RIYADH — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranked first among the Arab countries in providing equal rights to men and women, while it ranked 15th globally with a score of 80, according to a report of the World Bank. The World Bank recently published the Women, Business, and the Law 2021 report, in which it stated that there are only ten countries in the world that offer full legal protection for women and full equal rights for men and women. These countries are Belgium, France, Denmark, Latvia, Luxembourg, Sweden, Canada, Iceland, Portugal and Ireland. A total of 94 of the world's 194 countries ranked 80 percent or above, up from 87 in 2020. The United States ranked 91.3 percent below countries such as Peru and Albania. It lost points for a lack of laws guaranteeing equal pay and equal pensions, as well as for the notorious laws around parental leave. Japan and South Korea ranked 82 percent and 85 percent respectively, and lost most points for the quality of laws on equal pay and entrepreneurship. China scored 75.6 points while India stood at 74.4 points. Also, Japan scored only 50 percent of the Equality Workplace Score, which looks at areas of equal employment, workplace discrimination and harassment.
