the progress made in the past half century as well as the barriers that still remain in the Women, Business and the Law report. Melissa Johns, an advisor at the World Bank, will discuss the report and its implications for legal systems worldwide. For more information, please contact Brandon Rice at brandon.rice@duke.edu.