Mobile Money and Women's Financial Autonomy in the Sahel: Heterogeneous Effects and Institutional Conditions for Success

Nanamoudou Diakite, Ibrahima Diallo, Omar Sene and Babacar Sene

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper examines whether mobile money reduces gender gaps in financial autonomy across six Sahelian countries using Afrobarometer Round 9 data (2021-2023, N=6,540). Instrumenting adoption with distance to traditional financial services, we find pronounced heterogeneity: mobile money increases women's autonomy by 11 percentage points in Senegal (26% gap reduction) and 16 points in Sudan (38% reduction), with no detectable effects in four other countries. This variation correlates with ecosystem maturity, agent density, and regulatory quality. Mechanisms include transactional discretion, informal credit access, and enhanced security. Transformative impacts require 10-14 years ecosystem maturation and agent density above 1 per 2,000 inhabitants. Digital finance advances women's empowerment only under specific institutional conditions.

Keywords: Mobile money; Gender; Financial inclusion; Instrumental variables; Sub-Saharan Africa; Sahel; Women empowerment; Heterogeneous effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 J16 O33 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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