The 2019 Microscope

Now more than ever, digital services play a major role in our banking experience. Most of us use online banking daily, many of us have switched to purely digital banks such as Monzo or Starling, and Apple Pay continues to gain popularity. The way we manage our finances is increasingly intertwined with technological advancements. But men and women do not have equal access to these advancements that make managing our finances easier, especially in developing markets. Women have less access to technology, including mobile phones and the internet, which in turn impacts the ease with which women are able to access new financial services. In our Global Microscope 2019, we researched the gender gap in financial inclusion across 55 developing markets.

Policies must be introduced or adapted to attempt to mitigate the gender gap in financial inclusion. In one country we researched, the laws for men and women to open bank accounts are still unequal. To close the gender gap, women must be fairly represented in top level decision-making positions in the financial sector. Without fair representation, it is unlikely that attempts to close the gender gap in financial inclusion, both on and offline, will be particularly successful.

“Women are underrepresented at all levels of the Global Financial System”

THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Our findings indicate that unequal access to national ID is in part responsible for the gender gap. In 21 of the countries we surveyed, women have unequal access to obtaining ID. Across the world, nearly all banks require ID in order to open an account. It’s unsurprising, then, that when it is more difficult for women to access ID, it is more difficult for women to open a bank account.  It is not only ID that women find harder to obtain; women’s access to financial services is made more challenging by digital access inequality. Men have better access to the internet in two thirds of the countries we surveyed. As men are more likely to own mobile phones than women, by default, women are more likely to find it difficult to access new banking technology including apps, digital wallets and e-money.

To drive change and close the gender gap in financial inclusion, women must be present in influential positions in the financial sector in order to advocate for equal access and inform effective policy changes. Currently, women hold less than 25% of the decision-making roles in the financial sector in 37 of the 55 countries we researched. In a 2018 study, The International Monetary Fund states that ‘women are underrepresented at all levels of the Global Financial System’. Without representation at the top level, men can monopolise decision-making at a senior level on gender related issues.

To address the noticeable inequality in the sector, we added 11 new indicators to this year’s Microscope. The indicators measure what governments worldwide are doing to address the gender gap. It is clear that more must be done to ensure women are represented in the financial sector, women must be able to advocate for impactful policy changes and be at the forefront of decision making.

Read the Index or explore our interactive index model here.