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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 Kosovo Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan
Latin America
All Latin America Ecuador Guatemala Haiti Honduras
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 % #
82,184 37% Female borrowers The majority of female borrowers are the primary income-earners in their families. % #
28,560 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
73,048 33% Households with female as main earner . % #
113,248 56.5% 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. % #
232,635 41% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
268,567 51% Jobs created by women Among FINCA clients, women entrepreneurs in Africa create jobs at a slightly higher rate than men. % #
9,585 35% Female borrowers % #
3,801 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
6,588 24% Households with female as main earner % #
7,307 27.0% Businesses run by women % #
20,839 44% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
8,913 19% Jobs created by women % #
3,967 20% Female borrowers % #
1,461 8% Clients with female-headed household % #
2,524 13% Households with female as main earner % #
6,113 31.4% Businesses run by women % #
11,291 32% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
11,258 32% Jobs created by women % #
27,588 43% Female borrowers % #
7,066 11% Clients with female-headed household % #
21,787 34% Households with female as main earner % #
36,224 56.6% Businesses run by women % #
61,440 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
54,760 38% Jobs created by women % #
7,045 57% Female borrowers Like its peers in the region, FINCA Ecuador maintains a high level of outreach to women. % #
905 7% Clients with female-headed household % #
5,792 47% Households with female as main earner % #
68,196 40% Female borrowers Kyrgyzstan has the highest female outreach in the region. % #
23,017 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
49,242 29% Households with female as main earner % #
46,596 38.7% Businesses run by women % #
168,322 42% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
119,362 39% Jobs created by women % #
283,772 38% 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. % #
96,587 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
197,615 27% Households with female as main earner % #
258,655 40.7% Businesses run by women % #
608,433 34% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
617,540 39% Jobs created by women This is the total number of employees hired by FINCA's female borrowers. % #
14,166 64% Female borrowers Second-highest in the world, right after FINCA Haiti. % #
2,279 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
5,697 26% Households with female as main earner Guatemala is exceptional in that most of our female clients are secondary earners. % #
53,183 90% Female borrowers % #
14,514 24% Clients with female-headed household % #
32,117 54% Households with female as main earner % #
48,892 82.3% Businesses run by women % #
68,912 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
140,742 88% Jobs created by women % #
10,785 55% Female borrowers % #
4,551 23% Clients with female-headed household % #
8,927 45% Households with female as main earner % #
14,052 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. % #
30,307 76% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
26,425 66% Jobs created by women % #
26,074 89% Female borrowers % #
1,768 6% Clients with female-headed household % #
4,734 16% Households with female as main earner % #
25,347 86.2% Businesses run by women % #
33,816 81% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
36,068 86% Jobs created by women % #
5,327 23% Female borrowers % #
1,967 9% Clients with female-headed household % #
3,605 16% Households with female as main earner % #
39,318 53% Female borrowers Female outreach in Kyrgyzstan is significantly higher than the region overall (40%). % #
9,161 12% Clients with female-headed household % #
28,793 39% Households with female as main earner % #
33,176 45.0% Businesses run by women % #
87,732 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
99,190 49% Jobs created by women % #
85,179 75% Female borrowers % #
22,249 20% Clients with female-headed household % #
52,533 46% Households with female as main earner % #
62,943 79.6% Businesses run by women % #
142,651 51% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
167,167 82% Jobs created by women % #
39,144 39% Female borrowers % #
13,560 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
33,900 34% Households with female as main earner % #
57,337 57.0% Businesses run by women % #
107,632 37% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
167,721 58% Jobs created by women 58% of total jobs created by FINCA Malawi borrowers were created by women. % #
48,213 20% Female borrowers Women in the MESA region face significant cultural barriers to economic participation and financial inclusion. % #
22,761 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
22,792 10% Households with female as main earner % #
35,867 15.2% Businesses run by women % #
93,636 20% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
62,445 15% Jobs created by women % #

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

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DONATE
1,369 36% Female borrowers % #
22,139 11% Female borrowers % #
20,993 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
18,058 9% Households with female as main earner % #
10,520 5.1% Businesses run by women % #
59,820 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. #
26,377 5% Jobs created by women Women create a proportional share of jobs, indicating that they are not skewed towards any particular sector of activity. % #
9,999 39% Female borrowers % #
6,627 26% Clients with female-headed household % #
7,732 30% Households with female as main earner % #
3,264 11% Female borrowers % #
3,469 12% Clients with female-headed household % #
7,900 26% Households with female as main earner Women are often the main breadwinner -- even if they are not the head-of-household. % #
16,202 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. % #
33,905 47% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
41,867 58% Jobs created by women Altogether, women are employing almost 79,235 workers in their FINCA-funded enterprises. % #

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

The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.

DONATE
7,669 39% Female borrowers % #
3,150 55% Female borrowers % #
1,134 20% Clients with female-headed household % #
2,466 43% Households with female as main earner % #
3,485 61.0% Businesses run by women Almost two-thirds of the enterprises funded by FINCA in Zambia are headed by women (61%). % #
5,199 58% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
4,218 47% Jobs created by women % #

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© 2023 FINCA International

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