Determinants Of The Financial Gender Gap In Africa

Abstract

In recent years, there have been increased efforts from countries to bridge their existing gender gap through the drafting and implementation of policies, as such, it is crucial to examine the success of these efforts and determine where the African continent stands in regards to the gender gap. Numerous studies have been conducted on gender inequality leaving a research gap in the financial aspect of the gender gap, a gap that this research sought to fill. The study used the financial literacy gender gap, the financial inclusion gap, the pay gap, and the labour participation of women in Africa as the independent variables and examined their impact on the financial gender gap. The target population of the study was 40 of the 54 countries in Africa with census sampling being the preferred choice of sampling technique due to the small number of the target population. The research used secondary data from renown publications such as the World Bank, and the global gender gap index reports. Ms-Excel and STATA were used to clean, explore and analyze the collected data. Data was then analyzed using panel regression methods as neither cross sectional data nor time series data analysis gave the best result because of existing variations in the independent variables over time. The study found that the financial literacy gender gap and the labour force participation of women had a significant effect of the financial gender gap. All four independent variables were positively correlated to the dependent variable. The study found that there was a need to encourage women participation in the labour markets by doing away with discriminatory policies as well as the need for reskilling to enable women position themselves for more opportunities in the job market. The study recommends continued investment in men so as to ensure they are not falling back as more women centered programs are adopted. The study recommends the emulation of countries like Rwanda which is the best performing country in Africa in regard to bridging its existing Gender gap.