The financial gap for women in the MENA region: a systemic perspective

Access to finance and financial capability are both intermediate outcomes and components of financial inclusion. Being strictly related to one another, efforts to simply improve financial access without improving financial capability and contextual conditions for development at the same time, will be inadequate. They will be also unsustainable taking into account that choosing and using the most adequate financial product (access) can be complex if not impossible as understanding the full implications in terms of risks, costs and benefits without the skills and knowledge to make informed financial choices (capability) (United Nations, 2009; United Nations, 2010; United Nations Development Programme, 2013). Developing financial capability is consequently just one of the intermediate outcomes for financial inclusion (Deb and Kubzansky, 2012) the attainment of which requires a portfolio of diverse customized products and services. Hence, to successfully include the gender dimension into the financial inclusion agenda, innovative modes of accessing financial services have to be tailored for women, and the capability of using these products developed as a component of the same action (Arora-Jonsson, 2014). To enable such changes, a sharp shift should occur at a market level (Del Giudice et al., 2016). Our paper moves from reading the current scenario, with a focus on the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, to discussing the required changes to effectively address financial inclusion for woman. Following the introduction, a short description of the methodology approach adopted and a brief analysis of the literature on women’s financial inclusion in order to identify dominant academic opinions and approaches, are provided. A focus on MENA financial markets enables the analysis of women financial gap in these markets and offers a basis for discussion of the issue aimed to a better understanding of the needs of women entrepreneurs’. Subsequently, required change is proposed by means of a systems thinking view, while suggestions and relative limitations aimed at fostering discussion and further research conclude this work.