ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 illustrates the trajectory of the governance of mobile money and highlights its gender characteristics. It outlines how the main legal and policy frameworks for financial inclusion and gender equality in Kenya, Kenya Vision 2030 and the 2010 Kenyan Constitution are the result of the interaction between global and local norms. Kenya Vision focuses on economic growth and financial inclusion, while the Constitution is seen as deriving from grassroots struggles for national recognition of the importance of gender justice and socio-economic rights. The chapter shows how M-Pesa’s regulatory framework favours financial development according to the principles contained in the Kenya Vision over the more redistributive measures necessary for the realisation of the rights stated in the Constitution. The regulatory approach is endorsed by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and all the institutions supporting the global financial inclusion agenda, which promotes gender equality as a measurable and profitable goal for social legitimacy rather than as an essential part of social justice.
