In most countries of the 알바구인 world, certain jobs are legally restricted to men alone, with women forbidden. Today, however, some countries still prohibit women from some jobs, despite the trend toward greater equality. Such laws were ultimately struck down or found to be unconstitutional in the U.S., and in the rest of the world, there are 104 countries that still have laws that prevent women from working in specific jobs.
In 29 countries, women cannot legally work in the evening, imposing yet another set of restrictions on any work involving nighttime or early-morning hours. With restrictions on where and when women may work, women are less likely to start businesses in countries without laws protecting them against workplace sexual harassment.
This is unfortunate, as Women, Business, and the Law found that where laws protecting women against sexual harassment in employment are in place, women are more likely to own majority stakes in businesses.
Women, Business and the Law finds that where legal restrictions on hiring women exist, less women are employed, and the gender wage gap is wider. For its 2018 edition, the World Bank publication Women, Business and the Law focused on legal restrictions on womens employment and found the gender pay gap exists in 104 out of 189 economies worldwide. The recently released 2018 edition of Women, Business and the Law by the World Bank found 19 countries worldwide have legally restricted womens ability to work in transportation as well as men.
A detailed World Bank 2016 report, Women, Business and the Law 2016, which exposes gender barriers in business and the law, found 100 out of 173 countries are blocking women from accessing the same economic opportunities as men. The World Bank said that 104 economies have labor laws restricting what kinds of jobs women are allowed to take, as well as when and where they are allowed to work.
In absolute numbers, this means more than 2.7 billion women are legally restricted from having the same job choices as men. Needless to say, that means women cannot get jobs like cab drivers, nor do they have access to jobs in myriad other industries.
Women are only half as likely to hold a full-time job compared with men, and those who do may make as little as a third less than their male peers. Although the wage gap is closing, women working full-time and part-time earn 85% of what their male peers make, according to Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, women in Russia make 30 percent less than men, on average, one of the highest pay gaps among industrialized nations.
In countries with occupational restrictions, women make 52% of what men make, compared to 64% in countries with no restrictions. Where these disparities in employment laws exist, there are fewer women working, and they are earning less than men.
If a pay gap exists between men and women, employers cannot level wages by cutting wages for those employees paid more. An employer may not pay women and men performing the same work in the same place differently due to gender.
Before the passage of this law, it was completely legal for an employer to outright decline to hire women. For instance, it was unlawful for a business to refuse to employ Muslim women, even though it employed other women and Muslim men. It is illegal gender discrimination for an employer to have a policy that prohibits or limits employment to married women, as long as that policy is not also applied to married men.
In 18 countries, husbands are legally entitled to bar their wives from working, and in four countries, women are barred from starting companies. It is 2017, but still there are 18 countries that do not permit women to work without the permission of their male relatives.
In 30%, women are not allowed to work at jobs considered dangerous, difficult, or morally wrong. Women are also more likely to be working from home, caring for ill children, or even leaving the workforce entirely to become caregivers.
This situation puts many women in a situation where they must choose between caring for their ill family members and keeping a job. Until paid leave is adopted across the United States–and federal efforts at doing this are many–many women can take time off to at least take care of their children, without the fear of losing their jobs.
One major contributing factor for the inability of these highly qualified women to rise to the top of their fields and receive equivalent compensation is the fact that the highest-paying jobs, such as in law and business, demand longer working weeks and punish taking leave. The mere fact that these types of jobs require these longer hours probably deters some women–and men–from entering these careers. The restrictions on women in mining are particularly woeful, since this profession is listed among the nations “green card” professions — jobs that, in essence, guarantee employment after graduation, according to BBC.
While international attention has frequently focused on the driving ban for women in Saudi Arabia, it has frequently missed that women in a number of other countries are prohibited by law from doing some types of driving jobs.
In countries like Belize, Dominica, and Nigeria, women cannot work transporting goods or people at night, likely an outgrowth of colonial-era laws that were based on outmoded International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. The results, however, leave women working lower-paying jobs, doing little to address gender-based violence. The earnings gap between women and men, while smaller than years ago, is still substantial; women remain underrepresented in some industries and professions; and too many women struggle to balance their desire to work and have a family.
Speaking of protecting mothers, according to a World Bank study from 2021, Americas lack of laws on paternity leave, equal pay, and equal retirement means that it does not even make it into the top 30 countries offering women full legal equality with men.