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Women’s Empowerment

Women's empowerment is in FINCA's DNA, which can create opportunities and economic growth for society as a whole. In the poorest households, women are often the family's primary source of income. Yet as a group they consistently lag behind men in access to financial services. In the countries where FINCA operates, 36 percent of men have access to a bank account; this number drops to 20 percent for women.

There are many measures of women's empowerment. We focus on the ones that are most closely related to our work, such as business ownership and job-creation. Economic empowerment of women, however, is more than a means to earning income—it is a driver of social empowerment. When a woman can take her rightful place in the economic sphere, she gains greater authority in her family and greater autonomy as an individual.

Women’s Empowerment Data

Global
Global Africa Eurasia Latin America MESA
Africa
All Africa DRC Malawi Nigeria Tanzania Uganda Zambia
Eurasia
All Eurasia Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Kosovo Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan
Latin America
All Latin America Ecuador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Nicaragua
MESA
All MESA Afghanistan Jordan Pakistan
14,569 58% Female borrowers FINCA’s outreach to women in Afghanistan is remarkable, especially considering the limits on women's activities outside of the home. % #
976 4% Clients with female-headed household % #
2,907 12% Households with female as main earner % #
94,493 53% Female borrowers The majority of female borrowers are the primary income-earners in their families. % #
32,980 19% Clients with female-headed household % #
81,151 46% Households with female as main earner . % #
51,750 56% Businesses run by women Most of the businesses funded by FINCA in Africa are run by women, ranging from 54% in Tanzania to 61% in Zambia. % #
194,469 44% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
133,134 57% Jobs created by women Among FINCA clients, women entrepreneurs in Africa create jobs at a slightly higher rate than men. % #
12,666 35% Female borrowers % #
4,910 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
8,512 24% Households with female as main earner % #
9,753 27% Businesses run by women % #
27,815 44% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
11,897 19% Jobs created by women % #
1,828 26% Female borrowers % #
670 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
1,158 17% Households with female as main earner % #
2,191 31% Businesses run by women % #
4,047 32% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
4,035 32% Jobs created by women % #
25,103 50% Female borrowers % #
7,088 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
21,855 44% Households with female as main earner % #
8,987 60% Female borrowers Like its peers in the region, FINCA Ecuador maintains a high level of outreach to women. % #
1,267 8% Clients with female-headed household % #
8,110 54% Households with female as main earner % #
88,955 43% Female borrowers Kyrgyzstan has the highest female outreach in the region. % #
27,528 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
67,204 32% Households with female as main earner % #
64,675 39% Businesses run by women % #
211,890 47% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
148,595 38% Jobs created by women % #
354,413 45% Female borrowers Outreach to women is highest in Latin America and Africa. The results in Afghanistan are also striking, where over half of our borrowers are female. % #
93,580 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
206,995 29% Households with female as main earner % #
210,392 37% Businesses run by women % #
638,578 36% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
492,133 37% Jobs created by women This is the total number of employees hired by FINCA's female borrowers. % #
18,978 45% Female borrowers % #
4,886 12% Clients with female-headed household % #
16,611 39% Households with female as main earner % #
16,907 40% Businesses run by women % #
40,577 57% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
25,557 36% Jobs created by women Research shows that female-owned businesses in Georgia tend to employ proportionally more women. % #
26,360 80% Female borrowers Second-highest in the world, right after FINCA Haiti. % #
4,151 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
10,376 32% Households with female as main earner Guatemala is exceptional in that most of our female clients are secondary earners. % #
42,328 89% Female borrowers % #
39,018 82% Businesses run by women % #
54,994 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
112,317 88% Jobs created by women % #
16,950 65% Female borrowers % #
6,764 26% Clients with female-headed household % #
13,269 51% Households with female as main earner % #
18,654 71% Businesses run by women Note that this is higher than the number of female borrowers, because the data are from an Enterprise survey, which is done separately from the household survey. % #
40,234 76% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
35,080 66% Jobs created by women % #
27,436 92% Female borrowers % #
25,821 86% Businesses run by women % #
34,448 81% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
36,742 86% Jobs created by women % #
3,529 18% Female borrowers % #
1,152 6% Clients with female-headed household % #
2,112 11% Households with female as main earner % #
43,548 55% Female borrowers Female outreach in Kyrgyzstan is significantly higher than the region overall (40%). % #
10,247 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
32,204 40% Households with female as main earner % #
35,823 45% Businesses run by women % #
94,732 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
107,105 49% Jobs created by women % #
108,859 76% Female borrowers % #
17,109 18% Clients with female-headed household % #
42,841 45% Households with female as main earner % #
57,672 78% Businesses run by women % #
184,984 55% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
147,397 80% Jobs created by women % #
23,089 64% Female borrowers % #
7,490 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
18,725 52% Households with female as main earner % #
20,645 57% Businesses run by women % #
38,754 37% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
60,390 58% Jobs created by women 58% of total jobs created by FINCA Malawi borrowers were created by women. % #
62,106 24% Female borrowers Women in the MESA region face significant cultural barriers to economic participation and financial inclusion. % #
15,963 7% Clients with female-headed household % #
15,800 7% Households with female as main earner % #
36,296 15% Businesses run by women % #
104,069 20% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
63,007 15% Jobs created by women % #
14,234 66% Female borrowers FINCA Nicargua has one of the highest concentrations of female borrowers among our subsidiaries. % #
4,927 23% Clients with female-headed household % #
11,085 52% Households with female as main earner % #

No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Nigeria.

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20,101 10% Female borrowers % #
14,988 7% Clients with female-headed household % #
12,893 6% Households with female as main earner % #
10,475 5% Businesses run by women % #
59,564 11% Women employed by enterprises The finding that many more men than women are employed by these enterprises reflects local norms which discourage women's work outside the home. Avg. #
26,264 5% Jobs created by women Women create a proportional share of jobs, indicating that they are not skewed towards any particular sector of activity. % #
8,406 34% Female borrowers % #
5,663 23% Clients with female-headed household % #
6,607 27% Households with female as main earner % #
25,735 54% Female borrowers % #
10,004 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
22,782 48% Households with female as main earner Women are often the main breadwinner -- even if they are not the head-of-household. % #
25,548 54% Businesses run by women Tanzania is one of the few countries where women's business ownership is equal to their share of the overall client base. This means that they are using FINCA loans to run their own independent businesses. % #
53,463 47% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
66,019 58% Jobs created by women Altogether, women are employing almost 79,235 workers in their FINCA-funded enterprises. % #
13,081 40% Female borrowers % #
6,333 20% Clients with female-headed household % #
13,300 41% Households with female as main earner % #
5,317 58% Female borrowers % #
2,064 23% Clients with female-headed household % #
4,490 49% Households with female as main earner % #
5,556 61% Businesses run by women Almost two-thirds of the enterprises funded by FINCA in Zambia are headed by women (61%). % #
8,289 58% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
6,726 47% Jobs created by women % #

© 2016 FINCA International

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© 2017 FINCA International

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