Women’s Rights
Women’s rights are human rights that all women have. But in practice, these rights are often not protected to the same extent as the rights of men.
Among others, women’s rights include: physical integrity rights, such as being free from violence and making choices over their own body; social rights, such as going to school and participating in public life; economic rights, such as owning property, working a job of their choice, and being paid equally for it; and political rights, such as voting for and holding public office.
The protection of these rights allows women to live the lives they want and to thrive in them.
On this page, you can find data and visualizations on how the protection of women’s rights has changed over time, and how it differs across countries.
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Interactive Charts on Women’s Rights
Countries by share of women in parliament
Distribution of women's political empowerment index
Distribution of women's share in parliament
Female labor force participation ratesOECD & Long
Gender ratio for average years of schooling
Maternal mortality ratioWith SDG Target
Share of women in parliamentV-Dem
Unadjusted gender gap in median earnings
Women's political empowerment index
A woman has the same rights to remarry as a man
Average age at marriage, women
Child marriage prohibited or invalidated
Countries in which a woman is government's chief executive
Countries in which a woman is head of government
Countries in which a woman is head of state
Criminal penalties or civil remedies exist for sexual harassment in employment
Days of paid maternity leave
Dismissal of pregnant workers prohibited
Distribution of women's share in parliamentweighted by population
Employment discrimination based on gender prohibited
Exceptions to the legal age of marriage
Gender discrimination in credit access prohibited
Law mandates equal remuneration for females and males for work of equal value
Legal age of marriage for girls
Legislation addressing domestic violence specifically
Legislation establishes clear criminal penalties for domestic violence
Legislation on sexual harassment in employment
Legislation that specifically addresses sexual harassment
Male and female surviving spouses have equal rights to inherit assets
Married couples jointly share legal responsibility for financially maintaining the family’s expenses
Married women are required by law to obey their husbands
Married women can legally confer citizenship to their children in the same way as married men
Married women can legally confer their citizenship to a non-national spouse in the same way as married men
Men and married women have equal ownership rights to property
Paid leave is available to fathers
Paid leave of at least 14 weeks available to mothers
Paid parental leave
Penalties for authorizing or entering into child or early marriage
Pension benefits account for periods of absence due to childcare
People living in countries in which a woman is government's chief executive
People living in countries in which a woman is head of government
People living in countries in which a woman is head of state
Presence of a specialized court or procedure for cases of domestic violence
Prevalence of female genital mutilation
Ratio of female to male labor force participation ratesLine chart
Representation of women in the lower chamber of parliament
Representation of women in the upper chamber of parliament
Retirement age with full pension benefits same for women and men
Share of day women spend on unpaid domestic and care work
Share of firms with a female top manager
Share of population subjected to sexual violence, male vs. female
Share of senior and middle management positions filled by women
Share of the population subjected to physical violence, male vs. female
Share of women in local government
Share of women in ministerial positions
Share of women in parliamentIPU
Share of women that are expected to die from pregnancy-related causes
Share of women using modern contraceptive methods
Share of women who believe a husband is justified in beating his wife
Share of women who experienced violence by an intimate partner
Share of women who experienced violence by an intimate partnerIHME
Share of women who experienced violence from an intimate partnerUnited Nations
Share of women who make their own informed health care decisions
Share of women who report having been victims of forced sex as children
Share of women who were married by age 15
Share of women who were married by age 18
Share of young women who experienced sexual violence as children
Sons and daughters have equal rights to inherit assets from their parents
Spouses have equal legal administrative authority over assets during marriage
Unmarried women can legally confer citizenship to their children in the same way as married men
Unmet need for contraception among married women of reproductive age
Woman is government's chief executive
Woman is head of government
Woman is head of state
Women and men's testimony carries the same evidentiary weight in court
Women can apply for a passport in the same way as men
Women can be head of household in the same way as men
Women can choose where to live in the same way as men
Women can obtain a judgment of divorce in the same way as men
Women can obtain a national identity card in the same way as married men
Women can open a bank account in the same way as men
Women can sign a contract in the same way as men
Women can take the same jobs as men
Women can travel outside the country in the same way as men
Women can travel outside their home in the same way as men
Women can work at night in the same way as men
Women can work in a job deemed dangerous in the same way as men
Women can work in an industrial job in the same way as men
Women participating in decisionmaking vs. children per woman
Women who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care
Women's civil liberties indexweighted by population
Women's civil liberties index
Women's civil society participation indexweighted by population
Women's civil society participation index
Women's political empowerment indexweighted by population
Women's political empowerment index vs. electoral democracy index
Women's political participation indexweighted by population
Women's political participation index
Women's universal right to voteLexical Index
Women, Business and the Law Index
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Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. This topic page can be cited as:
Bastian Herre, Pablo Arriagada, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Hannah Ritchie, Joe Hasell and Max Roser (2023) - "Women’s Rights". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://staging-owid.netlify.app/women-rights' [Online Resource]BibTeX citation
@article{owid-women-rights,
author = {Bastian Herre and Pablo Arriagada and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Hannah Ritchie and Joe Hasell and Max Roser},
title = {Women’s Rights},
journal = {Our World in Data},
year = {2023},
note = {https://staging-owid.netlify.app/women-rights}
}
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