Credit for All: Increasing Women's Access to Finance

Financial inclusion is important for accelerating economic growth, reducing income inequality, and decreasing poverty rates. Unfortunately, women face more difficulty than men in access to credit, limiting the development of their full market potential and hindering economic gain and entrepreneurship. Discriminatory practices in the granting of credit may mean that qualified applicants do not have the same opportunity to receive credit simply due to their gender.

To address this reality, some economies have outlawed gender discrimination in credit transactions. Others have implemented affirmative action programs that give women preferential treatment in access to credit and work to counter previous discrimination. Regulations such as these have the potential to boost women’s economic participation and trigger substantial financial growth.

To learn more about increasing women’s access to finance, click here to read an essay of mine, "Credit for all: Increasing women's access to finance," that was published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.