 The role of gender in agent banking: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of CongoRichard Chamboko, Robert Cull, Xavier Gine, Soren Heitmann, Fabian Reitzug and Morne Van Der Westhuizen World Development, 2021, vol. 146, issue C Abstract: This paper uses a unique data set with 1.1 million customer transactions from a microfinance institution in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2017 to 2018. Regression analysis of individual-level transaction behavior and customer-agent dyads provides evidence of assortative gender matching in agent banking transactions, as clients prefer to transact with agents of their own gender. Female clients show a robust preference for female agents even when they are less available, particularly when making high-value transactions and when they have higher account balances. We also replicate the analysis with a second microfinance institution in Senegal and find similar patterns. The underrepresentation of female agents may contribute to the persistent gender gap in financial access and usage in Sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords: Gender; Agent banking; Mobile money; Microfinance institutions; Financial inclusion (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:146:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21001662 DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105551 Access Statistics for this article World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes More articles in World Development from Elsevier |
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