As the G20 heads toward its December summit in Miami, the W20’s 2026 papers pair their requests with targets and metrics. Whether commitments are carried out is a question with data behind it. World Bank figures published in February show that laws on women’s economic opportunity are only half enforced on average. For business, the gap matters because formal rules on credit, childcare and workplace safety often differ from conditions on the ground.
What the World Bank found
The Women, Business and the Law 2026 report covers 190 economies. The World Bank says the average score is 67 out of 100 for the adequacy of laws, 53 for enforcement and 47 for the systems needed to implement them. It says only 4% of women live in economies that provide nearly full legal equality.
Some findings bear directly on employers and lenders. Less than half of the 190 economies have laws providing financial or tax support for childcare. Only about half promote equal access to credit. On the positive side, 68 economies enacted 113 reforms over two years. The press release does not give a G20 breakdown, and the project is now collecting data for its 2027 report.
How the W20 is answering
The W20 USA Presidency’s briefs, which refer readers to a Guidebook for Policymakers first published in October 2026, attach metrics to their requests. The Entrepreneurship brief proposes twelve metrics, reported annually to the Finance Track, with a baseline phase in 2027–2028. The design is an annual assessment rather than a one-time pledge.
The Safety and Security brief asks governments to adopt, fund and enforce comprehensive legislation on gender-based violence. The Care Economy brief asks for comparable, disaggregated data, including regular time-use surveys, and sets a goal of cutting the unpaid care gap by 35% by 2035.
The accountability record
The W20 has its own count of how commitments form. It says it has made 220 recommendations across 13 thematic areas, and that 74 of the 109 gender commitments made by G20 leaders originated from W20 recommendations. Those are the W20’s figures. They measure commitments adopted, not results achieved.
This year’s test is narrower than in past presidencies. The U.S. presidency lists four working groups, none of them on gender, and its homepage does not mention the W20. Leaders meet in Miami on December 14–15. Companies tracking the file can watch for a W20 communiqué, which has not yet appeared on the group’s documents page, and for any reference to reporting or measurement in the leaders’ text.
Sources
- World Bank: Women’s Economic-Opportunity Laws Only Half-Enforced Globally, February 24, 2026
- World Bank: Women, Business and the Law
- W20: Entrepreneurship advocacy brief
- W20: Safety and Security advocacy brief
- W20: Care Economy advocacy brief
- W20: Guidebook for Policymakers
- W20: About
- W20: Documents
- G20 Miami 2026
