Today, women are the mainstay of economic growth in their households and nations; according to The Economics of Banking on Women (2019), the global trend of female leadership has grown significantly, leading women to achieve higher levels of education, have better job opportunities, and control 80% of household consumption decisions.
In spite of this, it is a challenge for the Bank to achieve the financial inclusion of women in the country's economy, according to the Global Findex index, in Ecuador, five out of every ten Ecuadorians are not integrated into the formal financial system; based on this statistic, it is important to mention that 42% of Ecuadorian women have a bank account, that according to INEC, in the year 2021, 46% of people who obtained employment were women and that despite this, 67.8% of women in the Economically Active Population of the country belong to the group of underemployment, unpaid employment and unclassified employment.
This leads us to ask the following question: why is it important to include women in the financial system? Financial inclusion offers the general population the opportunity to promote the economic and social development of a nation; therefore, the financial inclusion of women who earn income from their work or entrepreneurship, who have active savings in a bank account, who have access to credit and have independent resources, will contribute to improving the quality of life of their families and will significantly boost the economy of their country.
The empowerment and autonomy of women and gender equity can positively impact the growth of the country's Gross Domestic Product, for example, according to data from the Association of Banks of Ecuador, in 2021 59% of private bank workers were women. Additionally, between 2020 and 2021, private banks obtained USD 882 million in credit to be channeled to micro-entrepreneurs, owners of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as to women entrepreneurs.
For this reason, private banks must continue to develop and implement products that allow for greater financial inclusion of women, as well as minimize the gaps that exist in the labor market, promoting female empowerment and offering greater opportunities for development, for which I would like to emphasize that no country or economy can overcome its current challenges without women, because they are the generators of life.
Laura Paulina Ramón Zúñiga, MSc
Teacher of online master's degrees
