Despite major global progress in education, employment, and entrepreneurship, a striking reality remains: no country in the world currently provides women and men with fully equal legal rights.
This gap in legal equality continues to restrict women’s economic participation, limits entrepreneurship opportunities, and slows down global economic growth.
To address this challenge, the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) 2026 course invites policymakers, researchers, and development professionals to explore global data, legal frameworks, and evidence-based policy solutions aimed at closing the gender equality gap.
This online learning program is built around the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law index, which examines how legal barriers and implementation gaps affect women’s economic opportunities across 190 economies worldwide.
About the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) Index
The WBL index is a globally recognized research framework that measures how laws impact women’s economic inclusion.
It focuses on:
- Legal rights affecting women’s work and entrepreneurship
- Barriers in employment, pay, and mobility
- Laws affecting marriage, parenthood, and pensions
- Enforcement gaps between law and implementation
- Cross-country legal comparisons across 190 economies
By analyzing these dimensions, the WBL framework provides policymakers with evidence needed to design effective gender equality reforms.
Course Overview: Women, Business and the Law 2026
The Women, Business and the Law 2026 course is an e-learning program designed to equip participants with the knowledge and tools needed to understand, analyze, and apply gender equality data in policymaking.
Key Course Details
- Duration: 15 hours total learning time
- Video content: 2 hours
- Format: Online e-learning platform
- Community access: Multiple discussion forums
- Assessment: Included
- Certification: Available upon completion
- Enrollment status: Open
- Start date for registered users: 23 June 2026
What You Will Learn
The course is designed to build both analytical and practical policy skills. Participants will learn how to:
1. Understand Legal Barriers to Women’s Economic Participation
- Identify laws that restrict women’s access to economic opportunities
- Explore key legal constraints across different sectors
- Analyze gender gaps in legal systems globally
2. Apply the Women, Business and the Law Index
- Understand the methodology behind the WBL index
- Learn how data is collected and interpreted
- Explore the index’s three core pillars
3. Use Data for Policy Development
- Translate research findings into actionable policy recommendations
- Support government reforms using data-driven evidence
- Improve decision-making in ministries and public institutions
4. Analyze Global and Regional Trends
- Compare legal frameworks across countries
- Identify regions with strongest and weakest performance
- Understand reform patterns over time
Course Structure and Modules
The course is structured into five key learning sections:
Module 1: Introduction to the Course
- Welcome overview
- Pre-course assessment
- Introduction to WBL framework
- Keynote sessions
- Forum discussions
Module 2: Understanding the WBL Index
- Global trends from WBL 2026
- Three pillars of the index
- Knowledge checks and readings
Module 3: Women’s Rights Across the Life Cycle
- Legal rights from employment to retirement
- Deep dives into weak-performing legal areas
- Reform case studies and podcasts
Module 4: Using WBL Data
- Exploring WBL databases
- Economy profiles and reform tracking
- Policy application and decision-making tools
Module 5: Course Completion
- Final assessment
- Certification
- Feedback and next steps
Who Should Enroll in This Course?
This course is designed for professionals involved in policy, governance, research, and development.
Target Participants Include:
- Government officials
- Central bank and financial sector staff
- Ministry employees (Economy, Finance, Gender, Social Protection, Labor)
- Policy analysts and advisors
- Legal professionals
- Economists and researchers
- Civil society organizations (CSOs)
- Academic professionals
Learning Outcomes
By completing this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify key legal constraints affecting women’s economic participation
- Use global datasets to inform policy decisions
- Develop evidence-based gender equality reforms
- Strengthen cross-country comparative analysis skills
- Improve policy briefing and advisory capabilities
Course Benefits
Participants will gain:
- Access to world-class gender equality data
- Practical policy design skills
- Internationally recognized learning certification
- Networking opportunities through discussion forums
- Exposure to global best practices in legal reform
Why This Course Is Important
Gender inequality in law remains one of the biggest barriers to inclusive economic growth. By equipping professionals with data-driven tools and legal insights, the Women, Business and the Law 2026 course helps strengthen:
- Economic inclusion
- Women’s empowerment
- National policy reform
- Sustainable development goals (SDGs)
Enrollment Information
- Enrollment: Open now
- Start Date: 23 June 2026
Click here for more and to apply
Final Note
This course provides a rare opportunity to engage with global gender equality data and transform it into meaningful policy action. Whether you are a policymaker, researcher, or development practitioner, this program equips you with the tools needed to help close the gender gap in economic opportunity worldwide.
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