男女格差について

世界銀行「女性、ビジネス、法律2020」

WBLと約される世界銀行の取組。ホームページにはこうある。

About Us
Women, Business and the Law (WBL) is a World Bank Group project collecting unique data on the laws and regulations that restrict women's economic opportunities.
OUR MISSION
When societies achieve gender equality, economies become more resilient. That's why Women, Business and the Law is committed to informing research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic opportunities and empowerment. Women, Business and the Law celebrates the progress made while emphasizing the work still to be done to ensure economic empowerment for all.

女性が平等に社会で活躍できれば経済はより強靭なものとなる。世界銀行はそれを念頭に定期的に各国の女性参画の状況をウォッチし、レポートに纏めている。今回、ここで取り上げるのは、2020年に出たレポートだ。
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/32639/9781464815324.pdf

冒頭のサマリーによると、

ーThe economies that improved the most are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, South Sudan, São Tomé and Príncipe, Bahrain, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Jordan, and Tunisia.
ーOn average, women have just three-fourths of the legal rights afforded to men.
With a recent reform to parental leave,
ーCanada joins seven other economies that score 100 on the Women, Business and the Law index: Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Sweden.

男女で違いがあるイメージの強い中東やアフリカ諸国ではこの解消に向けた取組が顕著になされている。一般に法律の保護は男性の3/4程度。3点目は、これは世界銀行で点数をつけて満点が100点なのだが、今まで7カ国だった100点のグループにカナダも参画した、ということだ。見て分かる通り、今までは全て欧州諸国だった。ちなみに、日本は81.9で先進国の中ではかなり下の方である。(p19)

１点目について、最も取組をしていると評価されたのがサウジアラビアだ。レポートにはこうある。(逆に言うと、最近までこういった規制があったと言うことだが…)

Saudi Arabia has made the biggest improvement in the index since 2017, increasing by 38.8 points. Reforms were enacted in six out of the eight indicators over the two-year period covered by the index. Under the Mobility indicator, Saudi Arabia made changes affecting a woman’s freedom of movement. For example, Saudi Arabian women no longer need permission from a male guardian to travel abroad or to obtain a passport. Saudi Arabia also amended the Civil Status Law to allow a woman to choose where to live in the same way as a man by removing a provision that made the husband’s home the default residence. In addition, a husband can no longer sue his wife for leaving the marital home. This has implications for the Marriage indicator because the law that required a woman to obey her husband was repealed.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia further criminalized sexual harassment in public and private sector employment. Groundbreaking reforms to allow women greater economic opportunity were also enacted in 2019. Legal amendments now protect women from discrimination in employment, including job advertisements and hiring, and prohibit employers from dismissing a woman during her entire pregnancy and maternity leave. Saudi Arabia also equalized the retirement age for women and men at 60 years, extending women’s working lives, earnings, and contributions. Finally, Saudi Arabia also encouraged women’s entrepreneurship by prohibiting gender-based discrimination in accessing financial services. These reforms build on other historic changes in Saudi Arabia, which in 2015 for the first time allowed women to vote and run as candidates in municipal elections and in 2017 gave women the right to drive.
These reforms are spurred by an understanding that women play an important role in moving Saudi Arabia closer to its “Vision 2030.” This ambitious plan to modernize the Saudi Arabian economy by diversifying it beyond oil and gas, promoting private sector growth, and supporting entrepreneurship also includes the goal of increasing women’s labor force participation from 22 percent to 30 percent. The Women, Business and the Law index provides a list of the remaining legal constraints on women’s participation in the economy, which, if addressed, could increase their economic contribution in Saudi Arabia.

世界経済フォーラム「国際男女格差レポート2020」

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf
日本のランクが先進国でダントツに低いことでも話題になったレポート。

Iceland is once again the most gender-equal country in the world for the 11th time in a row. It has closed almost 88% of its overall gender gap, further improving since last year. Iceland is followed by Norway (2nd, 84.2%), Finland (3rd, 83.2%) and Sweden (4th, 82.0%). Other economies in the top 10 include Nicaragua (5th, 80.4%), New Zealand (6th, 79.9%), Ireland (7th, 79.8%), Spain (8th, 79.5%), Rwanda (9th, 79.1%) and Germany (10th, 78.7%).

ジェンダーフリーという観点ではアイスランドがこのレポートでは一位。北欧諸国を筆頭に欧州諸国が多く見られるが、ニュージーランドの他、ニカラグアやルワンダがトップ10にランクインしている。なお、悪い方は以下の通り。

The top five most-improved countries in the overall index this year (Ethiopia, Spain, Mali, Albania, and Mexico) have all closed their gaps by 3.4 percentage points or more, and they all share a substantial increase in women’s presence in political institutions. When it comes to Economic Participation and Opportunity, some countries improve their score compared to last edition. Among them, the most improved (Cape Verde, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Indonesia) improved their performance by 5 percentage points or more. Further, this year the 153 countries covered by the report include four new entrants: Trinidad and Tobago (24th), Zambia (45th), Vanuatu (126th) and Papua New Guinea (127th).