The Time Has Come for Gender Transformative Approaches

A woman´s financial inclusion is inextricably linked with her ability to access, use, and benefit from financial products and services. The overwhelming assumption within the inclusive finance industry and accompanying players is that well-designed products enable women to overcome barriers, thus leading inexorably to their economic empowerment and inclusion. This common notion excludes the critical enabling environment outside of the financial space that determines how and whether a woman may gain access to that well-designed product in the first place and be able to use it effectively. In other words, men’s and women’s lived experiences differ, thereby requiring financial products, services, and approaches that account for these differences. The broader environment is made up of the social and gender norms which determine what is appropriate conduct and behavior and tend to be highly gendered. Taking these norms into account requires not just products and tools that enhance women’s awareness and capabilities, but, equally important, changing the financial and social systems to be more inclusive of women, their needs, and their behaviors.

Transformative Change Is Needed

Better products and services, as well as increased digital literacy, are only part of the solution to reduce and eliminate these gaps.

Until now, financial inclusion has largely steered clear of incorporating a social norms lens, assuming instead that access to bank accounts or savings groups will almost automatically lead to more female economic inclusion. However, lack of understanding of norms, and design that does not consider these constraints or try to alter them through financial systems and services, has resulted in an extended and persistent global gender gap in bank account ownership over the past decade. In addition, despite the proliferation of digital financial offerings, many of the same norms that have inhibited progress on accounts manifest and are heightened when it comes to access to technology and connectivity, and as a result, we also see a persistent global mobile gender gap. Better products and services, as well as increased digital literacy, are only part of the solution to reduce and eliminate these gaps. What is needed now is a shift toward gender transformative approaches to financial services that aim to challenge systemic inequality.

Taking a gender transformative view requires understanding the customer as part of an ecosystem.

What is clear, therefore, is that to achieve universal financial inclusion, those working in inclusive finance must find a way to account for men’s and women’s behavior outside their use of financial services. The bulk of the industry relies on individualized products – either via a mobile app or one-on-one with a banking agent. Taking a gender transformative view requires understanding the customer as part of an ecosystem. Men and women do not operate in a vacuum; they live in households, communities, and as part of regional and national cultures that influence and dictate their choices. Thus, full financial inclusion will take a systems approach, moving away from a myopic view of building a relationship between an individual and a provider toward a collective methodology of many providers serving the many needs of each customer.