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The Role of Gender in Agent Banking : Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo

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Listed:
  • Chamboko,Richard
  • Cull,Robert J.
  • Gine,Xavier
  • Heitmann,Soren
  • Reitzug,Fabian
  • Van Der Westhuizen,Morne

Abstract

This paper uses a unique data set with 1.1 million customer transactions from a microfinanceinstitution in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2017 to 2018. The paper provides evidence of assortative gendermatching in agent banking transactions, as clients prefer to transact with agents of their own gender. Female clientsshow a robust preference for female agents even when they are less available, particularly when making high-valuetransactions and when they have higher account balances. The underrepresentation of female agents may contribute to thepersistent gender gap in financial access and usage.

Suggested Citation

  • Chamboko,Richard & Cull,Robert J. & Gine,Xavier & Heitmann,Soren & Reitzug,Fabian & Van Der Westhuizen,Morne, 2020. "The Role of Gender in Agent Banking : Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9449, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9449
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    Cited by:

    1. Johnen, Constantin & Parlasca, Martin & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2023. "Mobile money adoption in Kenya: The role of mobile money agents," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    2. Ölkers, Tim & Liu, Shuang & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2023. "A typology of Malian farmers and their credit repayment performance - An unsupervised machine learning approach," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334547, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    3. Shen, Kailing, 2021. "Gender Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 14897, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Richard Chamboko, 2022. "On the Role of Gender and Age in the Use of Digital Financial Services in Zimbabwe," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, September.
    5. Julien, Jacques C. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Rada, Nicholas E., 2023. "Gender and agricultural Productivity: Econometric evidence from Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    6. Gupta, Sanal & Singh, Puran, 2023. "What drives activity of banking agents? Evidence from Rural India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender and Development; Financial Sector Policy; Banks & Banking Reform; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G29 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Other

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