vritti
Changing Lives
May 2017
21
Regulatory Constraints: Social Constraints:
According to the 2016 report of World Bank Group's
“Women, Business and Law Project”, about 90
percent of 173 economies covered in the project
have at least one law impeding women's
economic opportunities. For example, in some
countries such as Saudi Arabia, women are not
allowed to open the bank account. In some
countries the women are required to furnish
specific permission or documentation which is very
difficult to obtain. Property or land is normally not
titled in the name of women, which is considered
a preferred form of collateral among banks. Bank
account opening procedure requires identity
documents, thus becoming a major barrier for
undocumented women in developing countries.
Gender gap related to identity document is
significant in Middle East and South Asian countries. Women in developing nations have lesser
control over economic resources. According to a
study by United Nations in 2015, one-third
women in these economies do not have control
over household spending on major purchases.
They remain dependent upon their husbands
and one-tenth of women are not even consulted
over how their own earnings are spent. Therefore,
the bargaining power and social status of women
within their household is significantly low. Further,
women have less access to formal education
and are mostly involved in lower-paying economic
activities or are not working. Women are more
sensitized towards privacy. A study by GSMA in
2015 reveals that women are 14% less likely to
own a mobile phone than men and even if they do
they are less likely to use it due to privacy issues.
Supply Side Constraints:
One example of this barrier is that women find it
difficult to interact with male point of contact in
banks as female point of contact is less. Women
find uncomfortable to visit bank branches which
predominantly has significant male population
coming for their banking needs. Very few banks have
women only branches. The product offerings are
not targeted for women in developing nations,
considering their lesser ability to manage the risk
and high cost of bank account ownership. The
access channels are also constrained. Women
are burdened with household related work and
do not have much time to travel to bank branches.
The ATMs are sometimes not guarded that prohibit
women to withdraw money as possibility of theft
is higher. Further, the ATMs located in isolated
places prohibit women from venturing there. There
are lower rates of cell phone ownership among
women so they again are constrained to access
digital financial products such as mobile banking.