As discussed in the previous post, one of the key challenges regulators face in promoting women’s financial inclusion is a lack of buy-in from financial service providers (FSPs). So far, there is no clear or standard formula or even a set of effective actions that regulators and other stakeholders have taken to promote women’s financial inclusion among FSPs. Indeed, few regulators have been willing to mandate that financial institutions under their supervision expand outreach to women in the way that many have done for other marginalized groups, such as smallholder farmers.
In the Asia-Pacific region, one of the more advanced efforts at promoting women’s financial inclusion has been undertaken by the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) through its affiliate organization, the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI). In 2017, CEFI issued a Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Policy for Microfinance Institutions under the auspices of the ADB and DFAT Australia’s Microfinance Expansion Project (MEP). MEP has nine partner financial institutions (PFIs): seven microbanks and two savings and loan societies. Under the GESI policy, a Gender Action Plan (GAP) was developed with the following features:
- Integration of gender issues in the design of all microfinance training courses, including business development skills
- Delivery of training on gender awareness to PFI staff as well as external trainers and mentors
- Training on conducting market research with a gender lens was delivered to PFI staff
- Technical assistance to develop new women-focused financial products (achieved by three of the nine PFIs)
- Development of a sex-disaggregated data reporting framework
- Upgrading of PFI management information systems to be able to report sex-disaggregated data
- Support for CEFI to launch its own GESI Desk to serve as a focal point in providing directions to women-led SMEs for business support services and CEFI’s training and coaching program
MEP provided approximately $370,000 for these gender-related activities over four years. Such funding was considered pivotal in eliciting buy-in from the PFIs.
Although external funding is helpful, it is not always necessary. In the Philippines, Republic Act 9710 (known as the “Magna Carta of Women”) requires all government agencies to adopt gender mainstreaming. Based on this law, the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), which supervises cooperative banks as well as savings and credit cooperatives, issued Memorandum Circular 2013-22, “Guidelines on Mainstreaming Gender and Development (GAD) in Cooperatives” in November 2013. The Circular requires all cooperatives to i) formulate and implement GAD and gender equality policy, ii) include gender programs in their respective development plans with corresponding budgets, and iii) install mechanisms to monitor GAD implementation. Under this regulation, each cooperative must form a GAD committee, assign a GAD focal person, and conduct GAD education and training among its members.
To ensure that cooperatives comply with the Circular, CDA developed a gender assessment toolkit (GAT), provides free training and technical assistance for gender mainstreaming in cooperatives’ policies and programs, organizes fora and conferences, and guides the integration of sex-disaggregated data (SDD) reporting. CDA also provides recognition, awards, and incentives through its annual Outstanding Cooperative Leaders/Women Leaders competition.
An even more proactive approach is provided in the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) case study on how Pakistan’s regulators are seeking to close the financial inclusion gender gap. In 2021, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) introduced a gender mainstreaming policy called Banking on Equality. Its primary objective is to address the gender gap in financial inclusion through a comprehensive set of short-, medium-, and long- term measures around five fundamental pillars, each designed to support and enhance women’s engagement with formal financial services:
- Gender diversity in financial institutions and their access points
- Supervised financial institutions are mandated to develop a policy and targets to increase women among their staff and senior management, create a management sub-committee on gender, and provide gender sensitivity training to all staff
- Branchless banking providers must increase the number of women agents to at least 10
- Women-centric products and services
- Supervised financial institutions are mandated to create a specialized banking department that applies a gender lens to existing and new products and services, include a “Women’s Financial Services” section on their website and apps, and create and disseminate women’s financial literacy marketing campaign via a female marketing team
- Women’s champions at all touch points
- Supervised financial institutions are mandated to place women champions at all branch and 75% of touch point to cater for improved provision of women centric products
- Robust gender-disaggregated data collection and target setting
- Supervised financial institutions are mandated to provide sex-disaggregated data on a quarterly basis
- Based on this data, SBP will assign indicative targets for maintaining gender balance in products and services, and asked supervised financial institutions to submit a roadmap for reaching them
- Policy forum on gender and finance
- Chaired by SBP’s governor and including representation from banks, microfinance banks, electronic money issuers, government agencies, women chambers of commerce, civil society, and other gender leaders, the Forum is intended to discuss opportunities and challenges in women’s financial inclusion, review the existing policy framework, and prompt reforms in legal and regulatory frameworks to create space for innovations that support greater women’s financial inclusion.