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Women’s Empowerment

Women's empowerment is in FINCA's DNA, because it creates opportunities and economic growth for society as a whole. In the poorest households, women are often the family's primary source of income. Among FINCA clients, about two-thirds of women are the main breadwinners for their families. Yet, women consistently lag behind men in access to financial services. In the countries where FINCA operates, women are twice as likely than men to be financially excluded.

There are many measures of women's empowerment. We focus on the ones that are most closely related to the impact of our loans, 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 status. 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
16,266 57% Female borrowers FINCA’s outreach to women in Afghanistan is remarkable, especially considering the limits on women's activities outside of the home. % #
1,119 4% Clients with female-headed household % #
3,333 12% Households with female as main earner % #
88,420 46% Female borrowers The majority of female borrowers are the primary income-earners in their families. % #
33,322 18% Clients with female-headed household % #
84,542 46% Households with female as main earner . % #
90,521 56.3% 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. % #
194,873 44% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
185,720 48% Jobs created by women Among FINCA clients, women entrepreneurs in Africa create jobs at a slightly higher rate than men. % #
13,539 35% Female borrowers % #
5,345 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
9,265 24% Households with female as main earner % #
10,402 27.0% Businesses run by women % #
29,664 44% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
12,688 19% Jobs created by women % #
2,888 20% Female borrowers % #
1,378 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
2,381 17% Households with female as main earner % #
4,494 31.4% Businesses run by women % #
8,301 32% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
8,277 32% Jobs created by women % #
27,057 37% Female borrowers % #
10,215 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
31,497 43% Households with female as main earner % #
41,611 56.6% Businesses run by women % #
70,577 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
62,904 38% Jobs created by women % #
7,722 54% Female borrowers Like its peers in the region, FINCA Ecuador maintains a high level of outreach to women. % #
1,172 8% Clients with female-headed household % #
7,499 53% Households with female as main earner % #
90,281 42% Female borrowers Kyrgyzstan has the highest female outreach in the region. % #
28,378 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
67,436 31% Households with female as main earner % #
65,370 38.7% Businesses run by women % #
214,159 45% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
151,976 38% Jobs created by women % #
350,907 41% 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. % #
115,077 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
245,679 29% Households with female as main earner % #
269,344 38.8% Businesses run by women % #
687,704 36% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
586,465 37% Jobs created by women This is the total number of employees hired by FINCA's female borrowers. % #
15,299 45% Female borrowers % #
3,896 12% Clients with female-headed household % #
13,246 39% Households with female as main earner % #
13,460 40.0% Businesses run by women % #
32,305 57% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
20,347 36% Jobs created by women Research shows that female-owned businesses in Georgia tend to employ proportionally more women. % #
27,078 65% Female borrowers Second-highest in the world, right after FINCA Haiti. % #
5,177 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
12,943 31% Households with female as main earner Guatemala is exceptional in that most of our female clients are secondary earners. % #
45,883 89% Female borrowers % #
11,483 22% Clients with female-headed household % #
25,410 49% Households with female as main earner % #
42,439 82.3% Businesses run by women % #
59,817 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
122,165 88% Jobs created by women % #
15,359 56% Female borrowers % #
7,143 26% Clients with female-headed household % #
14,012 51% Households with female as main earner % #
19,745 71.4% 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. % #
42,587 76% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
37,132 66% Jobs created by women % #
31,568 81% Female borrowers % #
2,554 7% Clients with female-headed household % #
6,837 18% Households with female as main earner % #
33,581 86.2% Businesses run by women % #
44,801 81% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
47,784 86% Jobs created by women % #
4,946 22% Female borrowers % #
1,539 7% Clients with female-headed household % #
2,822 13% Households with female as main earner % #
44,783 54% Female borrowers Female outreach in Kyrgyzstan is significantly higher than the region overall (40%). % #
10,525 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
33,079 40% Households with female as main earner % #
37,014 45.0% Businesses run by women % #
97,881 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
110,665 49% Jobs created by women % #
100,865 71% Female borrowers % #
26,699 19% Clients with female-headed household % #
63,741 45% Households with female as main earner % #
67,737 77.5% Businesses run by women % #
183,550 54% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
170,557 78% Jobs created by women % #
20,380 64% Female borrowers % #
6,689 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
16,723 52% Households with female as main earner % #
18,246 57.0% Businesses run by women % #
34,252 37% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
53,374 58% Jobs created by women 58% of total jobs created by FINCA Malawi borrowers were created by women. % #
71,341 23% Female borrowers Women in the MESA region face significant cultural barriers to economic participation and financial inclusion. % #
26,678 9% Clients with female-headed household % #
29,960 10% Households with female as main earner % #
45,716 16.5% Businesses run by women % #
125,631 21% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
78,211 16% Jobs created by women % #
4,823 59% Female borrowers FINCA Nicargua has one of the highest concentrations of female borrowers among our subsidiaries. % #
1,723 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
3,877 47% Households with female as main earner % #
5,554 67.9% Businesses run by women % #
9,733 49% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
11,260 57% Jobs created by women % #

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

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2,750 47% Female borrowers % #
23,507 10% Female borrowers % #
23,005 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
19,789 8% Households with female as main earner % #
12,135 5.1% Businesses run by women % #
69,004 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. #
30,427 5% Jobs created by women Women create a proportional share of jobs, indicating that they are not skewed towards any particular sector of activity. % #
8,826 37% Female borrowers % #
5,695 24% Clients with female-headed household % #
6,644 28% Households with female as main earner % #
22,417 51% Female borrowers % #
9,376 22% Clients with female-headed household % #
21,352 49% Households with female as main earner Women are often the main breadwinner -- even if they are not the head-of-household. % #
23,534 54.0% 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. % #
49,247 47% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
60,813 58% Jobs created by women Altogether, women are employing almost 79,235 workers in their FINCA-funded enterprises. % #
9,463 40% Female borrowers % #
5,183 19% Clients with female-headed household % #
10,885 41% Households with female as main earner % #
6,353 54% Female borrowers % #
2,448 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
5,324 46% Households with female as main earner % #
7,130 61.0% Businesses run by women Almost two-thirds of the enterprises funded by FINCA in Zambia are headed by women (61%). % #
10,636 58% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
8,630 47% Jobs created by women % #

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© 2022 FINCA International

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