KATHMANDU, Feb 26: Nepal achieved fair progress in the enforcement of laws and regulations related to women empowerment in the last year, reports the Word Bank (WB).
The Women, Business and the Law (WBL) 2021 unveiled by the WB shows that Nepal inched up 6.8 points to 80.6 on the WBL index during 2020. The WB assessed women status in business and law to develop the index. These indicators include mobility, pay, parenthood, assets, workplace, marriage, entrepreneurship and pension.
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Of these indicators, Nepal progressed in a majority of the sub-groups during the period. However, the country’s status dropped by 25 points in mobility.
According to the WB, the index was developed on the feedback of over 2,000 respondents with expertise in family, labor, and criminal law, including lawyers, judges, academics, and members of civil society organizations working locally on gender issues.
Nepal has enacted and progressed on implementations of laws on workplace sexual harassment, domestic violence, a mandatory old-age pension scheme for private sector workers including both men and women and introduced 15 days of paid paternity leave, making it easier for women to share child care responsibilities with their partners.
According to the WB report, a majority of countries across the globe are inching toward greater gender equality. But due to the lack of related laws and regulations, women continue to face restriction in their economic opportunity. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges to their health, safety, mobility and economic security, the report says.
