Digital Finance and Women's Economic Empowerment in Beyond-Production Roles in Agriculture

Description

Digital financial services were found to potentially promote women's economic empowerment by supporting women in:

• Gaining more free time and money, increased capacity to save and invest, links to higher value markets, improved household bargaining power and control over their own finances, and less vulnerability to environmental shocks.
• Saving more and having more agency over their income when they use digital savings accounts.
• Increasing their access to lending through digital alternative credit scoring systems.
• Increasing their access to credit including services such as crowdfarming and pay-as-you-go approaches that help women develop credit history.
• Increasing their access to agricultural insurance services through digital insurance, though there is no evidence of these services being successfully provided at scale at market rates.
• Bypassing cultural constraints on their mobility which can limit access to financial services.