The financial sector still has a long way to go when it comes to empowering women. One area we can improve is exploring how impoverished individuals, particularly women, can use financial services to enhance their lives in three fundamental ways: income generation, access to essential services, and protection of basic living standards. Women of all classes should be able to seize financial opportunities and build resilience through financial services.

For this to happen, we’ll have to work not just on dismantling obvious barriers to women's empowerment, but challenging deeply held societal norms that define women's roles. It involves embracing a broader, more wide-reaching theory of change, that includes helping women navigate pathways toward greater empowerment through tailored financial services.

Here are four areas in which the financial industry can help contribute to women’s empowerment:

Digital Access and Data:

Institutions can help bridge the digital gender gap, helping give women broader access to accounts, phones, and reliable cash-in cash-out networks. The digital economy may be a great opportunity for women to generate income and access essential information, with gender-disaggregated data offering valuable insights.

Laws and Social Norms:

We also need to address legal barriers and societal norms that restrict women's financial agency. To do this, financial institutions may need to collaborate with market facilitators and advocacy groups to eliminate legal obstacles and strategic design around prevailing social norms.

Capabilities and Essential Services:

Education and job-related skills are foundational elements for women's economic empowerment. Financial services can facilitate access to education, improve workforce participation, and make it easier for households to invest.

Social Safety Nets and Networks:

Recognizing the importance of safety nets and social networks, women need security and support in order to be able to seize the opportunities that come their way. Analogue social networks, alongside digital tools, can play an important role in overcoming real-world barriers beyond financial inclusion tools.

Here are a few more concrete ideas for empowering women in the financial industry:

• Providing sex-disaggregated data and clearer impact narratives connecting financial services to women’s financial inclusion

• Creating diagnostic tools to understand social norms

• Doing research into how women interact with the digital economy

• Aligning gender considerations with an organization’s other missions and goals

• Expanding access to financial services

Improving the lives of women globally is an ambitious goal, but together, we can expand access to financial services, help women of every income class make life-changing investments, and ensure a future where women are empowered to take control of their lives.