Sliders Preview: Lessons on Enhancing Women's Financial Inclusion Using Digital Financial Services

Better and relevant financial inclusion initiatives can foster reduced gender inequalities. A billion women still remain financially excluded, while a gender gap of nine percent stubbornly persists in developing countries.

OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY To underscore the role of the digital financial services (including FinTech solutions) in enhancing and sustaining the access, use and overall quality of financial services by women.

DFS AND WOMEN Digital payments have been growing worldwide at a rapid rate, with over 52 percent of the global population having used digital payments in some form or the other.

Although women are behind men in terms of absolute numbers of DFS users, the growth rate of women users in lower and middle income countries is actually higher than men.

GENDER-DISAGGREGATED DATA OF DFS USERS (2014-2017)

14.11

High Income

Upper Middle Income

Middle Income

8.42

10.05

10.72

12.17

11.53

2.40

1.46

7.38

6.86

World

18.86

21.00

Female users Male users

Lower Middle Income

Lower Income

DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES (DFS) RESPOND TO THREE CHALLENGES WOMEN FACE

1. MOBILITY As of 2018, there were 16 countries where mobility was a problem for women, according to the Women, Business and Law database. This translates to women being unable to open and use financial services as easily as their male counterparts. DFS, with its extended outreach and the ability to conduct transactions without having to leave the house, to some degree mitigates the issue of mobility.

2. CONVENIENCE DFS provides the convenience of conducting transactions at any time, 24x7, in contrast to fixed banking hours. In many societies, women are primely considered caregivers and they spend a significant amount of their time in unpaid work for the family. DFS usage allows control over the time of their transaction.

3. SAFETY DFS allows alternatives to women from travelling with cash. It can further enable them to manage their finances in a confidential, quick and secure manner.

This can in turn, allow women to have the desired control over their finances and related decisions.

A FRAMEWORK TO CONSIDER FOR WOMEN'S FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND DFS

DEMAND SIDE (WOMEN)

CHANNELS

A Social norms B Access and use of mobile phones C Capacity building -Financial literacy -Digital literacy D Use cases

A Banking agent typology B Banking agent demography C Merchants

SUPPLY SIDE (FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS OR FSPs) A Social norms B Access and use of mobile phones C Capacity building -Financial literacy -Digital literacy D Use cases

LEGISLATION & POLICY A Gender related policies B Use of gender disaggregated data analytics C Gender impact assessment and gender resource budgeting D Infrastructure

Read Now: LESSONS ON ENHANCING WOMEN’S FINANCIAL INCLUSION USING DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES (DFS)

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