Weak enforcement and the absence of a binding global framework against violence towards women continue to shatter lives, weaken economies, erode public trust and stall social progress across the world

The latest World Bank report, Women, Business and the Law, after reviewing 190 world economies, revealed that only 4 per cent of women worldwide enjoy full legal equality. The countries in which women have such equal legal rights, scoring 100/100, are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, and more recently, Germany and the Netherlands (WEF). Women in India have only 60 per cent of the legal rights granted to men, lower than the global average of 64.2 per cent. Nevertheless, Indian women fared better than their South Asian counterparts, where there is only 45.9 per cent of legal protection comparable to men.

The World Bank’s 2026 report showed a considerable dip in the overall global percentage of women enjoying equal rights from 77 per cent in 2024 to 64 per cent in 2025, which the report attributed to the inclusion of ‘safety for women’ as one of the critical indicators in the overall assessment. While the UN Women and UN System reports in 2026 highlighted that justice systems have been failing women in protecting them from violence and discrimination. In over 54 per cent of countries, rape is still not defined based on consent, and in nearly 3 out of 4 countries (74 per cent), laws still permit child marriage, often through exceptions regarding consent. In 112 countries, marital rape is still not criminalised. Around 1.8 billion women live in countries which do not specifically protect........

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