Effect of gender equality on financial stability and financial inclusion

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of gender equality on financial stability and financial inclusion for 14 developing countries using yearly data from 2005 to 2021. Design/methodology/approach The two-stage least squares regression estimation and the generalized linear model regression estimation were used to investigate the effect of gender equality on financial stability and financial inclusion. Findings Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability and financial inclusion in developing countries. Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability and financial inclusion in African countries. Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability but not on financial inclusion in non-African countries. Originality/value Little attention has been paid to the role of gender equality in promoting financial stability and financial inclusion. The authors address this issue in this study.

Impact of Terrorism on Financial Inclusion: Evidence From the Most Terrorized Countries in the World

“…Next, we use the BZ variable to measure the stability or solvency of the banking system. The BZ variable is widely used in the literature to measure the solvency or stability of the banking sector (Chinoda and Kapingura, 2023;Ozili, 2023b). We argue that a stable banking sector means that banks have sufficient deposits and liquidity and are profitable.…”

“…The model below estimates the impact of terrorism on financial inclusion. The model is a modified form of the model used in Daud (2023), Nsiah and Tweneboah (2023) and Ozili (2023b). Regarding the estimation technique, the study used the fixed effect panel regression method.…”

“…In the Hausman test, the null hypothesis is rejected in the random effect model as the p-value of the chi-square statistic is less than 0.01, indicating that the fixed effect model is the appropriate to estimate the model (see table 9). Existing financial inclusion studies have also used the fixed effect model such as Daud (2023), Nsiah and Tweneboah (2023) and Ozili (2023b). The panel fixed effect model allows us to control for all time-invariant omitted variables which are difficult to observe (Pesaran and Zhou, 2018), and it reduces the potential sources of biases in the estimations in comparison to the random effect model, thereby giving us a less biased estimator (Pesaran and Zhou, 2018).…”

“…These variables are widely used as financial access point indicators of financial inclusion in the financial inclusion literature (Amaira, 2022;Al-Smadi, 2023;Ozili, 2023b). Regarding the BR variable, the literature shows that the number of commercial banks is a good proxy for measuring the level of financial inclusion because commercial banks are important agents of financial inclusion because of their ability to expand their branch networks to remote locations to reach people in rural and urban communities, and to give them access to basic formal financial services (Ozili, 2023b). The literature also shows that access to ATMs can increase access and use of financial services especially in areas where banks are not physically present (Al-Smadi, 2023).…”

The Role of Central Bank in Greening the Nigerian Financial System

“…Some central banks have also responded to climate change by requiring regulated banks to disclose the impact of climate risk on their business (Campiglio et al, 2018). Other monetary authorities have responded to gender inequality issues in the banking sector to reduce gender inequality and the risk of social activism (Braunstein and Heintz, 2008;Ozili, 2023). These are few examples of how central banks are expanding their roles beyond their traditional function in order to address emerging non-economic issues and exogenous shocks.…”