Around the world, 1.3 billion people remain unbanked and women lag behind men in terms of access to formal accounts, credit, and savings products. FinEquity, a community of practice to empower women through financial inclusion, is convened by CGAP. It provides facilitated platforms to share experiences, identify key challenges, document and discuss emerging good practices, and solve common problems associated with increasing equitable access to and use of a broad range of financial services. Learn More
What we are reading? A series of key resources from CGAP on gender norms
- A practical framework to understand and act on gender norms.
- A diagnostic guide provides a field-tested methodology for diagnosing gender norm constraints.
- A design guide offers practical tools to help shape financial services that better meet women’s needs.
- A gender lens regulatory framework helps identify how regulation can impact men and women differently.
FinEquity Community Newsletter | December 2025
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Thank you for a year of learning and collaboration with FinEquity. Explore what we accomplished together in 2025.
More women have financial accounts, yet equal access and use remain works in progress
The Global Findex 2025 shows that women’s account ownership in low- and middle-income economies has reached 73%—a major gain since 2021. Yet 700 million women remain unbanked. Closing the gap requires tackling barriers and expanding access to digital financial services.
Blog - World Bank | Nov 2025
FinEquity Independent Evaluation Report
We are excited to share the results of FinEquity’s Independent Evaluation! The findings highlight the critical role of FinEquity in keeping gender on the agenda, creating a trusted, inclusive space where diverse stakeholders can connect, learn, and collaborate. Two-thirds of those interviewed and surveyed valued FinEquity for learning and knowledge exchange, while 40% found direct impacts on their work in designing strategies and solutions and identifying partners.
Member Spotlight - Janet Kuteli, CEO Fortune Credit
FinEquity spoke to Janet Kuteli (Fortune Credit) during SAM (African Inclusive Finance Week) 2025 organized by ADA - Appui au Développement Autonome in Nairobi. In this video interview, Janet shares insights on the challenges facing financial services in Kenya, where current approaches fall short for women, and highlights the value of the FinEquity community for small players in the sector.
FinDev Financial Inclusion Year in Review - FinEquity
While progress toward closing the gender gap in financial inclusion has advanced globally, it remains uneven and fragile, particularly for women in low- and middle-income countries. In this context, FinEquity has played a critical role in keeping women’s financial inclusion on the agenda, even as the financial inclusion sector faced reduced funding and shifting donor priorities.
Latest Publications
This policy brief shares practical lessons from customer research on women’s saving behavior in Uganda, examining how different empowerment indicators perform in capturing women’s financial behaviors, decision‑making, and outcomes.
This white paper examines the perceptions, expectations and lived experiences of women-led small and micro businesses regarding privacy and security in digital financial services.
This case study documents how a gender-focused performance-based incentive (PBI) and advisory service embedded in a corporate loan catalyzed organizational change and strengthened supply chain resilience at a leading textile manufacturer in Honduras.