Why it takes more than microloans to empower women and promote sustainable inclusive economic
growth. Nearly one billion women have been completely excluded from the formal financial
system. Without even a bank account in their own names they lack the basic services that most
of us take for granted—secure ways to save money pay bills and get credit. Exclusion from the
formal financial system means they are economic outsiders unable to benefit from or
contribute to economic growth. Microfinance has been hailed as an economic lifeline for women
in developing countries—but as Mary Ellen Iskenderian shows in this book it takes more than
microloans to empower women and promote sustainable inclusive economic growth. Iskenderian
who leads a nonprofit that works to give women access to the financial system argues that the
banking industry should view these one billion unbanked” women not as charity cases but as a
business opportunity: a lucrative new market of small business owners heads of households and
purchasers of financial products and services. Iskenderian shows how financial inclusion can be
transformative for the lives of women in developing countries describing among other things
the informal moneylenders and savings clubs that women have relied on the need for both
financial and digital literacy (and access) as mobile phones become a means of banking and the
importance of women’s property rights. She goes on to make the business case for financial
inclusion exploring the ways that financial institutions are adapting to help women build
wealth access capital and manage risks. Banks can do the right thing—and make money while
doing so—and all of us can benefit.
