Are you being served? Paths to increasing meaningful financial inclusion for young women
Author: Rani Deshpande
Studies show that if a woman is not financially included by age 24, her chances of entering the financial system later in life plummet. In this study on financial inclusion among women in Uganda, Ghana, and Tanzania, Rani Deshpande addresses critical questions on pathway prediction and strategic support, sheds light on understanding needs in various countries and communities down to access to technology and service adoption, and explores potential financial usage pathways with an eye on which factors really need our attention on the path towards financial inclusion.
This blog is part of the Luxembourg Award for Inclusive Finance (LAIF) 2026 (formerly the European Microfinance Award), on the topic of ‘Unlocking Youth-Inclusive Finance’.
Claire, Mercy, and Saida* are all in their mid-twenties and live in Uganda. Claire uses a range of formal and informal financial services; Mercy uses only mobile money, while Saida uses only a cash box. Three young women using three very different sets of financial tools—and yet just a few years earlier, all of them were unserved by the financial system.
Why did these three young women end up in such different places in terms of financial inclusion, when they all started out totally financially unserved not so long ago?
Now or Never
This question is critical because Findex analysis across low-income countries shows that if a woman is not financially included by age 24, the chances of becoming so later in life drop dramatically. Of course, financial inclusion is not actually binary: Research in Uganda, as well as Ghana and Tanzania, shows young women fall into distinct segments when it comes to financial services use:
Those who use a range of both formal and informal tools (Formal & Informal Users, who represent 33% of all young women aged 16-24);
Those who use only formal services in their own names (Formal-only Account Holders, 28%);
Those who use formal services through someone else (Formal-only Users, 20%);
Those using financial tools that are Informal Only (5%); and
The Unserved, who use no structured money management mechanisms (14%).
What is striking is how consistently this diversity presents across countries. In Uganda, deeper financial inclusion tended to correlate not only to age but also to urbanity, mobile phone usage, and educational (especially secondary) attainment. In Ghana and Tanzania, financial inclusion is also generally associated with age and urbanity, as well as with economic status, with those earning their own income more likely to be financially included. Mobile phone ownership has also been a key factor in Uganda and Tanzania, though it was less of a differentiator in Ghana. All three countries register adult mobile phone ownership rates of between 75-80%, though per capita income varies widely between Ghana (at just over USD 9,000 PPP) and Tanzania and Uganda (both at USD 4,000-5,000 (PPP)).
How to Know Who Needs the Support
Young women’s financial inclusion is thus highly correlated with characteristics like mobile phone ownership and education. These characteristics present over time, however, making them of little predictive value on an individual level.
Is there a way to predict which financial inclusion path an individual young woman is likely to take before she starts down that path? And therefore, is it possible to put in place strategic support to maximise the number of young women who can benefit from financial services?
Qualitative research commissioned by FSD Uganda and conducted by Gmaurich Insights suggests there might well be. Through in-depth interviews, researchers observed three distinct sub-segments within the Unserved segment of young women, each facing very different constraints when it comes to financial inclusion:
The “Resource-stable” (RS), who generally come from more affluent, educated families with banked parents. Such young women might not be allowed to have a phone during adolescence, but would usually be supported to acquire not only a phone but a mobile money and/or bank account when they’re older. Their exclusion is therefore likely to be a temporary function of age.
The “Supported Middle” (SM), who have often had to make more personal financial contributions in order to acquire a phone, which would then allow them to access mobile money. Like the RS group, their exclusion is therefore also a function of age but also related to access to the foundational enablers (i.e. a phone and line), which are within reach but not at all guaranteed.
The “Struggling and Isolated” (S&I), many of whom have trouble meeting basic needs and therefore consider financial inclusion or even phone ownership more distant concerns. Their exclusion is less age-based and more driven by access to social and financial resources, which may not simply increase over time.
In the terms of the Uganda segmentation, it is therefore easy to imagine the RS group progressing to the most financially included segments, the S&I segment remaining Unserved, and the SM accessing some kinds of financial services but not others, depending on the barriers to entry (e.g. need for a phone, an independent line, a national ID, or even sufficient social capital in the case of informal groups).
But this progression is not inevitable. With the right supports, all three sub-segments of Unserved young women can be set on a path to deeper, more impactful financial inclusion. As each has different levels of need and readiness for financial inclusion, the different supports must be provided to the right sub-segments in the right sequence. Some of these actions fall squarely within the purview of financial service providers, but governments and development partners may be best placed to sponsor, or at least collaborate on, others.
The Right Supports in the Right Order
The S&I sub-segment will need the most intensive support, beginning with psychosocial and income-generation assistance to establish the conditions under which financial inclusion can be most impactful. These efforts often involve participation in informal savings and lending groups.
By contrast, the SM sub-segment evinces a clear desire and readiness to enter the financial system but often requires assistance to acquire the foundational enablers. Such young women could be good candidates for layaway or save-to-borrow plans for phone purchases, and appropriate targets for programs that help with the administrative steps required to obtain an ID. The S&I may also benefit from such initiatives, but after basic needs have been met, so that support is provided in a sequenced, “laddered” way. The next rung in the ladder is financial and business education, from which all sub-segments can benefit provided the content and delivery are tailored. For example, young women with less guidance from family and friends may need basic information about financial services, while others, e.g. in the RS sub-segment, might be ready to compare products, and those already earning an income may be specifically interested in how money management tools can be used in business.
Finally, even young women who are ready will not enter the formal financial system without products that actually serve their felt needs. While much attention is focused on productive credit, research across all three countries indicates that better savings and insurance products might be as or more important. In the next blog, we’ll discuss why non-credit products may be the real key to closing the financial inclusion gender gap where it begins: in young adulthood.
*Not their real names
Rani Deshpande is an independent consultant with over twenty years of experience in financial inclusion and youth economic strengthening. Her recent research has focused on how financial inclusion can be leveraged to promote young women’s well-being, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Her background includes management and technical roles at a range of large international organisations, as well as research and consulting work for financial inclusion funders, practitioner organisations, and think tanks.
