The World Bank’s survey of Women, Business and the Law reports that almost 90 percent of the world’s countries still have at least one legal difference restricting women’s opportunities in 2014. And some countries see draconian limits on the freedom of women. Nine states including Malaysia, Syria, and the West Bank restrict women’s movement outside the home. Fifteen economies including Bolivia, Cameroon, Jordan, and Sudan allow husbands to prevent their wives from accepting jobs. Nearly 30 economies, including Indonesia and the Philippines, still designate husbands head of household with power over decisions like where to live or getting official documents. And 79 different economies restrict the type of jobs women can do just on the grounds of their sex. In Russia, for example, women are barred from working as freight train conductors, sailors, woodworkers, high antenna installers, or drivers of loading machines.
Beyond legal discrimination is more widespread practical discrimination. Violence toward women starts early and is repeated hideously often. Sex-selective abortion is replacing infant neglect as the tool of choice among families across the globe who want girls not boys, with somewhere between 4 million and 12 million sex-selective abortions performed in India alone over the past three decades. Some 125 million women worldwide have been subject to genital mutilation. And domestic violence toward women (PDF) remains by far the most widespread form of violence worldwide.
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