Women's Social Rights Laws

QoG code: ciri_wosoc_l

Women’s social rights include a number of internationally recognized rights. These rights include the following criteria:
- The right to equal inheritance
- The right to enter into marriage on a basis of equality with men
- The right to travel abroad
- The right to obtain a passport
- The right to confer citizenship to children or a spouse
- The right to initiate a divorce
- The right to own, acquire, manage, and retain property brought into marriage
- The right to participate in social, cultural, and community activities
- The right to an education
- The freedom to choose a residence/domicile
- Freedom from female genital mutilation (FGM) of children/adults without their consent
- Freedom from forced sterilization
- Freedom from child marriage (where the laws differ between boys and girls)
- Right to raise and make decisions regarding children with equal authority to men or
husbands

Scoring Scheme:
Regarding the country’s legal recognition of women’s social rights:
(0) There are no social rights for women under law and systematic discrimination based on sex may
be built into the law and/or if 5 or more of the above criteria are not adequately met.
(1) There are some social rights for women by law.
(2) Nearly all social rights for women are guaranteed by law
(3) All women’s social rights are guaranteed by law and/or all of the above criteria are met or are not
mentioned

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 192
Standard time-series 192
OECD cross-section 32
OECD time-series 32
Dataset Available for years
Standard time-series 2005-2022
OECD time-series 2005-2022

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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Uganda
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • Uruguay
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vanuatu
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Year coverage

This variable has information from 2005 to 2022.