Tazeen Hasan is a Senior Legal Specialist in the Gender and Development Unit. She is the co-author of a recent book on Empowering Women: Legal Rights and Economic Opportunities in Africa. She was the legal specialist for the World Development Report (WDR) 2012: Gender Equality and Development and the WDR Companion Report Opening Doors: Gender Equality in the Middle East and North Africa. She worked on a multiregional initiative focusing on legal constraints over fifty years impacting on women's economic empowerment together with the Women Business and the Law Program. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she practiced as a barrister in the UK and subsequently worked in Kenya as a legal advisor to NGOs. She obtained a Masters in International Law from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in Law from Pembroke College, University of Oxford.