Gender Centrality of Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh

Among retail micro-merchants in Bangladesh, the need for financial services is high and mobile penetration is high, yet use of mobile financial services is low, especially among women micro-merchants. This consumer behavior research aims to investigate why this is so, examining the gender centrality in digital financial services (DFS) in Bangladesh. The study focused only on mobile financial services as the most prevalent form of DFS in Bangladesh.

The findings of this research are based on a qualitative survey with 76 respondents which aimed to make sense of how and why women use DFS and offer recommendations for policy and practice. Though they are not generalizable, these findings provide a set of insights to shape thinking about addressing the gender gap. Overall, the report calls for more research about women and DFS.