WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2022
FIGURE 3.7 | C ORRELATION BETWEEN LEGAL INDEX AND SUPPORTIVE FRAMEWORK AND EXPERT OPINION SCORES, BY REGION a. Correlation with the supportive framework score
b. Correlation with the expert opinion score
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100 Supportive framework score = WBL legal index score
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Expert opinion score = WBL legal index score
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Expert opinion score (0–100)
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60 y = 0.31x + 43.32 t-stat = 2.35 40
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y = 0.64x − 0.53 t-stat = 5.51
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WBL legal index score (0–100)
WBL legal index score (0–100) East Asia and Pacific
Europe and Central Asia
OECD high income
Middle East and North Africa
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America and the Caribbean
Source: Women, Business and the Law (WBL) database. Note: The figure depicts two correlations: (1) between the supportive framework and legal index scores and (2) between the expert opinion and legal index scores. Each point represents a single economy. A fitted regression line is also included. The relationship remains positive and statistically significant after controlling for income per capita. A 45-degree line (in green) is also included for ease of comparability. OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
the correlation suggests that any gender equality promised by the law is distinct from equality in practice. The state of gender equality on the ground is thus different than the laws on the books. The results, while only preliminary, confirm that laws alone are not enough to improve gender equality, indicating that these gaps should be explored further. More work is needed to advance not only the implementation and enforcement of the law, but also the attitudes that shape the operation of laws each day. In particular, Pay and Pension require better implementation across both the supportive framework and expert opinion pilots.
Addressing challenges and moving forward While the data presented in this chapter contain interesting results, they constitute only the first attempt by Women, Business and the Law to study how laws are executed. Although they provide valuable observations and identify trends, these methods of studying implementation and enforcement of the law must be vetted more vigorously. Neither the questions included in the supportive framework and expert opinion pilots
