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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. Yet they 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
15,771 60% Female borrowers FINCA’s outreach to women in Afghanistan is remarkable, especially considering the limits on women's activities outside of the home. % #
1,019 4% Clients with female-headed household % #
3,037 12% Households with female as main earner % #
95,450 53% Female borrowers The majority of female borrowers are the primary income-earners in their families. % #
32,508 19% Clients with female-headed household % #
80,823 46% Households with female as main earner . % #
83,001 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. % #
186,286 44% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
180,731 50% Jobs created by women Among FINCA clients, women entrepreneurs in Africa create jobs at a slightly higher rate than men. % #
12,565 35% Female borrowers % #
4,952 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
8,584 24% Households with female as main earner % #
9,637 27% Businesses run by women % #
27,484 44% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
11,756 19% Jobs created by women % #
950 25% Female borrowers % #
361 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
623 17% Households with female as main earner % #
1,177 31% Businesses run by women % #
2,173 32% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
2,167 32% Jobs created by women % #
27,254 49% Female borrowers % #
7,688 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
23,703 43% Households with female as main earner % #
31,315 57% Businesses run by women % #
53,114 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
47,339 38% Jobs created by women % #
9,218 59% Female borrowers Like its peers in the region, FINCA Ecuador maintains a high level of outreach to women. % #
1,285 8% Clients with female-headed household % #
8,226 53% Households with female as main earner % #
87,687 43% Female borrowers Kyrgyzstan has the highest female outreach in the region. % #
27,219 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
65,572 33% Households with female as main earner % #
61,833 39% Businesses run by women % #
207,219 46% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
145,209 39% Jobs created by women % #
360,565 44% 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. % #
112,645 14% Clients with female-headed household % #
239,576 29% Households with female as main earner % #
256,645 39% Businesses run by women % #
662,313 36% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
574,256 37% Jobs created by women This is the total number of employees hired by FINCA's female borrowers. % #
16,632 46% Female borrowers % #
4,161 12% Clients with female-headed household % #
14,147 39% Households with female as main earner % #
14,376 40% Businesses run by women % #
34,501 57% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
21,730 36% Jobs created by women Research shows that female-owned businesses in Georgia tend to employ proportionally more women. % #
27,167 80% Female borrowers Second-highest in the world, right after FINCA Haiti. % #
4,235 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
10,586 31% Households with female as main earner Guatemala is exceptional in that most of our female clients are secondary earners. % #
45,479 89% Female borrowers % #
11,339 22% Clients with female-headed household % #
25,091 49% Households with female as main earner % #
41,906 82% Businesses run by women % #
59,065 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
120,630 88% Jobs created by women % #
16,725 64% Female borrowers % #
6,747 26% Clients with female-headed household % #
13,235 51% Households with female as main earner % #
18,650 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. % #
40,225 76% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
35,072 66% Jobs created by women % #
30,044 92% Female borrowers % #
2,146 7% Clients with female-headed household % #
5,744 18% Households with female as main earner % #
28,213 86% Businesses run by women % #
37,640 81% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
40,146 86% Jobs created by women % #
4,171 21% Female borrowers % #
1,385 7% Clients with female-headed household % #
2,540 13% Households with female as main earner % #
44,625 55% Female borrowers Female outreach in Kyrgyzstan is significantly higher than the region overall (40%). % #
10,420 13% Clients with female-headed household % #
32,748 40% Households with female as main earner % #
36,643 45% Businesses run by women % #
96,901 43% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
109,556 49% Jobs created by women % #
108,840 76% Female borrowers % #
27,038 19% Clients with female-headed household % #
64,860 45% Households with female as main earner % #
71,616 77% Businesses run by women % #
181,632 54% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
178,128 76% Jobs created by women % #
23,223 63% Female borrowers % #
7,646 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
19,115 52% Households with female as main earner % #
20,856 57% Businesses run by women % #
39,150 37% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
61,007 58% Jobs created by women 58% of total jobs created by FINCA Malawi borrowers were created by women. % #
68,588 23% Female borrowers Women in the MESA region face significant cultural barriers to economic participation and financial inclusion. % #
25,879 9% Clients with female-headed household % #
28,320 10% Households with female as main earner % #
40,195 15% Businesses run by women % #
116,131 19% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
70,188 15% Jobs created by women % #
10,251 63% Female borrowers FINCA Nicargua has one of the highest concentrations of female borrowers among our subsidiaries. % #
3,432 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
7,723 47% Households with female as main earner % #
11,061 68% Businesses run by women % #
19,385 49% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
22,426 57% Jobs created by women % #

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

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2,439 51% Female borrowers % #
22,773 10% Female borrowers % #
22,715 10% Clients with female-headed household % #
19,539 8% Households with female as main earner % #
11,982 5% Businesses run by women % #
68,132 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. #
30,042 5% Jobs created by women Women create a proportional share of jobs, indicating that they are not skewed towards any particular sector of activity. % #
8,744 35% Female borrowers % #
5,940 24% Clients with female-headed household % #
6,930 28% Households with female as main earner % #
26,270 56% Female borrowers % #
10,171 22% Clients with female-headed household % #
23,162 49% Households with female as main earner Women are often the main breadwinner -- even if they are not the head-of-household. % #
25,529 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. % #
53,421 47% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
65,967 58% Jobs created by women Altogether, women are employing almost 79,235 workers in their FINCA-funded enterprises. % #
11,343 43% Female borrowers % #
5,183 19% Clients with female-headed household % #
10,885 41% Households with female as main earner % #
4,921 57% Female borrowers % #
1,820 21% Clients with female-headed household % #
3,959 46% Households with female as main earner % #
5,302 61% Businesses run by women Almost two-thirds of the enterprises funded by FINCA in Zambia are headed by women (61%). % #
7,909 58% Women employed by enterprises Avg. #
6,417 47% Jobs created by women % #

© 2016 FINCA International

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© 2017 FINCA International

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