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Unlocking economic opportunity for women and girls is an urgent imperative. It is a matter of fairness and justice — a principle of international law recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also essential for development and a precondition to end extreme poverty on a livable planet. Growing evidence also shows that removing barriers for women unlocks economic productivity, job creation, and poverty reduction, deepens social cohesion, and enhances well-being and prosperity for current and future generations.
Despite progress, however, according to the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law – which tracks laws and regulations affecting women's economic opportunity across 190 economies – women globally enjoy fewer than two-thirds the legal rights of men, with no country providing full legal equality. Structural barriers in law and practice limit women’s participation in decision-making, justice systems, and the economy, including access to quality jobs, income and asset ownership, and enabling services such as childcare, digital, energy, and finance. Legal gaps and weak enforcement undermine women's potential, inclusive economic growth, and sustainable development.
Legal reform — when inclusive, enforceable, and accompanied by awareness raising and capacity building — can be a catalyst for women’s empowerment and equitable growth.
Empowering Women by Balancing the Law (EWBL) is the flagship program of the Legal Advisory Services and Knowledge (LEGLA) Gender unit housed under the World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency.
LEGLA Gender supports the World Bank Group Gender Strategy through legal and regulatory reform, institutional strengthening, and implementation support, with a focus on ensuring that reforms are legally sound and enforceable, translate into measurable outcomes, and can be scaled and sustained across countries and sectors.
Through EWBL, this work is operationalized as a global platform for legal and judicial solutions that respond to the needs and views of women, advance women’s economic opportunities, and promote inclusive growth. EWBL translates global evidence — including benchmarks from Women, Business and the Law — into country-level diagnostics, reform support, and capacity building.
Our work supports the improvement and effective implementation of policy, laws, regulatory frameworks and the institutions that support women’s economic empowerment and sustainable development through on-demand advisory services, actionable knowledge products, and strategic capacity-building.
LEGLA Gender operates across the full continuum of engagement — from upstream advisory to hands-on implementation — working closely with teams across the World Bank Group to support country-driven reform efforts.
Our approach includes:
- Diagnostics & Consultation – Drawing on global legal benchmarks and aligned with Gender Strategy priorities, we assess legal and regulatory gaps and develop evidence-based recommendations tailored to country context.
- Reform & Implementation – We provide hands-on advisory support to design and enact reforms, develop implementation frameworks, and strengthen institutions for women’s participation in decision-making, justice systems, and the economy, including access to jobs.
- Capacity Building & Learning – We share with policymakers, judges, regulators, civil society, and other practitioners the knowledge, tools, and skills to institutionalize reforms and sustain impact — through training programs, peer learning exchanges, and practical resources grounded in global and regional experience.
EWBL reflects LEGLA Gender’s comparative advantage within the World Bank Group: translating legal evidence into implementable reforms that deliver measurable outcomes on the ground.
Interested in improving the legal and enabling environment for women?
Our Team's Experience in Action
EWBL is built on deep expertise in translating legal evidence into change on the ground. Our team's advisory experience spans legal reforms in several countries, grounded on global evidence and cross-regional operational knowledge.
These case study examples from the field illustrate our team’s expertise in translating legal evidence into reform and the approach and impact that defines EWBL’s work. Read more here.
Knowledge Resources
EWBL curates comparative legal analysis, practical tools, training materials, and evidence from our advisory work to help policymakers, practitioners, and partners translate legal commitments into meaningful change for women and girls. Our knowledge base complements and builds on global datasets such as Women, Business and the Law, which benchmarks laws affecting women’s economic inclusion across 190 economies — covering mobility, workplace rights, pay equity, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets, and safety — enabling our advisory work to be grounded in comparative evidence and country-specific context.
A recent example of this knowledge work is EWBL's multi-country assessment of women's legal aid systems, which examines how effectively legal aid frameworks support women's participation in society and the economy across diverse country contexts, identifying structural gaps and producing comparative analysis to inform reform. EWBL also draws on the World Bank's convening power – including throughLaw, Justice and Development Week – to generate and share knowledge with governments, practitioners, and the global legal community.
Explore our resources to learn from global experience and access actionable insights that inform reform design, implementation, and capacity‑building – organized across four areas:
- Legal Compendia — Comparative legal analysis and country assessments documenting the legal landscape for women across regions and topic areas.
- Training Manuals — Practical, field-tested materials designed to support legal reform implementation and judicial and regulatory capacity building.
- Blogs & Briefs — Accessible evidence and insights from our advisory work, translating legal and policy developments into actionable knowledge for reform practitioners and policymakers.
- Events — Recordings, summaries, and materials from convenings, workshops, and global forums where EWBL engages governments and partners on legal reform for women's empowerment.
- Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on FGM (9th Edition)
- Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Child Marriage (2nd Edition)
- Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Domestic Violence (1st Edition)
- Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (1st Edition)
EWBL collaborates with the FGM Legal Working Group hosted at the Legal Vice Presidency to create, disseminate, and deliver training targeted at legal capacity building for professionals and communities.
- FGM Legal Training Manual - The Gambia (2025)
- FGM Legal Training Manual - Uganda (2022)
- FGM Legal Training Manual - Kenya (2022)
- FGM Legal Training Manual - Nigeria (2022)
- FGM Legal Training Manual - Senegal (2022)
- FGM Legal Training Manual - Guinea Bissau (2022)
- FGM Legal Literacy Community Training Manual - Guinea (2022)
- FGM Legal Literacy Community Training Manual - Guinea Bissau (2022)
Blog: Gender equality gains momentum in Sub-Saharan Africa (November 14, 2023)
Blog: Gabon revises legislation to protect women and increase their economic role (March 2, 2022)
Brief: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Global and Regional Trends in Women's Legal Protection Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Harassment (February 2018)
Brief: Ending Child Marriage: Child Marriage Laws and Their Limitations (October 2017)
Strengthening Legal Aid for GBV Survivors: Evidence, Gaps, and Pathways for ReformDecember 4, 2025
Watch the recording
Emerging Patterns in Women’s Legal Aid SupportNovember 4, 2025
Read more | Watch the recording
Financing Women’s Justice Needs: Global Perspectives on Violence Against Women, And a Case Study on Uganda
March 13, 2024
Read more | Download the report
Law and Gender: The Interplay Between the Private Sector and the Judiciary in Advancing Women's Economic ParticipationMay 3, 2023
Read more
Partner with Us!
EWBL contributes to the World Bank Group’s broader gender equality agenda by providing a legal and institutional reform platform that complements operations across Global Practices, IFC, and the Gender Group. By leveraging the reach and capabilities of international partners in the public and private sectors, as well as connected initiatives within the World Bank, EWBL offers reliable support for countries’ efforts to promote legal equality. External partners include law firms, NGOs, think-tanks, corporations, foundations, international organizations, and other entities that have synergy with EWBL's goals.
Team Members
- Francesca Daverio, Senior Counsel, Legal Advisory Services & Knowledge
- Paula Tavares, Counsel & Senior Gender Specialist, Legal Advisory Services & Knowledge
www.worldbank.org/EWBL
Accelerate Gender Equality to End Poverty on a Livable Planet
A global benchmarking project on how laws, regulations, and policies affect women’s economic opportunities.