Gender and Financial Inclusion Through the Post

This paper shows that the Post could play a leading role in the financial inclusion of women. Postal operators in 87 countries already provide current or savings accounts to 1 billion people worldwide, more than half of them women. The author’s findings indicate that the Post seems to be better at serving women than other financial institutions (FIs), as the share of female clients at post offices with account-based financial services is twice as high.

As underlying reasons, the authors identify the Post’s wider distribution and the fact that it offers cheaper services. They point out that this result seems to be driven by the fact that FIs discriminate more against women, not that postal operators are specifically reaching out to women. The paper concludes by stating that more countries should offer basic Post-based financial services, adapted to the needs of potential female clients.