Fintechs and the financial inclusion gender gap in Sub-Saharan African countries

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Women's Studies International Forum

Publication Date

3-1-2023

Abstract

This study addresses the issue of financial innovation in developing countries, focusing specifically on the role fintechs have in closing the gender gap of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the period 2011–2017. The empirical evidence is based on the multilevel tobit regression model fitted to panel data. The results of this study show that fintechs reduce the financial inclusion gender gap by mitigating the gender gap in access to and use of financial services. Furthermore, the results cast doubt on the ability of fintechs development to bridge this gap on its own, and hint on the joint importance of targeted policy initiatives aimed at directly closing the gender gap to this end. These findings have important economic policy implications and provide evidence of improved economic conditions for women in terms of financial inclusion or narrowing of the gender gap.

ISSN

0277-5395

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Volume

97

Disciplines

Business

Keywords

Financial inclusion, Fintechs development, Gender gap, SSA, Tobit

Scopus ID

85149787166

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Share

COinS