World Bank report: what economic opportunities do women have in Georgia?

Georgia has a score of 85.6 out of 100 in the latest World Bank Report Women, Business and the Law 2021, which is higher than the regional average score observed across Europe and Central Asia (83.4), says the report.

Within the Europe and Central Asia region, the maximum score observed is 93.8 (Croatia and Serbia).

The report reads that Georgia receives a 'perfect score' when it comes to constraints on freedom of movement, laws affecting women's decisions to work, constraints related to marriage, constraints on women's starting and running a business, and gender differences in property and inheritance.

Image: World Bank.

However, when it comes to laws affecting women’s pay, laws affecting women’s work after having children, and laws affecting the size of a woman’s pension, Georgia could consider reforms to improve legal equality for women, suggests the report.

For example, one of the lowest scores for Georgia is on the indicator related to laws affecting the size of a woman’s pension. To improve on the pension indicator, Georgia may wish to consider equalising the ages at which men and women can retire with full pension benefits, and accounting for periods of absence from work due to childcare in pension benefits", reads the report.

Women, Business and the Law 2021 measures the laws and regulations across eight areas that affect women’s economic opportunities in 190 countries, covering the period from September 2019-October 2020. From the basics of movement in the community to the challenges of working, parenting, and retiring, the data offers objective and measurable benchmarks for global progress toward gender equality.  

In total, 35 questions are scored across the eight indicators. Overall scores are then calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 representing the highest possible score. 

Data in the report refers to the laws and regulations that are applicable to the main commercial city, Tbilisi.