Differential Effects of Digital Credit by Gender: An Experiment with Airtel Malawi

While digital financial products can help expand access to financial services, a gender gap in mobile phone access and mobile money accounts shows that these services reach more men than women (GSMA 2018, Findex 2017, Demirgüç-Kunt et al. 2018). In Malawi, this gap is dramatic — women make up only 38% of the mobile money subscriber base, and conditional on account ownership, women use their accounts less than men. Because credit scoring models rely on mobile money usage data, this gender gap translates to reduced access to digital credit for women.

In this study, the research team extends an ongoing DCO-funded evaluation with Airtel Malawi, the largest telco in the country, to carefully investigate the factors that contribute to women’s limited access to and use of digital credit. Funding from this initiative will allow researchers to gender balance the sample and expand the number of women in the study. The research has two main components. First, researchers will examine the effects of a financial literacy intervention on knowledge, attitudes, demand for loans, repayment rates, fees paid, and use of other sources of credit. Second, research will use administrative data and existing credit scoring procedures to measure the impact of digital consumer loans on financial behavior and wellbeing. Surveys will help illuminate whether the gender gap is explained by factors such as occupation, demands on income, financial literacy, or other factors.