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Property Inheritance

Gender-based disparity exists in Bangladesh

Says WB study

27 September 2011, 18:00 PM

METROPOLITAN

Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh is among 26 countries that differentiate between women and men when it comes to inheritance rights of property, according to a joint study of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. The study report released yesterday says all economies in high-income Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and in Eastern Europe and Central Asia grant equal rights to men and women with regard to property ownership and inheritance. In Latin America and the Caribbean, all economies grant equal rights to inheritance, and in the majority of economies, married men and married women have equal rights to property. In East Asia and the Pacific, only the Philippines restricts the property rights of married women. In Sub-Saharan Africa, four economies do so (Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Côte d'Ivoire). Inheritance rights in 26 nations differentiate between women and men, including all countries in the Middle East and North Africa, seven in Sub-Saharan Africa (Burundi, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania), three in South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan), and two in East Asia and the Pacific (Indonesia and Malaysia). Bangladesh has been also placed among 75 countries that provide small claims courts, making dispute resolution for minor claims easier. Of the countries surveyed, only 75 economies have small claims courts or fast-track procedures for claims of a smaller value, says the report. The report “Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion” finds that women still face legal and regulatory hurdles to fully participate in the economy. It finds that while 36 economies reduced legal differences between men and women, 103 out of 141 economies studied still impose legal differences on the basis of gender in at least one of the report's key indicators. The report also identifies 41 law and regulatory reforms enacted between June 2009 and March 2011 that could enhance women's economic opportunities. Globally, women represent 49.6 percent of the population but only 40.8 percent of the workforce in the formal sector. Legal differences between men and women may explain this gap. The report shows that economies with greater legal differentiation between men and women have, on average, lower female participation in the formal labour force. “Competitiveness and productivity have much to do with the efficient allocation of resources, including human resources,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, director, global indicators and analysis of World Bank Group. “The economy suffers when half of the world's population is prevented from fully participating. It is certainly no surprise that the world's most competitive economies are those where the opportunity gap between women and men is the narrowest.” The report measures such things as a woman's ability to sign a contract, travel abroad, manage property, and interact with public authorities and the private sector. In all economies, married women face more legal differentiations than unmarried women. In 23 economies, married women cannot legally choose where to live, and in 29 they cannot be legally recognised as head of household. Every region includes economies with unequal rules for men and women, although the extent of the inequality varies widely. On average, high-income economies have fewer differences than middle- and low-income economies. The Middle East and North Africa have the most legal differences between men and women, followed by South Asia and Africa. The project measures how regulations and institutions differentiate between women and men in ways that may affect women's incentives or capacity to work or to set up and run a business. Women, Business and the Law objectively measures such legal differentiations on the basis of gender in 141 economies around the world, covering six areas -- accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit, and going to court. By measuring where the law treats men and women differently, Women, Business and the Law sheds lights on how women's incentives or capacity to work are affected by the legal environment. And what gets measured gets done, said the study report.