The comparative economics of financial access in gender economic inclusion

Abstract

PurposeThe study has investigated the comparative importance of financial access in promoting gender inclusion in African countries.Design/methodology/approachGender inclusion is proxied by the female labour participation rate while financial channels include: financial system deposits and private domestic credit. The empirical evidence is based on non-contemporary fixed effects regressions.FindingsIn order to provide more implications on comparative relevance, the dataset is categorised into income levels (middle income versus (vs.) low income); legal origins (French civil law vs. English common law); religious domination (Islam vs. Christianity); openness to sea (coastal vs. landlocked); resource-wealth (oil-poor vs. oil-rich) and political stability (stable vs. unstable). Six main hypotheses are tested, notably, that middle income, English common law, Christianity, coastal, oil-rich and stable countries enjoy better levels of “financial access”-induced gender inclusion compared to respectively, low income, French civil law, Islam, landlocked, oil-poor and unstable countries. All six tested hypotheses are validated.Originality/valueThis is the first study on the comparative importance of financial access in gender economic participation.

Determinants of financial inclusion across gender in Saudi Arabia: evidence from the World Bank's Global Financial Inclusion survey

“…Balasubramanian and Kuppusamy ( 2021) assessed women's participation in the workforce and its implications for enhancing the access and usage of financial services by females. Many studies have used demographic factors as key determinants of financial inclusion (Shihadeh, 2018;€ Ozs ¸uca, 2019;Alhanawi et al, 2020;Asongu and Nting, 2020;Bozkurt and Karakus ¸, 2020;Kling et al, 2020). Access to financial products can enhance employment output, increase the level of savings and induce entrepreneurship (Guiso et al, 2004;Brown et al, 2019;Celerier and Matray, 2019).…”

“…, 2004; Brown et al. , 2019; Ćelerier and Matray, 2019; Asongu and Nting, 2020). Still, women across the globe remain unbanked or underbanked as compared to men; therefore, women have lower rates of bank account ownership than men (Demirgüç-Kunt et al.…”

“…Empirical evidence indicates that access and usage of financial services enhance the empowerment across the groups, helps to acquire wealth and enhances chances to start a business (Guiso et al, 2004;Brown et al, 2019;Celerier and Matray, 2019;Asongu and Nting, 2020). Still, women across the globe remain unbanked or underbanked as compared to men; therefore, women have lower rates of bank account ownership than men (Demirg€ uç-Kunt et al, 2013;Arnold and Gammage, 2019) and are less likely to manage household finances Financial inclusion (Bhatia and Singh, 2019;Guiso and Zaccaria, 2021).…”

Impact of COVID-19 on the Income of Entrepreneurs Who Borrowed from SHG

“…There is a dearth of the theory of personal finance and microfinancing for small entrepreneurs that enumerates what factors affect the financial choices of households (Lusardi & Tufano, 2015). COVID-19 impacted the attainment of the goal of financial inclusion differently in different parts of the globe, depending on the scope and pace of development (Asongu & Nting, 2020). Emerging economies such as Vietnam, China and India have developed policies for financial inclusion and funding entrepreneurs during COVID-19.…”