Financial inclusion through FinTech and women's financial empowerment
International Journal of Social Economics
ISSN: 0306-8293
Article publication date: 28 February 2023
Issue publication date: 4 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Women's financial empowerment (WFE) is one of the sustainable development goals. This research examines the effect of financial inclusion through FinTech (FIF) on WFE at the international level. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze the dataset of 113 countries from the Global Findex (2017) and World Bank databases using principal component analysis (PCA) and cross-sectional data methodology. Initially, they calculate the overall index for FIF with PCA. Then, they investigate the effect of FIF on WFE in two groups of countries classified by low and high levels of gender discrimination.
Findings
The results show that the relationship between FIF and WFE is positive and significant in countries classified by low levels of gender discrimination. However, this effect is insignificant in countries with high gender discrimination. Hence, gender inequality is a barrier and denies financial independence to women.
Research limitations/implications
Given these results, it seems unlikely that FinTech will be able to eliminate the gender gap in financial inclusion on its own for women's empowerment. To directly address the gender gap and alter attitudes and social norms across demographics, FinTech development may need to be supplemented with focused policy initiatives.
Originality/value
This study provides evidence of FIF's impact on WFE at the international level.
Keywords
Citation
Esmaeilpour Moghadam, H. and Karami, A. (2023), "Financial inclusion through FinTech and women's financial empowerment", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 50 No. 8, pp. 1038-1059. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-04-2022-0246
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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