Women, Business and the Law: Driving Gender Equality and Economic Empowerment
The Women, Business and the Law (WBL) team invites collaboration from public and private sector experts on data collection and dissemination to help create jobs for women and boost economic growth globally. Over the past year, the Women, Business and the Law team has focused on enhancing its strategic direction to ensure the quality, scope, and impact of future reports. To achieve this objective, the team has published three foundational documents:
- Women, Business and the Law Concept Note defines the project objectives and approach to ensure quality, credibility, and relevance of the data and reports.
- Women, Business and the Law Methodology Handbook details the measurement methodology, as refined through active consultations with experts and rigorous research.
- Women, Business and the Law Manual and Guide outlines the project’s operational procedures, protocols, and safeguards, including modernized IT systems, to ensure the integrity, transparency, and quality of its measurements.
Methodology and Strategic Milestones
For more details on the project milestones, please note that the next WBL report is expected to be published in March 2026. If you are a private sector expert interested in contributing, please refer to the expert contributors page for more information. Additionally, for the first time, governments are invited to nominate focal points to coordinate the completion of questionnaires.
The following table summarizes key resources and data tools provided by the project:
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Methodology Workshop Recordings | Access video recordings for each session and topic. Slides are available in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. |
| WBL 2.0 Economy Snapshots | Studies capturing differences on how laws, regulations, and policies affect women’s economic opportunities and private sector development. |
| Subnational Data | Data from various regions that inform legal and policy reform across all levels of government. |
Analyzing Legal and Policy Barriers
New data show massive, wider-than-expected global gender gap. For the first time, Women, Business and the Law analyzes not only the pace of legal reforms to create equal economic opportunities for women, but also countries’ efforts to implement those laws. The project produces in-depth studies capturing differences on how laws, regulations, and policies affect women’s economic opportunities within a single economy.
Tax and Gender Budgeting
Women, Business and the Law presents pilot data on how gender is integrated into two key fiscal policy tools—tax and public spending—that drive growth and reduce poverty. These indicators provide information on how national fiscal frameworks embed gender into law, policy, and practice, creating a foundation for future work to assess the real-world impact of tax and spending reforms on gender equality.
Representation and Economic Growth
The Representation Matters 2025 Report highlights the impact of women’s political representation on economic growth. Countries with more women in political office pass more laws enhancing women’s economic rights (as measured by the Women, Business and the Law index), boosting female labor force participation and economic growth. Discover how equal opportunity for women can unlock global economic growth, as investing in women's rights benefits us all—socially and economically.
Real-World Stories and Engagement
The Women, Business and the Law project uses legal data and real-world stories to illustrate women's economic opportunities and lift entire nations. For example, the Voice from Brazilian Women Entrepreneurs spotlights women entrepreneurs in Brazil: their stories, the challenges they face, and the reforms needed to help them thrive. These stories bring to life what the Women, Business and the Law data show: behind every data point is a woman building, leading, and transforming her community.
During the 2024 IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings, WBL team members demonstrated how policymakers, civil society representatives and researchers may use Women, Business and the Law data to advance women's economic empowerment with legal, policy, and institutional reform.