American Economic Review: Insights
ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)
Gendered Laws and Women in the Workforce
American Economic Review: Insights
vol. 2,
no. 4, December 2020
(pp. 475–90)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This paper offers for the first time a global picture of gender discrimination by the law as it affects women's economic opportunity and charts the evolution of legal inequalities over five decades. Using the World Bank's newly constructed Women, Business and the Law database, we document large and persistent gender inequalities, especially with regard to pay and treatment of parenthood. We find positive correlations between more equal laws pertaining to women in the workforce and more equal labor market outcomes, such as higher female labor force participation and a smaller wage gap between men and women.Citation
Hyland, Marie, Simeon Djankov, and Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg. 2020. "Gendered Laws and Women in the Workforce." American Economic Review: Insights, 2 (4): 475–90. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20190542Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- J71 Labor Discrimination
- J78 Labor Discrimination: Public Policy
- K31 Labor Law
- K38 Human Rights Law; Gender Law