Women, Business and the Law 2026

On 24^th February 2026, the World Bank released its ‘Women, Business and the Law 2026’ report.

• The report is the eleventh edition of a global study that assesses the enabling environment for women’s economic opportunity across 190 economies.
• This edition uses the WBL 2.0 framework, which benchmarks three pillars:
  1. Legal Frameworks (the laws),
  2. Supportive Frameworks (policies and services), and
  3. Enforcement Perceptions (how laws are applied in reality).

Major Findings

• Legal equality remains out of reach for every woman in the world.
  • Only 4% of women live in countries close to full legal equality.
• None of the 190 economies assessed grants women equal economic opportunities.
  • Women ....