Closing the Gender Gap in Mobile Banking in Ghana

Abstract

Financial inclusion remains low for women in Sub-Saharan Africa, but digital financial services have the potential to deliver affordable financial services to women. This research studies constraints to active mobile banking use by surveying the clients of a financial institution in Ghana. I found that while low savings capacity and lack of awareness inhibit both men and women from actively using mobile banking, three constraints disproportionately constrain women: low digital literacy, the risk of fraud, and the lack of agency. Women in this population are well-educated, which indicates that education is not a predictive factor for digital literacy, fear of fraud, or agency. Rather, these constraints are systemic and require active intervention by financial institutions and other organizations to close the gender gaps that limit adoption. This research identifies unique profiles for various user types, including non-registered clients, registered non-users, and infrequent users. I propose cross-cutting interventions to address constraints across these groups and tailored approaches to encourage uptake within each user group, including robust, contextualized, and accessible training programs with in-person components tailored to each user group.