World Bank index on the life cycle of working women

Context: Recently, India scored 74.4 on the World Bank index on the life cycle of working women.

About the World Bank index on the life cycle of working women:

• The Index is an annual study conducted by the World Bank that measures the laws and regulations affecting women’s economic opportunities across 190 economies.
• The Index considers eight indicators measuring women’s interactions with the Law during their business. These are:
  • Mobility
  • Workplace
  • Pay
  • Marriage
  • Parenthood
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Assets
  • Pension.
• The index is divided into three categories:

• Starting a job,
• During employment, and
• After employment.
• Each category includes a set of indicators that measure the specific challenges and opportunities faced by women at different stages of their careers.
• Objective : The purpose of the index is to provide policymakers and stakeholders with data and insights that can be used to inform policies and programs aimed at improving women’s economic opportunities and outcomes.

India’s performance:

• India has scored 4 out of 100 in the World Bank Index on the life cycle of working women, which measures factors like laws, regulations, and practices affecting women’s economic participation.
• This score places India at 140th out of 190 countries surveyed in the index.
• India’s score on the index that assesses the life cycle of the working woman dropped to 74.4.
• In the 2023 index only 14 (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, etc) economies scored a perfect 100.
• The primary reason for this was that the laws concerning wages and pensions were not providing equality among men and women.
• India’s score was above the regional average for South Asia (63.7) but lower than that of Nepal (80.6), which was the highest in the region.

Source: THE HINDU

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) Which one of the following issues the ‘Global Economic Prospects’ report periodically? (2015)

1. The Asian Development Bank
2. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
3. The US Federal Reserve Bank
4. The World Bank

Q.2) India’s ranking in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following has declared that ranking? (2016)

1. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
2. World Economic Forum
3. World Bank
4. World Trade Organization (WTO)