Does it (Re)pay to be Female? Considering Gender in Microfinance Loan Officer-Client Pairs

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of the gender combination of client-loan officer pairs on loan repayment in an Ecuadorian microfinance institution. We show that among the four possible clientloan officer gender pairs i.e., female client-female loan officer, female client-male loan officer, male client-male loan officer and male client-female loan officer, the most favorable pairs in terms of repayment are those with female loan officers whereas the least favorable are those with male loan officers. We also show that repayment is even further enhanced for all client-loan officer pairs when the client's previous loan officer was a woman. Our findings point to relational differences between male and female loan officers when interacting with microfinance clients, which is also highlighted by our qualitative insights from the field.