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Financial inclusion through FinTech and women's financial empowerment

Hadi Esmaeilpour Moghadam (Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran)
Arezou Karami (Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran)

International Journal of Social Economics

ISSN: 0306-8293

Article publication date: 28 February 2023

Issue publication date: 4 August 2023

1017

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

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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