Library

Download here - English

Gender norms & financial regulation

To advance women’s financial inclusion, financial sector regulatory authorities must recognize that men and women face different lived realities when engaging with the financial sector.
This working paper provides a framework to assess how regulation and supervisory practices can impact men and women differently. It aims to motivate financial regulators to move from gender-blind, to gender intentional approaches.
Gender lens analysis of regulations requires consideration of three types of constraints to women’s financial inclusion, which are shaped by gender norms: (1) Inability to fulfill prerequisites to access financial services; (2) Patterns of engagement between women and financial service providers; and (3) Insufficient attention to women’s financial needs.
Regulators may help address constraints on women’s financial inclusion by adapting prerequisites for accessing financial services; accommodating or creating new patterns of engagement between women and providers; and/or incentivizing providers to provide particular products and services for women customers.