'Even' After Access to Financial Services? Ricocheting Gender Equations

Shoba Arun (), Samuel Annim and Thankom Gopinath Arun ()
Additional contact information
Shoba Arun: Manchester Metropolitan University
Thankom Gopinath Arun: University of Essex

No 10099, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The paper focuses on women's financial behaviour in their use of higher order financial services in Ghana and South Africa, inviting a gendered and social analysis of deconstructing financial behaviour. Women in South Africa are more likely to use general financial products than in Ghana, though in general more men use advanced investment products. Race has an important effect in South Africa. Much of these gender differentials is related to differences in gendered behaviour, yet generalizations on how gender relates to risk aversion is not supported. Rather non-financial approaches may explain how social relations propel women's decision to prioritise the use of financial services as a result of ascribed gender and social roles. These findings contribute to the debates on the feminisation of finance, as women are increasingly interpellated as financial subjects, manifesting the gendered organisation of global financial structures that operate on gendered norms and behaviour.

Keywords: gender; access to finance; risk; Ghana and South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 B54 O16 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2016-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse and nep-hme
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp10099.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10099

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().