ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on women as consumers – but as consumers of all types of financial services, whether for personal use or business use. It investigates the ways in which digital financial services are produced for, and marketed to, women. The chapter presents case studies of a few services specifically designed for or marketed to women, examining the rationale behind the services’ gendered focus and the ways they are marketed. The promise of fintech is to offer customer-centric services that solve a far wider range of problems than simply financial transactions. Initiatives to harness financial tools to assist women began in the field of socio-economic development. The gender gap in finance is an outcome of women’s historically constituted social role as located in the private rather than the public sphere. Financial services are available for women across a wide range of transaction types, including savings, budgeting, insurance and investment.
