The role of financial inclusion in driving women’s economic empowerment

Abstract

This article highlights why the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has focused on financial inclusion to advance women's economic empowerment and drive progress on gender equality. It highlights key lessons from financial inclusion-related projects the foundation has supported within the "Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development (WGCD) Grand Challenge" in 2015. The article also shares the logic and research informing the foundation's strategy to close the gender gap in financial inclusiona key pillar of its strategy on women's economic empowermentand improve the lives and livelihoods of millions of women around the world. ARTICLE HISTORY

Impact of Financial Inclusion in Low‐ and Middle‐income Countries: A Systematic Review of Reviews

“…Gender : Financial services may have very different effects for women and men, particularly if they target women, or at least are accessible for women. Many financial inclusion programmes (particularly microfinance and self‐help group (SHGs)) have a history of targeting women and aiming at women's empowerment; some modes of digital financial services have also been claimed to have positive effects particularly for women, despite not targeting women, by allowing them to save independently (Hendriks, 2019). In theory, as highlighted by the two women's empowerment‐focused reviews in our sample (Vaessen et al .…”

“…Gender: Financial services may have very different effects for women and men, particularly if they target women, or at least are accessible for women. Many financial inclusion programmes (particularly microfinance and self-help group (SHGs)) have a history of targeting women and aiming at women's empowerment; some modes of digital financial services have also been claimed to have positive effects particularly for women, despite not targeting women, by allowing them to save independently (Hendriks, 2019). In theory, as highlighted by the two women's empowerment-focused reviews in our sample (Vaessen et al 2014;Brody et al 2015), and recognized by most of the other reviews, financial services could affect gender relations in a number of complex and interrelated ways, which would be difficult to categorize as lower-order or higher-order outcomes without making potentially problematic value judgments.…”

Realizing Demographic Dividends in the Republic of Congo

“…While access to banking services is low overall it is significantly lower for women than for men, impeding women from accessing financial assets. One of the key driver's for women's economic empowerment is access to the financial markets (Hendriks, 2019). In 2017, the Global Findex Database reports that while 31 percent of males 15 years of older have an account at a bank or other financial institution or access to a mobile money service in the prior 12 months, only 21 percent of females have such access (Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper, Singer, Ansar, & Hess, 2018).…”

Electrification and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women in India

“…According to the United Nations "achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls" emphasizes that an economy cannot achieve its potential without equal gender participation [Fukuda-Parr, 2016]. Though there have been several policy initiatives to foster this egalitarian view, a substantial gap still persists [Duflo, 2012, Hendriks, 2019.…”