Women's Financial Inclusion

Advancing Women’s Financial Inclusion: From Access to Impact

Women’s financial inclusion has made significant strides—the gender gap in access to accounts is at an all-time low of six percentage points in developing countries according to the global Findex. This is a strong foundation, but regional disparities remain – for example, in Bangladesh the gap is 20 percentage points and in Côte d’Ivoire it is 27 percentage points. In total, 742 million women worldwide are financially excluded. Further, access to accounts has not always led to meaningful use. Now, it is time to go deeper – by expanding women’s access to services that meet their needs and ensuring financial inclusion enables women’s economic empowerment. 

The next phase will require tackling complex challenges: addressing gender norms, shaping inclusive policies, incentives and investment climates, and meeting women where they are. New approaches, stronger data and evidence, and bold innovations will be needed to move beyond access toward true financial empowerment.

Expanding the Financial Sector’s Reach and Impact

To accelerate progress, CGAP is focusing on expanding the financial sector’s ability and willingness to serve women across different livelihoods, life stages, and risk appetites. That is why we continue to invest in frontier research to better understand women nano-entrepreneurs and young women under 25. We are providing crucial insights into the barriers keeping them out of the formal financial system or preventing them from fully benefiting from financial services.

In the case of rural women engaged in agriculture, while many development actors recognize the significance of supporting them, there is a need for viable business models to reach this segment. CGAP is working with a pioneering group of financial service providers (FSPs) and agribusinesses to improve the business performance of institutions serving this segment of women, who are often more vulnerable to climate shocks but lack financial tools that could support them. 

One of the most significant areas of CGAP’s work has been to document how women as agents can bring benefits for themselves, their households, their communities, and for digital financial service (DFS) providers, but they are often deeply constrained by their environment and the business models employing them. 

Bridging Data Gaps to Drive Systemic Change

What we cannot measure, we cannot improve. Yet, market-level data on how women interact with financial services remains scarce. Supply-side gender-disaggregated data (SGDD)—which tracks how financial institutions serve women—can be a game-changer. When widely available and effectively used, this data can help policymakers transform regulations to better serve women and to help financial institutions improve product design and delivery. Recent CGAP work shows that a gender-disaggregated approach can help lenders more accurately measure portfolio risk; such approaches not only can reduce the gender gap in access to credit, but they can make good business sense, by allowing providers to increase their portfolios or reduce their losses.

To advance this agenda, CGAP is bringing together financial regulators and supervisors across emerging markets and developing economies to share best practices in building SGDD frameworks. By fostering cross-country learning, we aim to accelerate the adoption of policies that make financial systems more inclusive.

Mapping Impact and Closing Evidence Gaps

CGAP’s newly launched Impact Pathfinder maps the established links between women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment while identifying critical evidence gaps. More research is needed, particularly on how financial products like insurance can effectively support women, who are disproportionately affected by income, health, and environmental shocks. Greater evidence can better guide funders and investors when they add gender-goals to their financial inclusion investment portfolios. 

To help organizations measure financial services’ impact more precisely, CGAP has developed a new framework of 19 indicators, tested with experts, to assess how financial services enhance women’s agency, resilience, and economic opportunities. Closing these knowledge gaps and refining measurement tools are essential to driving meaningful change.

Addressing Gender Norms for Lasting Transformation

Gender norms shape how women are perceived and treated in financial systems, influencing everything from policies to business practices. To tackle this, CGAP is:

• Building case studies that show how regulators can design financial policies that mitigate the effects of restrictive norms.
• Providing tools for funders to diagnose how gender norms impact the financial institutions they support—and develop strategies to address them.

By addressing these systemic barriers, we aim to create an enabling environment where financial inclusion leads to genuine empowerment.

Building Coalitions for Collective Action

We recognize that generating insight and consensus on technical, segment-specific, or normative issues is not enough. In an era of poly-crises, limited resources, and competing priorities, individual efforts—whether projects, products, or programs—must be stitched together to contribute to broader national and global progress on women’s financial inclusion.

CGAP is exploring how governments can convene financial sector stakeholders—public, private, and civil society—into ambitious, target-driven coalitions that work toward a gender-equitable financial system. By documenting and supporting these collective efforts, we hope to inspire and influence others to follow suit. In doing so, we can foster conditions that enable women to improve their lives, grow businesses and livelihoods, and improve the resilience of their households. 

The journey toward women’s financial equality requires deeper engagement, stronger collaboration, and new ways of thinking. By expanding access, improving data, tackling gender norms, and fostering coalitions, CGAP is committed to ensuring that financial inclusion translates into real, lasting empowerment for women worldwide.