Women's Economic Rights

QoG code: ciri_wecon

Women’s economic rights include a number of internationally recognized rights. These rights
include:

  • Equal pay for equal work
  • The right to free choice of gainful employment or profession without the need to obtain a
    husband or male relative's consent
  • Equality in hiring and promotion practices
  • Job security (maternity leave, unemployment benefits, no arbitrary firing or layoffs, etc.)
  • Non-discrimination by employers
  • The right to be free from sexual harassment in the workplace
  • The right to work at night
  • The right to work in occupations classified as dangerous, including the military and police
    force.

In measuring women’s economic rights the authors are primarily interested in two things: 1) the extensiveness of laws pertaining to women’s economic rights; 2) government practices towards
women or how effectively the government enforces the laws.

Scoring Scheme:
Regarding the economic equality of women:
(0) There are no economic rights for women under law and systematic discrimination based on sex
may be built into the law. The government tolerates a high level of discrimination against women.
(1) There are some economic rights for women under law; however, in practice, the government
does not enforce the laws effectively or enforcement of laws is weak. The government tolerates a
moderate level of discrimination against women.
(2) There are some economic rights for women under law. In practice, the government does enforce
these laws effectively. However, the government still tolerates a low level of discrimination against
women.
(3) All or nearly all of women's economic rights are guaranteed by law. In practice, the government
fully and vigorously enforces these laws. The government tolerates no or almost no discrimination
against women.

Type of variable
Categorical
Downloaded by QoG on
2025-12-02
Last updated by source
2024-12-10
Details of this variable in our compilation datasets
Dataset No. Countries
Standard cross-section 193
Standard time-series 196
OECD cross-section 32
OECD time-series 32
Dataset Available for years
Standard time-series 1981-2022
OECD time-series 1981-2022

Country coverage

Click here to see the full list of countries
  • Afghanistan
  • Albania
  • Algeria
  • Andorra
  • Angola
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Argentina
  • Armenia
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Belize
  • Benin
  • Bhutan
  • Bolivia
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Botswana
  • Brazil
  • Brunei
  • Bulgaria
  • Burkina Faso
  • Burundi
  • Cambodia
  • Cameroon
  • Canada
  • Cape Verde
  • Central African Republic
  • Chad
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Comoros
  • Congo
  • Congo, Democratic Republic
  • Costa Rica
  • Cote d'Ivoire
  • Croatia
  • Cuba
  • Cyprus (1975-)
  • Czech Republic
  • Czechoslovakia
  • Denmark
  • Djibouti
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Egypt
  • El Salvador
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Eritrea
  • Estonia
  • Eswatini (former Swaziland)
  • Ethiopia (1993-)
  • Fiji
  • Finland
  • France (1963-)
  • Gabon
  • Gambia
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Ghana
  • Greece
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala
  • Guinea
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Guyana
  • Haiti
  • Honduras
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Jamaica
  • Japan
  • Jordan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kenya
  • Kiribati
  • Korea, North
  • Korea, South
  • Kuwait
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Laos
  • Latvia
  • Lebanon
  • Lesotho
  • Liberia
  • Libya
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia (1966-)
  • Maldives
  • Mali
  • Malta
  • Mauritania
  • Mauritius
  • Mexico
  • Micronesia
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Mongolia
  • Montenegro
  • Morocco
  • Mozambique
  • Myanmar
  • Namibia
  • Nauru
  • Nepal
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Nicaragua
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • North Macedonia
  • Norway
  • Oman
  • Pakistan (1971-)
  • Palau
  • Panama
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Qatar
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Rwanda
  • Samoa
  • San Marino
  • Sao Tome and Principe
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Senegal
  • Serbia
  • Serbia and Montenegro
  • Seychelles
  • Sierra Leone
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Solomon Islands
  • Somalia
  • South Africa
  • South Sudan
  • Spain
  • Sri Lanka
  • St Kitts and Nevis
  • St Lucia
  • St Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Sudan (2012-)
  • Suriname
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Syria
  • Taiwan
  • Tajikistan
  • Tanzania
  • Thailand
  • Timor-Leste
  • Togo
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • Turkmenistan
  • Tuvalu
  • USSR
  • Uganda
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vanuatu
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Year coverage

This variable has information from 1981 to 2022.