IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/exs/wpaper/22-083.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

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

Author

Listed:
  • Aurelien K. Yeyouomo

    (University of Yaoundé 2, Soa, Cameroon)

  • Simplice A. Asongu

    (Yaoundé, Cameroon)

  • Peter Agyemang-Mintah

    (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate, UAE)

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, they 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 leading to a narrowing of the gender gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Aurelien K. Yeyouomo & Simplice A. Asongu & Peter Agyemang-Mintah, 2022. "Fintechs and the financial inclusion gender gap in Sub-Saharan African countries," Working Papers 22/083, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    • Handle: RePEc:exs:wpaper:22/083
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://publications.excas.org/RePEc/exs/exs-wpaper/Fintechs-and-the-financial-inclusion-gender-gap-in-Sub-Saharan-African-countries.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2018. "ICT, Financial Access and Gender Inclusion in the Formal Economic Sector: Evidence from Africa," The African Finance Journal, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 20(2), pages 45-65.
    2. Ratna Sahay & Martin Cihak, 2018. "Women in Finance: A Case for Closing Gaps," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/05, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Vanessa Simen Tchamyou, 2020. "Education, lifelong learning, inequality and financial access: evidence from African countries," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 7-25, January.
    4. Minasyan, Anna & Zenker, Juliane & Klasen, Stephan & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2019. "Educational gender gaps and economic growth: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 199-217.
    5. Guiso, Luigi & Zaccaria, Luana, 2023. "From patriarchy to partnership: Gender equality and household finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 573-595.
    6. Aterido, Reyes & Beck, Thorsten & Iacovone, Leonardo, 2013. "Access to Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Is There a Gender Gap?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 102-120.
    7. Valerija Botric & Tanja Broz, 2017. "Gender Differences in Financial Inclusion: Central and South Eastern Europe," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 15(2), pages 209-227.
    8. Ashraf, Nava & Karlan, Dean & Yin, Wesley, 2010. "Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 333-344, March.
    9. Rishi Kumar & D. C. Pathak, 2022. "Financial awareness: a bridge to financial inclusion," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(7), pages 968-980, October.
    10. Ms. Ratna Sahay & Mr. Ulric Eriksson von Allmen & Ms. Amina Lahreche & Purva Khera & Ms. Sumiko Ogawa & Majid Bazarbash & Ms. Kimberly Beaton, 2020. "The Promise of Fintech: Financial Inclusion in the Post COVID-19 Era," IMF Departmental Papers / Policy Papers 2020/009, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Klapper, Leora & Singer, Dorothe, 2013. "Financial inclusion and legal discrimination against women : evidence from developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6416, The World Bank.
    12. Simplice Asongu & Joseph Nnanna, 2020. "Inclusive human development in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 183-200, May.
    13. Purva Khera, 2018. "Closing Gender Gaps in India: Does Increasing Womens’ Access to Finance Help?," IMF Working Papers 2018/212, International Monetary Fund.
    14. David Yermack, 2018. "FinTech in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Has Worked Well, and What Hasn't," NBER Working Papers 25007, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Désiré Kanga & Christine Oughton & Laurence Harris & Victor Murinde, 2022. "The diffusion of fintech, financial inclusion and income per capita," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 108-136, January.
    16. Adegbite, Olayinka O. & Machethe, Charles L., 2020. "Bridging the financial inclusion gender gap in smallholder agriculture in Nigeria: An untapped potential for sustainable development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    17. Mr. Boileau Loko & Yuanchen Yang, 2022. "Fintech, Female Employment, and Gender Inequality," IMF Working Papers 2022/108, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Florence D. Mndolwa & Abdul Latif Alhassan, 2020. "Gender disparities in financial inclusion: Insights from Tanzania," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(4), pages 578-590, December.
    19. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2016. "The role of governance in mobile phones for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 55, pages 1-13.
    20. Purva Khera & Ms. Sumiko Ogawa & Ms. Ratna Sahay & Mahima Vasishth, 2022. "Women in Fintech: As Leaders and Users," IMF Working Papers 2022/140, International Monetary Fund.
    21. Xiuhua Wang & Jian Guan, 2017. "Financial inclusion: measurement, spatial effects and influencing factors," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(18), pages 1751-1762, April.
    22. Ayse Demir & Vanesa Pesqué-Cela & Yener Altunbas & Victor Murinde, 2022. "Fintech, financial inclusion and income inequality: a quantile regression approach," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 86-107, January.
    23. Yoke Wang Tok & Dyna Heng, 2022. "Fintech: Financial Inclusion or Exclusion?," IMF Working Papers 2022/080, International Monetary Fund.
    24. Ms. Ratna Sahay & Mr. Martin Cihak, 2018. "Women in Finance: A Case for Closing Gaps," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2018/005, International Monetary Fund.
    25. Turk Ariss, Rima, 2010. "On the implications of market power in banking: Evidence from developing countries," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 765-775, April.
    26. Swamy, Vighneswara, 2014. "Financial Inclusion, Gender Dimension, and Economic Impact on Poor Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-15.
    27. Lashitew, Addisu A. & van Tulder, Rob & Liasse, Yann, 2019. "Mobile phones for financial inclusion: What explains the diffusion of mobile money innovations?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1201-1215.
    28. Mark Kam Loon Loo, 2019. "Enhancing Financial Inclusion in ASEAN: Identifying the Best Growth Markets for Fintech," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Peter Agyemang-Mintah & Joseph Nnanna & Yolande E. Ngoungou, 2024. "Mobile money innovations, income inequality and gender inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Amankwah‐Amoah & Rexon T. Nting & Godfred Adjapong Afrifa, 2021. "Information Technology and Gender Economic Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 120-133, April.
    4. Adem Yavuz Elveren & Hale Kirmizioglu, 2022. "Financial Development and Female Labor Income Share: Evidence from Global Data," World Journal of Applied Economics, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 8(1), pages 35-49, June.
    5. Hermann Hegueu Ndoya & Charly Ondobo Tsala, 2021. "What drive gender gap in financial inclusion? Evidence from Cameroon," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(4), pages 674-687, December.
    6. Chandralekha Ghosh & Rimita Hom Chaudhury, 2019. "Gender Gap in case of Financial Inclusion: An Empirical Analysis in Indian Context," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(4), pages 2615-2630.
    7. Ekin Ayşe Özşuca, 2019. "Gender gap in financial inclusion: Evidence from MENA," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 8(4), pages 199-208.
    8. Asongu, Simplice A. & Adegboye, Alex & Nnanna, Joseph, 2021. "Promoting female economic inclusion for tax performance in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 159-170.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "The Effects of Mobile Phone Technology, Knowledge Creation and Diffusion on Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1367-1398, September.
    10. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "Mobile technology supply factors and mobile money innovation: thresholds for complementary policies," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 288-301, September.
    11. Asongu, Simplice A & Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2023. "Information technology, inequality and adult literacy in developing countries," Working Papers 29843, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    12. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas Odhiambo, 2022. "The role of mobile characteristics on mobile money innovations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4693-4710, December.
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Social Media and Inclusive Human Development in Africa," Working Papers 20/017, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    14. Thereza Balliester Reis, 2022. "Socio‐economic determinants of financial inclusion: An evaluation with a microdata multidimensional index," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 587-611, April.
    15. Asongu, Simplice A. & le Roux, Sara, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in transforming unemployed women to self-employed women in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    16. Asongu, Simplice A. & Ngoungou, Yolande E. & Nnanna, Joseph, 2023. "Mobile money innovations and health performance in sub-Saharan Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "Mobile technology supply factors and mobile money innovation: thresholds for complementary policies," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 288-301, September.
    18. Jean C. Kouam & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "Female Unemployment and Economic Growth in Cameroon: An Estimation of a Nonlinear Okun's Law Specification by the ARDL Cointegration Model," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/078, African Governance and Development Institute..
    19. Ms. Corinne C Delechat & Ms. Monique Newiak & Rui Xu & Mr. Fan Yang & Goksu Aslan, 2018. "What is Driving Women’s Financial Inclusion Across Countries?," IMF Working Papers 2018/038, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2021. "Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 678-688.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fintechs development; financial inclusion gender gap; Tobit; SSA;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:exs:wpaper:22/083. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Anutechia Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://excas.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.