A report released by the World Bank Group has alerted about a worsening of the gap in “gender inequality,” which has now hit its lowest point in 20 years across the globe.
The report entitled “Women, Business and the Law 2023”, studied all laws and rules that were passed or developed in 190 countries throughout the year 2022, taking into account eight areas that “affect women’s participation in the economic life cycle”, defining them in mobility, work, salary, marriage, motherhood, entrepreneurship, assets, and retirement.
The annual report, which deals with the economic and legal status of women around the world, relies on an index that measures progress in reforms for greater legal equality, concluding that it increased globally by only 0.5 points, to reach 77.1 points; “This means that women enjoy, on average, only 77 percent of the legal rights recognized as men,” the report adds.
According to the “Women, Business and the Law 2023” index, Morocco received a score estimated by the World Bank experts who contributed to the completion of the report at 75.6 points out of 100 as the highest score possible; The overall score is calculated by taking the average of each indicator from the aforementioned domains.
The same source pointed out that the data approved in 2023, confirmed the laws and regulations applied in the Kingdom’s economic capital (Casablanca), noting that there are ” different rules that may apply in other places, so the local legislation should be reviewed.”
Morocco’s overall score is “above the regional average” observed across the MENA region (53.2). The highest score was recorded in Malta, with a score of 91.3.
The World Bank recommended that Morocco adopt some areas to improve its status and classification regarding the economic and legal empowerment of women, specifically mentioning laws affecting women’s wages, restrictions related to marriage, laws affecting women’s work after having children, gender differences in ownership and inheritance, as well as laws affecting the amount of women’s pension.
In this regard, the report highlighted that “among the lowest indicators recorded in Morocco, the indicator measuring differences and gender disparities in property and inheritance (according to the sub-index for assets and property for the year 2022) stands out.”