Fraser Institute News Release: Seven additional countries eliminated gender discrimination for economic freedom from 2020 to 2022; 35 others continue to impose severe restrictions on women's economic rights

VANCOUVER, BC, April 24, 2025 /CNW/ - Despite improvements, 35 countries continued to impose significant restrictions on the economic rights of women compared with men in 2022 while two countries increased these restrictions, finds a new study released by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

When people have more economic freedom, they are allowed to make more of their own economic decisions, including decisions to own property, to decide what to buy, where to work, whether to start a business, to engage in trade, and even to open a bank account.

"Economic freedom empowers women to determine the course of their own lives, granting them greater independence and leaving them less vulnerable, while also benefiting society by creating greater prosperity and increasing economic activity," said Rosemarie Fike, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, economics instructor at Texas Christian University, and author of this year's Women and Progress report.

This year's report, which reviewed165 countries in total, tracks changes in economic freedom for women around the world and finds that since 2020 seven countries completely eliminated gender disparity in economic freedom and now have equal economic freedom for men and women: Bhutan, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Uganda, and Vietnam.

An additional 15 countries improved their Gender Disparity Index score by relaxing legal restrictions on women's economic rights from 2020 to 2022. 

Unfortunately, during the same two-year period, 35 countries continued to enforce severe restrictions on women's economic rights. Notably, Sudan, Yemen, Niger, Iran, and Egypt have the largest gender disparities in economic freedom.

Crucially, gender disparity in economic freedom globally has steadily declined since 1970, but still some 600 million women live in one of the 35 countries with the greatest disparities. Moreover, backsliding happens. Since 2020, for instance, Saudi Arabia reintroduced several restrictions on women's economic rights demonstrating that the presence of economic freedom today does not guarantee it will be there tomorrow.

"While there has been some progress, now is no time for complacency given the sheer number of women around the world who are not allowed the same level of economic freedom as men," Fike said.

"By allowing women the same economic rights as men, policymakers around the world could help all their citizens—men and women—live happier, healthier and wealthier lives."

The Women and Progress report is part of the Fraser Institute's internationally-renowned Economic Freedom of the World project.

For a free PDF download and more information, visit www.womenandprogress.org.

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org

SOURCE The Fraser Institute

MEDIA CONTACT: Rosemarie Fike, Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute; To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Drue MacPherson, Fraser Institute, [phone] Ext. 721, [email protected]