Recent Blogs
The Digital Gender Divide Won’t Close by Itself – Here’s Why
Men and women engage differently with digital services - including digital financial services - because of, among other factors, gendered social norms that don't change nearly as fast as technology.
Personas Show How Social Norms Impact Women’s Financial Inclusion
Customer personas rarely reflect the social norms that influence women's financial lives, which limits their usefulness in developing financial services. Here is a five-step process for improving customer personas.
COVID-19 Testing Resilience of Informal E-Commerce in Pakistan
E-commerce conducted on social media has created economic opportunities for many women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Now, this same type of e-commerce is helping some women adapt to the challenges of COVID-19.
Building Back Better: Designing Cash Transfers for Women’s Empowerment
For government-to-person payments to truly benefit the most vulnerable during COVID-19, they must tackle the inequalities that women are facing due to the pandemic.
How Ghana’s New Digital Finance Policy Can Drive Women’s Inclusion
Ghana launched the world's first digital finance policy earlier this year. Here are five ways the new policy can be implemented to help Ghana close its gender gap in financial inclusion.
Women in Rural and Agricultural Livelihoods Facing COVID-19
Women in rural and agricultural livelihoods have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Here is what funders can do to help.
How Social Media Is Fueling Women’s Entrepreneurship in Myanmar
Many women in Myanmar and across Asia are using social media to conduct online commerce. Meet three entrepreneurs who are engaging in this type of informal e-commerce in Myanmar and have created jobs for other women.
3 Trends in Women’s Financial Inclusion Funding
Funding for women's financial inclusion is on the rise, but just 10 percent of financial inclusion programs are identified as having a gender component, according to the CGAP Funders Survey.
Hiding in Plain Site: Informal E-Commerce Among Women in Asia
Millions of women are buying and selling goods online across Asia — but, at least in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan, they’re not transacting on e-commerce platforms. They’re using social platforms instead, often without digital payments.
How Are Kenya’s Youth Experiencing the Gig Economy?
The gig economy is on the rise in Africa. What does this mean for youth? In Kenya, CGAP interviewed young people to get their perspectives.
3 Ways to Deepen Our Understanding of Women’s Financial Inclusion
Researchers can shed new light on the impact of financial inclusion on women by applying three principles in their work.
Diagnosing Social Norms in Women’s Financial Inclusion Programming
Funders must develop a deeper understanding of how to tackle social norms that restrict women's financial inclusion. Lessons from CGAP’s research in Turkey help point the way.
3 Ways Financial Inclusion Improves Women’s Food Security
There is evidence that financial inclusion improves food security for women in at least three ways.
Could e-Commerce Bring Women’s Financial Inclusion in Bangladesh?
Closing the financial inclusion gender gap is about more than account access. It’s about making sure accounts unlock real opportunities for women. In Bangladesh, linking mobile money to informal e-commerce could meaningfully advance women’s financial inclusion.
Understanding Côte d’Ivoire’s Financially Excluded Women
Women are 45 percent less likely than men in Côte d’Ivoire to have a mobile money account. Low mobile phone ownership and financial innumeracy remain major barriers.
4 Regulatory Enablers for Digital Finance: A Gender Perspective
Access to digital financial services is uneven for men and women. If implemented with gender in mind, the basic regulatory enablers of digital finance can increase women's financial inclusion.
Women’s Financial Inclusion: Are Funders Moving the Needle?
Many countries with significant funding for women’s financial inclusion are seeing a widening gender gap. What does this mean for funders?
Measuring Women’s Financial Inclusion: The 2017 Findex Story
Despite global progress toward universal access to financial services, the gender gap remains at 9 percentage points in developing countries. Here's a look at what the 2017 Global Findex tells us about women's access to financial services.
Women’s Financial Inclusion: What the Gallup World Poll Tells Us
Gallup data shows that 81 percent of women worldwide own a mobile phone. Yet regions with high ownership rates have some of the lowest rates of women's financial inclusion.