ISLAMABAD: Three in every 10 women of reproductive age — or 649 million women — have inadequate maternity protection that does not meet key requirements of the International Lab­o­­ur Organisation’s (ILO) Mater­nity Protec­tion Conven­tion, 2000, a report on Monday said.

Published on the eve of International Women’s Day, the ILO report “Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work” highlights that ‘persistent and significant gaps in care services and policies have left hundreds of millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support, yet meeting these needs could create almost 300 million jobs by 203l’.

More than 1.2 billion men of prime reproductive age live in countries with no entitlement to paternity leave, although it would help balance the work and family responsibilities of both mothers and fathers, the report says. “Where there is paternity leave it remains short — a global average of nine days — creating a large gender leave gap,” it added.

Meanwhile, a World Bank report published on Monday urged Pakistan to bring more reforms to improve legal equality for women. The report, “Women, Business and the Law 2022”, however, on a positive note, says Pakistan gets a perfect score when it comes to laws affecting women’s decisions to work.

World Bank notes Pakistan lifted restrictions on women’s ability to work at night

Mentioning recent reforms, the report says during the past year, from October 2020 to October 2021, Pakistan lifted restrictions on women’s ability to work at night. Pakistan does not allow women to register a business in the same way as men, points out the report.

While presenting an index covering 190 economies and structured around the life cycle of a working women, the report put the score for Pakistan 55.6 out of 100, which is lower than the regional average observed across South Asia.

Citing an example, the report says one of the lowest scores for Pakistan is on the indicator measuring laws affecting women’s work after having children. To improve the parenthood indicator, Pakistan may wish to consider making the government administer 100 per cent of maternity leave benefits, making paid leave available to fathers, making paid parental leave available, and prohibiting the dismissal of pregnant workers.

Within the South Asian region, the maximum score observed in Nepal was 80.6 out of 100. The ‘Women, Business and the Law’ index measures explicit discrimination in the law, legal rights, and the provision of certain benefits, areas in which reforms can bolster women’s labour force participation.

Women in South Asia have only two-thirds of the legal rights of men in the region. Only one economy in the region reformed.

Pointing out areas for improvement, the report says when it comes to constraints on freedom of movement, laws affecting women’s pay, constraints related to marriage, laws affecting women’s work after having children, constraints on women starting and running a business, gender differences in property and inheritance, and laws affecting the size of a women’s pension, Pakistan could consider reforms to improve legal equality for women.

The World Bank has estimated that globally, differences between men’s and women’s total expected lifetime earnings is $172.3 trillion, equivalent to twice the world GDP. As such, adopting laws that strengthen women’s rights and opportunities is an essential first step towards a more resilient and inclusive world.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2022