Women need a broad range of 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. Gender transformative approaches such as Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) and others, as well as training and advocacy can be used to overcome these deep-seated cultural norms.
A key driver of women’s financial inclusion is financial education, which focuses on building financial capability among people with low levels of education. The aim of financial education is to develop personal and household financial capabilities so that people can manage their personal and household income efficiently. Improved financial capability results in efficient management of income, increased savings, and enhanced economic self-reliance. Especially for women, economic self-reliance and control over financial resources can lead to an elevation of their status and influence within their household and community.
Financial education can also support or instill credit discipline and foster a savings mentality. With access to safe savings mechanisms, women and girls achieve personal and household goals and save for specific purposes, including starting or expanding economically productive activities. Saving in small amounts over a period of time can help with the purchase of assets. Savings and valuable assets can be used as collateral for loans for personal, household, and enterprise needs. Well-designed products, including savings, credit, and insurance products linked to investment instruments, offer customers the protection against risks and shocks.
In addition to financial education, other non-financial interventions that women need include skills development and business development services. Skills development is essential to ensure sustainable self-employment. Business development services includes not only the financial capability development of the business owner and manager (e.g., know-how of financial products and services and bookkeeping) but also inventory management, human resource management, information systems, legal and regulatory norms, resource management, managing competition and environmental risks, etc.). MSMEs require access to capacity building, mentoring, and advisory services as well as enterprise development support services such as access to information, markets, and technology.
Digital platforms can offer options for women to overcome some traditional barriers to their involvement in higher-value work. They can reduce women’s barriers to entry and re-entry into the workforce and formalize and legitimize women’s work. Some focus on the professionalization and training of workers, thereby facilitating the training and skill development of women.
On the other hand, the benefits of digital platforms vary across sectors or countries, and technology can also recreate and amplify existing inequalities in the labor market, disproportionately hurting women’s labor force participation. The growing importance of digital infrastructure means that women’s access and usage of technology increasingly determines their rate of participation in education, technological adoption, and the labor force. Building skills for the digital economy is integral to ensuring sustainable growth and productivity in the future of work.
Removing the barriers that women face in accessing these services can provide them with opportunities to build shared prosperity. With access to and use of a range of financial and non-financial services, women in households and women-owned MSMEs can work towards their own well-being and sustainability, and contribute to the economy and poverty reduction.