As part of activities to mark International Women’s Day in Ghana, the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) held an event with stakeholders from the digital financial services (DFS) sector to deliberate on the role of DFS in advancing women economic independence in Ghana.

The event was on the theme Women as Builders of Digital Economies in Ghana; A Call to Action to Close the Gender Gap in Access to and Usage of Digital Financial Services in Ghana and brought together key stakeholders such as the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the UN Resident Coordinator, the BoG as well as representatives from private sector institutions (announcement accessible here).

Delivering the keynote address, the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi, said according to data from World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 women’s participation in the labour market is stalling and financial disparities are slightly larger on average.

“Only 55% of adult women are in the labour market, versus 78% of men, while over 40% of the wage gap (the ratio of the wage of a woman to that of a man in a similar position) and over 50% of the income gap (the ratio of the total wage and non-wage income of women to that of men) are still to be bridged. Further, in many countries, women are significantly disadvantaged in accessing credit, land or financial products, which prevents opportunities for them to start a company or make a living by managing assets”

She stressed that despite these challenges faced by women, there are now more opportunities than ever to narrow the gender gap and highlighted technology and digitalization as key tools which could be harnessed to leapfrog the economic, political, and social advancement of women.

“The digital economy provides immense opportunities for women to advance themselves through online education and skills acquisition, telemedicine, increased trading in goods and services with more digital payment options, telework where it is available, digital savings, credit, insurance, investment and pensions opportunities, all leveraging widely available technology”

“Digital financial services can help bridge the gap in account ownership, increase women’s participation in the financial system and give them the opportunity to save formally or access credit. It can also help their business by lowering costs and giving access to a diversity of financial services,” she added.

The event also served as a platform for UNCDF to highlight its market system approach that leaves no women behind in the digital era: UNCDF provided examples from the Ashanti and Western regions of Ghana where - under the European Union funded GrEEn Project - UNCDF is leading efforts for women’s inclusion by providing access to digital financial services that are now used by more than 18,000 women (as of 2021).

As part of the event, Assistant Director, Payment System from the Bank of Ghana, Ms Clarissa Kudowor moderated a panel with key representatives from the DFS sector to discuss how to unleash the potential of data to drive decision and policy making that is intentional for women: representatives from commercial banks, regulators, fintechs, technology companies as well as non-bank financial institutions discussed key challenges and best practices to accelerate progress and leave no women behind.

The event closed with a Call to Action where all participants committed to actions that would accelerate the inclusion of women in the digital ecosystem in Ghana. These commitments are a milestone for UNCDF and BoG which will work together to ensure that commitments become a reality.

To end the event, UNCDF released a new video to share its best practices and highlight how it is supporting women to become builders of digital economies in Ghana.

WATCH: UNCDF is empowering women in Ghana