Financial inclusion has opened doors for billions of women. But having access to an account, loan, or digital wallet does not necessarily mean a woman is financially healthy.
Financial health asks deeper questions that drive more meaningful impact: can people smoothly manage daily expenses, cope with negative shocks, plan for the future, and feel satisfied and confident about their financial lives?
These questions are gaining momentum globally, from the G20’s work under Brazil’s 2024 G20 Presidency, to Queen Máxima of the Netherlands’ evolved mandate as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health. The G20 defined financial health as a state in which people can effectively manage their day-to-day finances, build resilience against shocks, pursue opportunities, and feel secure and in control of their financial lives.
This shift – from financial inclusion to financial health – raises an urgent question. If financial health is the next frontier, what will it take to make sure women are not left behind?
Financial health is shaped by more than income, assets, or usage of financial products. Caregiving responsibilities, labor force participation, asset ownership, pension engagement, agency in the household and community, and social norms, all influence an individual’s level of financial health. Women’s experiences create both distinct challenges and opportunities for public and private sector actors to shape policies and products that respond to their needs.
Digital innovation is transforming women’s financial journeys worldwide. Advances in artificial intelligence, behavioral science, and data create opportunities to deliver personalized financial solutions at scale, but also could present higher risk of fraud, scams, and potential financial exclusion if mismanaged. Technology can safeguard consumers against increasing frauds and scams and protect financial health, if developed with women’s unique needs and preferences in mind. The FSI-BIS highlighted a range of emerging innovations that could support financial health, from leveraging alternative data reducing reliance on traditional collateral, to digital investment platforms that allow individuals to invest small sums in capital markets; these ideas could really make a difference for women’s economic empowerment. Yet, much of this innovation remains largely gender-neutral in design.
Financial health measurement itself remains a relatively new field, although fast-growing, with practical guidance becoming available. Data from the Global Findex database show that women find it more difficult than men to come up with emergency funds in 83 of 98 economies surveyed. Women are more likely to rely on family and friends for emergency money (Figure 1) and are more likely to cite monthly bills and healthcare costs as major financial concerns (Figure 2).
Emerging evidence is shedding light on how women experience financial health in practice. Recent work by BFA Global in Mexico found that women often maintained strong repayment records and long-term relationships with financial institutions, yet reported greater difficulty coping with emergencies, lower perceived financial control, and higher levels of financial stress than men. In Indonesia, young women save more consistently than young men (86% vs. 78%), yet report lower confidence in managing finances. A proportion also report using funds intended for emergencies for impulsive purchases eroding their financial safety nets. The findings highlight the complexities of women’s financial health and the importance of gender-disaggregated financial health analysis.
Supporting women’s financial health requires examining the economic and social realities that shape women’s financial lives. Several societal factors merit further investigation:
- Economic participation and wealth accumulation: Women’s labor force participation and entrepreneurship have increased significantly in many economies, creating important opportunities to improve financial health. However, women continue to earn less on average and are more likely to experience career interruptions, making it harder to build savings, accumulate assets, and prepare for retirement. Globally, the gender pension gap is estimated at around 30–40%, increasing women’s risk of financial insecurity later in life. As women outlive men in every country, supporting their long-term financial health is particularly important.
- Caregiving responsibilities: Across virtually every region of the world, women continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work. While caregiving plays a critical social and economic role, career interruptions associated with caregiving can reduce earnings and limit opportunities to build long-term financial security.
- Asset ownership: Ownership of assets such as housing, land, businesses, and financial investments is a key determinant of financial health because assets provide both resilience during shocks and opportunities for future income generation. Yet data from the World Bank’s Gender Data Portal show that women remain less likely than men to own land or housing in many economies.
- Agency: Even where formal legal barriers have been removed, social norms often continue to shape who controls household finances and who benefits from financial resources. Women’s World Banking emphasizes that a gender lens on financial health should place agency at its center, including a woman’s capability to make informed financial decisions, have confidence in managing income and assets, and exert choice over their financial lives.
Importantly, there are reasons for optimism. New technologies and business models are creating opportunities to improve women’s financial health at an unprecedented scale. Digital public infrastructure and ubiquitous digital payment rails are reducing the cost of delivering financial services and offering new opportunities to layer value added services (e.g. savings, insurance) onto mobile wallets. Open finance and advances in artificial intelligence and data analytics offer financial institutions the opportunity to better understand women’s financial needs and design more personalized products.
The Way Ahead
It is increasingly clear that financial health for women specifically, deserves greater attention from policymakers, regulators, employers, financial institutions, and development partners.
Gender-disaggregated measurement is the first step. The financial inclusion community has invested heavily over the past two decades in measuring access to financial services, helping to identify gaps and track progress. A similar effort is now urgently needed to better understand financial health outcomes and their gender dimensions, using gender-disaggregated data.
Action must follow. Financial institutions can offer a comprehensive stack of product solutions that focus on financial health and better reflect women’s financial realities and aspirations. It is important that these products are easy to access and use, with flexible terms to meet women’s needs. Case study evidence demonstrates that a financial health approach can be a key source of financial value for market actors, driving growth through product development, customer retention, and a reduction in non-performing loans.
Employers can support women employees through targeted workplace savings and financial health programs, customized to reflect working mothers and the economic and social realities faced by workers daily, including caregiver insurance that offers hospital cash benefits to replace lost income, like in Indonesia, and better workplace protections.
Policymakers can incorporate women’s financial health into national financial sector strategies, as well as sustained approaches to financial capability and consumer protection, building on the seven Gender Policy Principles set out in Women’s World Banking’s Policy Handbook on Women’s Financial Inclusion. Development partners and researchers can help build the evidence base in identifying interventions that support financial institutions’ implementation.
As financial health emerges as a focused outcome of financial sector development efforts, women’s financial health should become a priority in its own right. Doing so will not only improve the financial lives of women, but also strengthen households, communities, and economies.
We thank Professor Karthik Balasubramanian of Howard University School of Business for his Findex analysis showing that women have greater difficulty than men accessing emergency funds in 83 of 98 economies.
Authors: UNSGSA (Peter McConaghy) and Women’s World Banking (Victoria Johnson and Francesca Brown)
The production of this blog was made possible through the financial support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
