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WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE LAW 2022
TABLE 1.7
NUMBER OF ECONOMIES WITH LEGAL CONSTRAINTS RELATED TO MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE
Question
Number of economies with a “no” response
1. Is there no legal provision that requires a married woman to obey her husband?
17
2. Can a woman be head of household in the same way as a man?
28
3. Is there legislation specifically addressing domestic violence?
30
4. Can a woman obtain a judgment of divorce in the same way as a man?
46
5. Does a woman have the same rights to remarry as a man?
68
Number of economies with at least one “no” response
89
Source: Women, Business and the Law database.
of the household and the children.” The provision requiring a husband to protect his wife and a wife to obey him was also amended: a married woman is no longer legally required to obey her husband in Gabon. Following a period of advocacy work guided by the government’s objective of addressing gender-based violence—and domestic violence in particular—Gabon enacted its first national law on the elimination of violence against women in September 2021. This new law targets physical, sexual, psychological, and economic forms of abuse. It provides criminal penalties for violent crimes committed against women and enumerates harsher punishment for domestic violence. The law also requires protection orders for victims of violence to be delivered within two days after receipt of a complaint. A protection order prohibits an abusive partner from committing further acts of family violence and is intended to deter repeat incidents of physical and psychological abuse. Although most countries allow victims of domestic violence to obtain a protection order, only 30 economies allow survivors to obtain one immediately or within 24 hours. In 25 economies, it takes between two and seven days, in 19 economies it takes more than seven days, and in all other economies (116), no clear time frame is specified. The Arab Republic of Egypt also enacted legislation on domestic violence for the first time. Egypt’s National Strategy for Empowering Egyptian Women 2030 drives the country’s policies on women’s empowerment and equality. In 2021, this strategy resulted in the prime minister issuing Decree No. 827/2021 to establish a one-stop shop for protecting women victims of violence. Such legislation will surely save lives: a recent analysis of 159 economies finds that domestic violence laws are associated with a women-to-men mortality ratio that is 2.3 percent lower than the mean value (Amin, Islam, and Lopez-Claros 2021).
Parenthood The Parenthood indicator examines laws affecting women’s work during and after pregnancy (table 1.8), including paid leave and laws prohibiting firms from dismissing workers because they are pregnant. A study of 159 countries finds that female labor force participation is positively correlated with the length of maternity leave, if under 30 weeks (Del Rey, Kyriacou, and Silva 2021). Paid leave—whether maternity, paternity, or parental leave—encourages fathers to contribute more equitably to household responsibilities from the start of
