While gender norms affect financial inclusion from the demand side, how financial service providers (FSPs) respond to those norms has a dramatic impact on women’s inclusion. There are two main factors on the supply side that negatively affect how FSPs serve women. The first is that FSPs do not invest enough in serving women. Many consider women less bankable than men because women-owned businesses are often smaller, as are their profits. Women are also considered to be more risk averse than men.
Second, even when FSP claim to target women, it is often with “gender-neutral” processes that work against women. For example, loan or deposit withdrawal applications that require their husband’s signature, or loan terms that include mandatory savings or require attendance at training, can discourage women. Marketing materials that do not directly target women or show women as clients reinforces the perception that financial services are for men.
Financial sector interventions that support FSPs to proactively focus on women as clients cover both product design and operations.
Effective financial product design should take into account that women are not a monolith and that meeting their financial needs requires developing a more nuanced understanding of their preferences and behaviors, which are shaped by age, life stage, location, and contexts, among many other factors.
Furthermore, women need a broad range of financial and non-financial products and services to meet their diverse needs throughout their lives. Some of these are the same as what a men need, but many are affected by the barriers and circumstances particular to women’s contexts. For example, their needs may include both products and services for their own personal use and needs, such as their own health insurance and personal savings, and also for the diverse needs of their households and families, such as their children’s education and health, household improvement, and accessing basic services. When it comes to their business lives, women’s needs vary depending on their economic profile. The requirements, features, and product terms need to be tailored to these highly disparate needs. In all cases, effective product design should take into account collateral and documentary requirements that women have difficulty meeting.
FSPs also need to adjust their operations to meet women’s needs. For example, standard business hours affect women’s ability to access finance because of mobility and time-poverty issues. Lack of access to toilets or child/nursing facilities can also limit women’s ability to access finance.
Finally, FSPs should also consider whether their marketing and promotional campaigns are geared toward women and whether their service delivery ensures that women are treated respectfully and not in a patronizing manner.