Month: February 2023

Digital financial services (DFS), particularly mobile banking, have the potential to extend financial services to unbanked populations.^[1] Specifically, DFS reduce direct and indirect transaction costs. Mobile banking allows clients to access bank accounts, save money, and send and receive payments directly from their mobile phones, eliminating travel to a physical bank. Additionally, mobile banking reduces social or administrative constraints—such as in-person meetings and paperwork, and safety concerns while travelling with money—which can be especially salient for women.

This blog post uses baseline data collected as part of an ongoing randomized controlled trial to report on the opportunity presented by mobile banking in Bangladesh. Our baseline survey shows that mobile banking is not reaching unbanked women.^[2] Our data also show, however, that women hold positive perceptions regarding mobile banking, despite acknowledged constraints. These positive attitudes, in tandem with our intervention targeting key constraints, point to an opportunity to meaningfully improve women’s financial inclusion.

Figure 1: Banking and Mobile Banking Account Ownership

Figure 1 reports on shares of traditional bank account and mobile bank account ownership in our sample. Panel A demonstrates that six out of ten respondents have a traditional bank account, nearly five out of ten have a mobile bank account, and one out of four do not have any bank account. Panel B further investigates the share of mobile bank account ownership by respondents who have a traditional bank account. Those with a traditional bank account are 19 percentage points more likely to have a mobile bank account than those who lack a traditional bank account.^[3]  This shows that, at least on average, mobile banking is not necessarily a substitute for traditional banking. Moreover, mobile banking is not yet reaching women without a traditional bank account.

We also asked respondents to report their attitudes about the trustworthiness and safety of mobile banking. Attitudes are tricky to measure. A typical approach asks respondents to indicate how much they agree or disagree with a given statement using a Likert scale. Previous research finds, however, that responses to these types of survey questions can be sensitive to the framing of the statement. With this in mind, we designed two versions of survey questions measuring attitudes—one with a positively framed statement and the second with a negatively framed statement.

For example, a positively framed statement is, “Mobile banking is trustworthy,” and the corresponding negatively framed statement is, “Mobile banking is not trustworthy.” Respondents were asked to respond using the following Likert scale: “completely agree,” “agree,” “neutral,” “disagree,” and “completely disagree.”

Figure 2 reports responses to these survey questions and shows that the framing of these statements does influence how respondents answer. When framed positively, 85% of respondents either agree or completely agree that mobile banking is trustworthy. However, when framed negatively, only 67% of respondents either disagree or completely disagree that mobile banking is not trustworthy. Although in both cases, most of our respondents seem to indicate that mobile banking is trustworthy, the difference in framing leads to an 18 percentage point difference in responses.^[4] These large differences in responses based on statement framing represent an important area for future research, given the popularity of using surveys to assess respondents’ attitudes or feelings.

Figure 2: Attitudes on the use of Mobile Banking

Nevertheless, the results reported in Figure 2 are clear—most respondents feel that mobile banking is both trustworthy and safe. More respondents indicate that mobile banking is safer for transferring rather than for saving money, but in both cases and (regardless of framing) most respondents feel that mobile banking is safe. This is important as attitudes can represent a powerful constraint on adopting and using new technology.

So, what are the constraints on the use of mobile banking? Roughly half of our respondents—53% of those in the positive framing group and 45% of those in the negative framing group—indicate that mobile banking is too expensive. Depending on framing, between 29% and 50% of respondents indicate that mobile banking is hard to use. Finally, between 29% and 39% of respondents report that mobile banking is not for someone like themselves, indicating a perceived lack of self-value.

This information is important for our study, which randomizes the provision of (i) subsidies on the use of mobile banking (i.e., addressing the “too expensive” constraint) and (ii) assistance on how to open a mobile banking account with guidance on how to use mobile banking (i.e., addressing the “hard to use” constraint). These findings from our baseline survey demonstrate that most women see mobile banking as both trustworthy and safe, despite the acknowledged constraints on expanded use. These findings, therefore, highlight that our intervention might meaningfully improve women’s financial inclusion.

References

^[1] Unbanked populations are those that lack access to traditional financial services.

^[2] Over 99% of respondents are female.

^[3] All reported differences are statistically significant at conventional levels.

^[4] Ibid.

Access to finance enables women to improve their financial independence and economic empowerment. For example, evidence shows that direct wage payment into women’s accounts increases their financial control, household decision-making power, and savings while reducing borrowing. In recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile money account ownership has expanded among women in developing countries. Nonetheless, constraints such as a lack of mobile phones, distance from a bank branch, and poor financial literacy continue to hamper women’s participation in formal financial systems. Despite the short-term gains prompted by the pandemic, women are still at risk of long-term exclusion from formal financial systems.¹

These issues were discussed in a webinar titled “Expanding Women’s Financial Inclusion: Findex Gender Note 2021”, hosted by the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development in partnership with The World Bank. 

World Bank Lead Economist and Global Findex founder Leora Klapper presented key findings from the Women and Financial Inclusion report, which examines gender-based trends from the Findex Database 2021. Among others, Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking, and Momina Aijazuddin, Regional Industry Head of the MCT Financial Sector at the International Finance Corporation, presented key barriers to and opportunities for women’s financial inclusion.

The World Bank report reveals no gap in access to financial services between men and women in high-income economies and a narrowing gap in developing economies. For the first time in the past decade, the gender gap in access to financial services in developing economies dropped to 4 percentage points.² Iskenderian noted optimistically that, “as a result, we have reached the highest level of women included in the formal financial system ever.” Similarly, the gender gap in account ownership in these contexts fell from 9 percentage points (where it stalled for many years) to 6 percentage points.³ In 2021, 74% of men had an account, compared to 68% of women, while in 2011, 46% of men had an account, compared to just 37% of women. Government allowances and salary payments issued via mobile money during the COVID-19 pandemic may have catalyzed account ownership growth.⁴

Despite recent improvements in women’s financial inclusion, many impediments persist. One major obstacle is access to mobile phones. This gap is especially prominent in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where women are 22 percentage points and 9 percentage points, respectively, less likely than men to have a mobile phone.⁵ Across Sub-Saharan Africa, unbanked women are seven percentage points more likely than unbanked men to cite the lack of a mobile phone as a significant setback for not having a mobile money account.⁶

Key barriers that prevent women from owning a phone include affordability, literacy, digital skills, safety and security, and lack of an identification card, particularly in the case of Sub-Saharan Africa.⁷ COVID-driven digital usage, especially for payments, may have sped up financial inclusion for the short term, but according to Iskenderian, “unequal access to technology opens up longer-term risks of exclusion.”

Moreover, women’s lack of financial knowledge and confidence may put them at greater risk of financial abuse. For example, unbanked women in developing countries are 10 percentage points more likely than men to need help with their accounts.⁸ Klapper noted that “A strong and enforced consumer protection framework [is required along with] ongoing financial education and support for women’s financial inclusion.”

Another common barrier across geographies is a lack of trust in unfamiliar financial systems. During the Russia-Ukraine war, Women’s World Banking found that despite high rates of account and debit card ownership among Ukrainian women, most carried their money in cash when they relocated to another country. They took this risk due to fear that they would be unable to access their funds digitally overseas. Many of these women suffered as a result. Iskenderian cited that “Their money was stolen, largely by host families. There is also evidence of trafficking, and often they were offered lower exchange rates for Ukrainian currency.”

Momina Aijazuddin cited a similar trend in Bangladesh, noting, “[When DFS was introduced nationally], Bangladeshi women did not want to go to agents. They did not want to give out their personal numbers. They thought agents would message them or bother them.” These examples emphasize the need for financial inclusion programs to build awareness regarding the privacy and security of systems in order to earn women’s trust.  

While the spread of mobile money accounts has created new opportunities to better serve women excluded from the formal financial system, this process is not static.⁹ It is important to note, as Iskenderian said, that “Globally, one-third of women are more likely to have an inactive account than men.” Hence, greater effort is required to keep women in the system because, according to Iskenderian, ” women [in developing countries] are more susceptible to social, cultural, and relationship challenges that complicate their economic and financial sector engagement.”

Despite these pervasive barriers, speakers identified a way forward: “To encourage the financial inclusion of women, we need to move away from product-centric design and adopt a more customer-centric approach that focuses on the needs of women clients. We must bring together policymakers and service providers to design more gender-inclusive financial products.” 

In conclusion, despite the shrinking gender gap in access to financial services, barriers to full financial inclusion for women in developing countries persist. There is an urgent need to introduce women-centric products that build privacy and trust and enable women to save, borrow, and meaningfully participate in the digital financial ecosystem. These efforts may improve women’s financial access and eventually advance women’s economic empowerment. 

References

1. Klapper, L. (2021). Women and Financial Inclusion. The World Bank. https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/45619be5de8592403df8558559627234-0050062022/original/Findex-GenderBrief.pdf

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

Raihana Sayeeda Kamal is a Manager- Research Communications at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD).

In the two years since its launch, WEE-DiFine has established a portfolio of 18 research projects spanning nine countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, WEE-DiFine supports three projects in India—a country deeply affected by COVID-19. To better understand the challenges these teams faced and how they were dealing with project setbacks, we interviewed members of each of the research teams.

While teams experienced challenges due to the pandemic, we learned that teams are agile and also able to take learnings from the last two years and apply them to other projects. Moreover, being forced to slow down created space to challenge existing assumptions around gender and social norms.

Pivoting to remote data collection 

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, government-mandated lockdowns coupled with physical distancing precautions made in-person activities difficult, if not impossible. All three research teams interviewed experienced this challenge. Remote data collection presented a viable solution. However, it also created a host of concerns and secondary challenges that project teams had not previously experienced.

The Good Business Lab (GBL) is studying the effects of a salary advance intervention for female workers. When COVID-19 cases reached peak numbers, the team’s implementation partner, Shahi Exports, restricted external access to their factories, inhibiting the research team from interviewing its subjects. Although the team considered shifting to phone surveys for this project, they were worried about the impacts on data quality. Moreover, this change would prevent the team from experiencing the research setting, removing the richness that comes from being able to observe participants in a natural context. 

Teams that did shift to remote data collection reported that the shift took longer and was more difficult than anticipated. Something as simple as getting the correct person on the phone in contexts where phones may be shared presents additional challenges for researchers. Moreover, the research teams weren’t just shifting to a new mode of data collection; they were doing so with the added burden of knowing that in-person enumerator trainings could be halted at any point in time due to the ongoing uncertainties imposed by the pandemic.

Furthermore, there are additional challenges associated with remotely conducting participatory research, which is characterized by direct interaction and collaboration with participants.  Jaspreet Singh of Busara explained that his team could easily conduct interviews remotely, but “With card sorting, it’s kind of troublesome. We did try to do that, we tried to do that on WhatsApp, but what we ran into were issues where you cannot share images and you cannot ask them to send a voice note because of data expenses. And that barrier does not go away even if we offer to pay them for their data charges.” Singh noted that some forms of participatory research would be best accomplished in person in the future.

Ultimately, teams worked through these varied challenges and learned new skills and processes as a result. Recognizing the tradeoffs that come from remote data collection generates lasting knowledge for teams both in challenging times and as an alternative to traditional practices. For example, the IEIC at IFMR team shared that conducting back-checks via phone proved to be a cost-effective way to validate survey responses. On the other hand, they noted that their response rates to in-person back-checks are notably higher. 

Collectively, we likely have a lot to learn from how peer, research, and implementation organizations confronted data collection challenges during the pandemic’s peak and what tools and resources we should continue utilizing in the future. 

Slow-downs created space for counter-assumptions 

Not surprisingly, the challenges discussed above slowed data collection for our funded teams. Unexpected delays created space for teams to engage in deep reflection. What emerged was greater insight into gender dynamics that challenged previous assumptions. 

Faced with delays and additional time to refine their research plan, GBL researchers conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with female factory workers. The results gave the team pause. The GBL team learned that among women in their study sample, greater financial responsibility for women in the household is not necessarily associated with greater agency. Research Associate Apoorv Somanchi explained, 

“We found that women’s beliefs are often contrary to the traditional definitions of agency, and hence we had to update our own beliefs in this process. For example, during our primary research exercises, we often heard women express no desire to be involved in certain household decisions—then, asking women questions on whether they are involved in decisions or not would be a bad measure, as it would not capture their inherent desire but rather an assumption that greater involvement in financial decision-making would imply greater agency.”

Apoorv went on to explain that this research topic appears to be underexplored in the current literature, pointing to the value of these insights for this project and the field more broadly. 

The Busara team had a similar experience. Busara is investigating the effects of a mental accounting intervention administered through a savings app on women living in poverty. However, the team has faced difficulty finding participants who fit the study’s requirements and are willing to participate. This is driven mostly by a lack of digital financial services (DFS) adoption among the population that was initially targeted for the study. Jaspreet explained, “Do they really trust an app to enable their savings? Do they have that mindset? And what we’ve been trying to do is find the subset of women who have either already been engaging with digital apps, or they already are from the big tech family industry –  for example, amazon delivery consortiums.” Although it may seem that working women would seek support in financial management, Busara has discovered that the women in India who they work with do not typically trust the savings aspect of DFS; acceptance of credit is higher than that of savings. Women are reluctant to share their financial data, given the prevalence of scams in the country. Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. By claiming to be an individual’s financial institution, they are able to convince them to reveal sensitive information. Another tactic involves preying on an individual’s emotions and demanding that money be sent to the scammer. Barriers to DFS adoption and usage need to be considered when studying the relationship between DFS and WEE.  

Finally, through additional pre-testing of tools, the IEIC at IFMR team gained insight into intrahousehold norms, finding that what a woman views as the household norms may not be the same as what her husband views as the household norms. Harsh Jaiswal explained, “…sometimes they [husbands] are more liberal than the spouse will think, or the other way around. So, assuming that there are two people in the same household who are informed about each other’s norms might be a really poor assumption, is something that has been probably one of the biggest learnings for me.” Therefore, shifting norms and encouraging the adoption of digital devices is complicated by a lack of understanding of intrahousehold norms among household members. 

While these insights will be further unpacked as projects progress, the Initiative sees value in these early learnings and reflections from teams. 

What’s next for WEE-DiFine

At the end of each interview, we asked interviewees, “What could WEE-DiFine do to better support researchers like you?” Two of the teams noted the same idea: an opportunity to meet and discuss challenges and ideas with other WEE-DiFine-funded project teams. At the time of writing this post, we are actively working to bring our community of project teams together to discuss the challenges each team experienced and the innovations and realizations that resulted from confronting those challenges. 

Jenna Grzeslo (jenna.grzeslo@bracusa.org) is Senior Program Manager, Research & Learning at BRAC USA. In this role, she supports the portfolio of projects funded by the WEE-DiFine initiative at BIGD. At the time of writing this blog post, Leena Khan was an intern at BRAC USA and is currently in her final semester of study at Georgetown University. 

Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) has been shown to improve the health and well-being of households^[1]. Unfortunately, many women lack financial empowerment and the agency to share the challenges they experience. Pregnant women and those with young children are particularly vulnerable to financial and emotional challenges because most cannot actively participate in economic activities as their pregnancy advances or immediately after childbirth.

By using the deep hanging out method^[2], our study examines women’s access to and use of digital financial services (DFS) and how this access affects their economic empowerment and maternal mental health. To explore this relationship further, we observed 20 female participants ages 15 – 49 who were either pregnant or had a child less than one year in age within Khwisero, a rural area in Kakamega County in Kenya.

Theory of deep hanging out

Deep hanging out is a form of participant observation in which researchers immerse themselves in the experiences of their subjects. Rooted in anthropology, the method leads to richer, more insightful data than that generated by short or one-time interviews. The approach enables the researcher to see the different aspects of the participant’s life, including those that cannot be captured by in-depth interviews. The method also enhances the researcher’s theoretical sensitivity and helps to diminish the power dynamics between researcher and subject by enabling more free conversations and in-depth sharing.^[3]

In our study, the deep hanging out approach enabled us to not only understand what women go through in their daily lives, but to be part and parcel of their lives for a brief moment. Our interviewers were able to feel and recognize the complexities of the participants’ perspectives on DFS, the economic activities they engaged in, and the mental stress they experienced.

Deep hanging out in practice

The deep hanging out method for this study involved field researchers accompanying participants on their daily routines and engaging in informal conversations.

We engaged field interviewers who spoke the local language and trained them on the process of deep hanging out. Each field interviewer followed ten women and visited them twice a month. The field team kept field journals where they recorded appointments with participants, field notes, and personal reflections about their observations. On the first day, the field interviewers were accompanied by a community health volunteer who introduced the field researcher to the participant and helped obtain consent from participants and their spouses.

Each subsequent visit lasted around six hours and involved observing participants’ daily activities, such as caring for children, fetching water, cooking, going to the market, and running errands outside the home, including visiting shops that accept M-PESA.^[4] To create and sustain rapport, interviewers accompanied their pregnant participants to the antenatal care clinics and visited those that gave birth. Occasionally, field interviewers also engaged in discussions with the husbands of participants.

In addition to observations, deep hanging out involves long conversations with participants. Engaging in longer dialogues encouraged the participants to be more open and free with the field interviewers, especially with topics related to DFS, such as how these services have helped them to access soft loans and to participate in economic activities and savings groups. The interviewers were able to capture the actual events in the participants’ lives, the challenges they faced, and the solutions they devised.

The excerpt below illustrates the depth of mental stress experienced by a participant and how she was comfortable sharing her information with the interviewer^[5]:

Currently, the husband does not support her economically she says. This really stresses her. She says he drinks a lot and at times beats her […]. As we pass a certain pub where there is an alcohol scent, she says how she hates alcohol because her husband drinks daily and becomes violent to her. We join the other two women opposite her kiosk…each time they leave us… she feels free to talk about her personal life.

It is only through a strong rapport between the interviewer and the participant that sharing like this is able to take place, thus illustrating the value of this immersive methodology.

Looking ahead

Deep hanging out is instrumental in capturing the real-time experiences of program participants. As illustrated above, this method fosters candid conversation that reveals a depth of information immune to other methods of data collection. Over time, this method can unpack the social processes and factors that influence the behavior of participants.

Ultimately, the deep hanging out method enabled the research team to capture how participants in the study used DFS and the changes these services elicited in their empowerment levels and mental health. Specifically, researchers observed that access to and use of digital financial platforms helped women cope with financial shocks. Additionally, observing women’s engagement with DFS provided the researchers with in-depth information about how to tailor interventions for financial inclusion to women. These exciting findings are forthcoming and will be unveiled in a subsequent post.

[1] Annan, J., Donald, A., Goldstein, M., Gonzalez Martinez, P. & Koolwal, G. Taking Power: Women’s Empowerment and Household Well-Being in Sub-Saharan Africa. Policy Res. Work. Pap. (2019) doi:10.1596/1813-9450-9034.

[2] Walmsley, B. Deep hanging out in the arts: an anthropological approach to capturing cultural value. Int. J. Cult. Policy 24, 272–291 (2018)

[3] Fitzgerald, J. & Mills, J. The Importance of Ethnographic Observation in Grounded Theory Research. Forum Qual. Sozialforsch. 23, (2022).

[4] M-PESA is the leading mobile money platform in Africa https://www.vodafone.com/about-vodafone/what-we-do/consumer-products-and-services/m-pesa.

[5] Participants were informed that their information may be shared with governmental authorities if they or someone else they speak about is in danger or in cases where reporting was required by law.

Authors: Caroline Wainaina^1,2, Emmy Igonya¹, Wendy Janssens^3,4 , Estelle M. Sidze¹

^{1 African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya
2 University Medical Centre, Utrecht, Netherlands
3 Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
4 Amsterdam Institute of Global Health and Development, Amsterdam, Netherlands}