Figures of the Week: African Countries Implement Reforms to Increase Women’s Access to Credit
Brookings Institute April 2018 / Africa in Focus
Last week, the World Bank released its biennial Women, Business, and Law report, which documents the legal barriers faced by women at work and in business and highlights reforms implemented by countries around the world. The report scores countries across seven indicators such as building women’s access to credit, incentives to work, access to institutions, and protection from violence, among others. In general, as Figure 1 shows, sub-Saharan Africa performs similarly to East Asia and Pacific, and South Asia, receiving its highest score in “access to institutions.” This indicator measures the equality of women in legal systems, marriage and family decisions, and freedom in movement. The region also implemented the most reforms over the past two years, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia among the world’s top five countries implementing reforms.
Figure 1: Regional scores on Women, Business, and the Law indicators
Notably, 32 percent of all reforms in sub-Saharan Africa occurred in the “building credit” indicator, which is also where the region scores worst. This indicator measures equal treatment in accessing credit and financial services based on gender and marital status.