In Bangladesh, only 36 percent of women have a formal bank account compared to 65 percent of men (WB Findex, 2017). Mobile financial services have great promise to address this gap, especially because they can reach populations that are expensive for banks, including women living in rural areas. Yet just one percent of women in Bangladesh held mobile accounts in 2016 (Financial Inclusion Insights, 2016). To reach more women, the UFGE funded a joint IFC and Bangladesh Bank project, Access to Mobile Financial Services for Women in Bangladesh.
In Burkina Faso, public works programs provide the important safety net of temporary jobs for vulnerable households. However, mothers who want to participate in these programs have often been forced to choose between not working or leaving their young children unattended. The World Bank Group’s Youth Employment and Skills Development Project found many young mothers working on the construction sites could not find childcare, so had to bring their children to work and leave them unattended.
Roughly one-in-three married women in Nepal have been subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional violence by a spouse, according to the Nepal Demographic Health Survey 2016 – but two-thirds have never told anyone or sought any help.
A lack of marketable skills stops young people from getting jobs in many developing countries. Young women are especially disadvantaged because girls have lower secondary school completion rates than boys and socio-cultural barriers can restrict women’s job options.
