Legal constraints on women's economic involvement in the DRC

My blog last week mentioned how business in the DRC is having some difficulties with hiring married women, because permission from the husband is required first.  I didn't know at the time whether women's rights to work are legally restricted there.

It transpires that their work rights are indeed restricted.  The World Bank report "Women, business and the Law" on page 108 describes the law in the DRC as it relates to married women operating in business.  The detailed questions are on page 47.  Married women have to get permission to get a job, sign a contract, register a business, open a bank account, and choose where they live.

These are severe constraints on married women engaging in the economy, and there is clear evidence from surveys that they damage the DRC's competitiveness.