ODS5.UN women highlights the work of the FMBBVA in financial inclusion with a gender approach
In Latin America and the Caribbean the gender gap in the use of financial products and services is wide.According to the World Bank, only 49% of women have a bank account, 11% save and 10% have credit.There are also gender gaps regarding financial capacities, since women have less financial knowledge than men.
UN Women has stood out in their latest Finance report for all.Innovative experiences and initiatives for the financial inclusion of women and a recovery with gender lenses in Latin America, the women's empowerment strategy and the social impact measurement system of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (FMBBVA), and good practicesFinancial inclusion of its entity in Colombia, Bancamía.
This report, prepared with the support of the Italian Development Agency, within the framework of the Women, Local Economics and Territory (Mleyt), points out that the Foundation and its Colombian entity develop an comprehensive value offer for women, which includes productsand non -financial services to support their economic empowerment.
It also emphasizes that the FMBBVA has a social impact measurement system disaggregated by gender, to enhance its activity in three dimensions: business development, financial health and well -being.This combination of factors plays a transforming role in women and their businesses allowing them to overcome limitations, improve their livelihoods and circumstances.
The experience of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation has shown that the financial inclusion of women is achieved with an integral offer, which combines financial and non -financial products and services that strengthen their management capacities for the progress of their businesses, expand their opportunities and reduceYour vulnerability.It also suggests that women's financial health requires a comprehensive and long -term approach.
Financial products with gender approach
The UN Women's report highlights some of the products with a gender approach developed by the Foundation in recent years.Such as the specific health assists for women for less than 1 dollar per month in Panama and Colombia, which include controls such as mammograms, cytologies or clinical analysis, telephone psychological and legal support, pediatric consultations or telephone support in their children's school tasks.
Insurance my protected maternity that offers entrepreneurs an income during the breastfeeding period, as well as help for the payment of their microcredits and assists during pregnancy and breastfeeding.Or undertaking a woman in trust, who combines credit together with oncological insurance that covers the balance of the debt and offers a series of compensation to the family and digital financial education through the APP List.
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Products that are complemented with digital financial training, in Peru through the Word of Women's Academy with the prestigious Centrum-PCup Business School, or in Chile with a literacy and digital signing program with the Government, or with alliances to offer plansof Internet connectivity data for more than 5.000 entrepreneurs, among many other initiatives.
The impact of pandemic on women and their small businesses
The participation of women in the financial sector is directly linked to their participation in the productive economy, which has historically been relegated to sectors of lower productivity, small businesses and informality, and highly conditioned by the unpaid work overload that thewomen, limiting their possibility of economic growth and independence.
In addition, the impact of COVID-19 has been disproportionately greater in women, particularly in the most vulnerable.
UN women defends in this report that the financial inclusion of women is a key factor in promoting their empowerment and economic autonomy and a fundamental element for insertion in the productive ecosystem, to accelerate the process of economic and social recovery and the exit of thePost COVID-19 crisis.
Pandemia is also having a negative impact on microenterprises.The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), estimates that they will close around 2.7 million formal microenterprises in the region (ECLAC, 2020).
This complicates the situation of women with small businesses, the most exposed to the crisis, because they are overrepresented in the sectors with greater risk and, finally, for their limited access to financing.
This situation is particularly critical in women with lower income since they suffer a series of situations that lead them to occupy little qualified jobs, to be part of the informal market, have incipient and precarious businesses and have low levels of access to theEducation and technology.
For these women, quality financial inclusion is an opportunity for transformation not only personnel, but also for their families, as well as an opportunity for reactivation for local economies.