To celebrate Women’s World Banking’s (WWB) 45th anniversary, we are showcasing the voices of individuals from around the world who have shaped and touched Women’s World Banking journey. These are stories from across Women’s World Banking’s reach from the women we serve and our customers, to allies and women in leadership who have contributed to women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion. Meet Sylvia Chin, Partner at White & Case in New York. Since September 1975 – a mere four months after we were founded – Sylvia has been integral to Women’s World Banking’s operations in New Yor ..read more

The Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion (WDFI) Advocacy Hub team recently met with coalition members and the larger women’s financial inclusion ecosystem in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is home to one of the local coalitions, and two coalition members joined from Indonesia, home to the other local coalition (Dr. Arifah Rahmawati, Secretary of the Economic and Employment Council of the Central Leadership of Aisyiyah, and Dr. Erdiriyo, Deputy Assistant in Charge of Financial Inclusion & Islamic Finance at the Indonesian Coordination Ministry of Economic Affairs). Alongside our partner United Nation ..read more

Women’s financial well-being requires agency, and a gender lens on financial well-being is critical to ensuring it is a relevant outcome for women. Download the Insight Note Financial well-being and related concepts like financial health, financial security, and resilience are gaining prominence as important outcomes of financial services access and use. Getting these interconnected aspects of financial well-being right is critical for adapting financial services to the felt needs and experiences of the most financially vulnerable populations, especially women. There are several existing defin ..read more

By Dr. Sonja Kelly, Global Vice President, Research & Advocacy, Women’s World Banking The early release of the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap 2024 headlines, the World Bank Global Digital Summit, and the preparations for Brazil’s G20 focus on digital identity and data governance converged this past week, with important insights on women’s digital inclusion. The timing of these could not be better, on the heels of International Women’s Day and bringing us into the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) convening this week at the UN. As we celebrate these insights and efforts, we at Women’s World B ..read more

To celebrate Women’s World Banking’s 45th anniversary, we are showcasing the voices of individuals from around the world who have shaped and touched Women’s World Banking journey since its inception in 1979 at Commission on the Status of Women till today! These are stories from across Women’s World Banking’s reach from the women we serve and our customers, to allies and women in leadership who have contributed to women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion. Meet Blanca Estela Olvera. She is an entrepreneur living in Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, the central hub for commerce and services fo ..read more

An unchartered path always held an allure for her.   While it was unusual for a girl from Kansas City to go to college on the East Coast in the 50’s, she took the risk anyway.   After her freshman year at Manhattanville College in 1952, she jumpstarted her career and secured a job at Merrill Lynch as the Assistant to the Head of the newly created Foreign Department, becoming one of the first few women on Wall Street.   As if that wasn’t enough, she also attended night classes.  A year later, her father fell ill, moving her back to Kansas City. She kept in ste ..read more

This toolkit is designed to empower financial service providers in refining and enhancing their digital credit solutions to better serve low-income women, particularly micro-entrepreneurs. Providers will be equipped with strategies to design and implement initiatives aimed at improving access to credit for women, addressing the unique challenges they face in securing financial support. Our toolkit focuses on narrowing the gender gap in credit access by outlining a Digital Credit Activation Solution. This solution incorporates a user-friendly digital platform accessible via mobile devices, flex ..read more

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The Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion (WDFI) Advocacy Hub, launched in July 2022, is a catalyst for collective action joining together public and private sector organizations to accelerate progress in women’s digital financial inclusion. At the start of 2024, we are looking back at our first full year and the progress we have made towards financial equality. The Advocacy Hub includes 1) members from across the globe who are driving initiatives to accelerate WDFI, and 2) members from two proof of concept markets, Indonesia and Ethiopia, where we have piloted a Global South-led advocacy approa ..read more

By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, and Mehrdad Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst In 2020, we began a journey to understand algorithmic bias as it relates to women’s financial inclusion. What is it? Why does it matter especially now? Where does it emerge? How might it be mitigated? This topic is especially important as we speed into a digital finance future. Women are less likely to own a phone, less likely to own a smartphone, and less likely to access the internet. Under these conditions, it is not a guarantee that digital credit underwriting will keep women’s digital constraint ..read more