QUESTIONNAIRE: Women, Business, and the Law

Greetings,


The ABA Section of International Law has been invited again by the World Bank Group's Women, Business, and the Law Project (WBL) to contribute by completing questionnaires for the 2014 edition of the Women, Business and the Law report. The WBL focuses on setting out legal differentiations on the basis of gender in 142 economies around the world, covering 6 areas—accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, dealing of wide-ranging factors for women’s economic opportunities, but focuses on one particular area: aspects of the formal legal and regulatory environment that enable women to find jobs or start their own businesses. WBL’s work entails surveying national laws, regulations and institutions that may affect women's incentives and capacity to start businesses and get jobs.

WBL’s pilot edition was launched in 2010 and the latest edition of the report titled Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion was launched on September 26, 2011 with great success. A copy of the previous editions of the report and database can be found on WBL website: wbl.worldbank.org.

For their 2014 edition, WBL is working on expanding coverage of the existing indicators and including a new case study indicator on Violence against Women. The project relies on the valuable expertise of legal practitioners, such as you, to gather information on how the legal environment may impact women’s economic rights. WBL is looking to expand their network of legal contributors by reaching out to members of the Section from the following countries to participate in this project:

Benin · Liberia · Mauritius · Rwanda · South Africa · Sudan · Tanzania · Zambia · Sri Lanka · Philippines · Indonesia · Jordan · Netherlands · New Zealand



Particularly, they are seeking for up-to-date legal information for this new indicator through a new questionnaire design to consider the existence and scope of national laws addressing domestic violence and sexual harassment, by looking at the following:

- General Legislation and Policy – establishes the existence of legislation and implementation mechanisms.
- Domestic Violence – assesses coverage and extent of legislation on domestic violence.
- Sexual Harassment – assesses coverage and extent of legislation on sexual harassment.
- Services – determines extent of service provision for victims under the law.

This questionnaire is also available in French. WBL is particularly interested in reforms implemented since March 31, 2011, which may have an impact on women’s ability to participate in the workforce or start businesses.

The questionnaire is to be completed on a pro bono basis and will be distributed electronically. Respondents should expect to take approximately one hour to answer all questions. Upon completion, respondents will receive special mention in the 2014 WBL report and the World Bank’s WBL website. WBL will follow up with respondents directly, should they have any questions. The report is due to be published in September 2013.
Interested participants must have proven experience in the topic areas previously mentioned, as they relate to laws and regulations on the topic of Violence against Women. Please express your interest to conduct the survey(s) via email providing the information below to Jacqueline.Gichinga@americanbar.org. In the body of the email, please include a short bio (no longer than a paragraph) and a few sentences regarding your background in cases or public policy dealing with Violence against Women in your jurisdiction. Deadline for expressions of interest is May 8, 2013.

• Last Name:
• First Name:
• Preferred Email Address:
• Relevant Background (short paragraph):
• Attach or Paste Bio:

We would be most appreciative if you could also forward to your colleagues who have relevant experience. Thanking you in advance for your consideration.

Jacqueline
Jacqueline Gichinga
International Program Associate
ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
T: +1-202-662-1662
http://ambar.org/ilrc
Skype: jgichinga