No Country Achieves Full Workplace Equality for Women, World Bank Finds

Full workplace equality for women does not exist anywhere in the world. Only 4% of women live in economies that come close to legal equality. The World Bank released these findings in its Women, Business and the Law 2026 report on February 25, drawing on data from 190 economies.

Legal protections for women's economic participation average 67.9 out of 100 globally. More critically, the report found that laws designed to ensure equal economic opportunities are only half-enforced. Nearly 70 countries approved around 100 reforms between 2023 and 2025 to ease restrictions on women entering certain fields, institute equal pay, and allow parental leave. Implementation lags far behind.

Afghanistan Sets Lighter Penalty for Domestic Violence Than Animal Mistreatment

Afghanistan's Taliban government issued a new penal code by decree in late February that prescribes 15 days in prison for a husband who beats his wife with a stick and causes a wound or bruise. Mistreating a camel or forcing animals to fight carries up to five months imprisonment.

Article 32 of the code states that only if a woman can prove before a judge that her husband struck her and caused a serious injury will he face the 15-day sentence. The code recognizes only "excessive" beating as domestic violence, leaving survivors of other forms of abuse with no legal protection or pathways to justice.

UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Richard Bennett condemned the provisions. Human Rights Watch called for accountability for what it termed gender persecution. The international response has otherwise been muted, according to observers. Taliban officials have dismissed critics as infidels and warned that opposition to Taliban law itself constitutes a crime.

EU Opens Existing Funds for Cross-Border Abortion Access

The European Commission announced on February 26 that member states may use the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to provide free abortion access for women traveling from EU countries with restrictive laws. The decision came in response to the "My Voice, My Choice" European Citizens' Initiative, which gathered nearly 1.2 million verified signatures.

The Commission clarified it would not create a new specific fund for cross-border abortion. Instead, governments may choose to deploy existing ESF+ allocations to support reproductive healthcare access where national law permits. Poland and Malta have near-total abortion bans. Women from these countries can now potentially receive financial support to access services in nations like France, Spain, or the Netherlands.

Critics noted the Commission's restraint in not allocating new EU funding. Supporters emphasized that the green light for existing funds removes a significant barrier for women in restrictive countries.

Abortion Restrictions Linked to Ob-Gyn Shortage in US States

States that passed new abortion restrictions saw a measurable drop in practicing obstetrician-gynecologists. A study published in late February found that new legal restrictions on abortion were tied to two fewer ob-gyns per 100,000 women of reproductive age. No increase in other care providers filled the gap.

The findings suggest abortion restrictions reduce access to all forms of reproductive healthcare, not just abortion services. Ob-gyns provide prenatal care, cancer screenings, contraception, and treatment for gynecological conditions. Forty-three US states currently prohibit some abortions after a certain point in pregnancy, using either fetus viability or gestational weeks as the cutoff.

Russia Restricts Abortion Access Under "Traditional Values" Push

Russian authorities are increasingly restricting access to safe abortion care and limiting information about reproductive choices, according to a February 23 report from human rights organizations. The measures are justified under a government push for "traditional values" and higher birth rates.

Abortion remains technically legal in Russia up to the 12th week of pregnancy, up to 22 weeks in cases of rape, and at any point if the pregnancy threatens the mother's life. Russia legalized abortion for any reason in 1920. Recent restrictions focus on limiting facility access and controlling information distribution rather than changing the law itself.

The policies contravene Russia's obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Human rights groups say denying access to abortion care and restricting reproductive information violates rights to health, life, privacy, bodily autonomy, and freedom from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

Cuba Activists Demand Femicide Law After Santa Clara Killing

A Cuban woman died after her ex-partner attacked her in the street in Santa Clara in late February. Activists renewed calls for a comprehensive law against gender-based violence, establishment of shelters for at-risk women, effective protection protocols, and transparent official data. They requested the government declare a state of emergency due to gender-based violence.

Femicide is not classified as a specific crime in the Cuban Penal Code. Official media rarely report these cases or use the term femicide, despite the government's stated "zero tolerance" policy toward violence against women. The lack of legal classification makes tracking and addressing femicide difficult.

Worldwide, approximately 51,000 women lost their lives to femicide in 2023. A spouse or partner is responsible for almost 40% of femicides globally. In the United States, FBI data shows 74.5% of victims in domestic-relationship violent crimes are female. More than one in four violent crimes now involve a domestic relationship.

Gender Pay Gap Remains Entrenched in Europe

Women in the United Kingdom effectively worked for free until late February 2026, according to analysis by the Trades Union Congress. The gender pay gap costs the average British woman £2,548 per year. At the current rate of change, the gap will not close until 2056.

Germany's gender pay gap stood at 16% in 2025, unchanged from the previous year, according to the Federal Statistical Office. A recent study of MBA graduates found no pay gap at the start of women's careers. Men and women earned basically the same amount initially. The gap emerges and widens over time.

The World Economic Forum estimates that closing the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity will take 169 years at present rates. The European Institute for Gender Equality projects that improving gender equality in the EU could result in a 9.6% rise in EU GDP per capita—€3.15 trillion—and an additional 10.5 million jobs by 2050.

Political Representation Varies Widely

Israel dropped from 48th to 104th place in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index for political empowerment. Currently, not a single woman serves as director general of a government ministry in Israel. Only 14% of deputy directors general in government ministries are women.

India's Trinamool Congress nominated lawyer Menaka Guruswamy to the Rajya Sabha in late February, marking historic queer representation in the upper house of parliament. Guruswamy has been associated with several constitutional cases involving gender equality, privacy, and civil liberties. Their courtroom interventions have shaped feminist jurisprudence in India.

Globally, women held 40% of single or lower parliamentary seats for the first time in 2023, up from 11% in 1995 and 26% in 2023. Countries including Norway, Sweden, and Denmark pioneered party quotas. Norway's Labour Party mandated in 1983 that both sexes must be represented by at least 40% in all elections and nominations. Sweden's Social Democratic Workers' Party instituted a "zipper quota" in 1994, alternating male and female candidates on party lists.

The UK Labour Party abandoned all-women shortlists in March 2022 after being warned the practice would become unlawful under the Equality Act because the majority of their MPs were female.