The Role of Gender in Agent Banking : Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo
This paper uses a unique data set with 1.1 million customer transactions from a microfinance institution in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2017 to 2018. The paper provides evidence of assortative gender matching in agent banking transactions...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/329591603311397199/The-Role-of-Gender-in-Agent-Banking-Evidence-from-the-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34657 |
| Summary: | This paper uses a unique data set with
1.1 million customer transactions from a microfinance
institution in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2017 to
2018. The paper provides evidence of assortative gender
matching in agent banking transactions, as clients prefer to
transact with agents of their own gender. Female clients
show a robust preference for female agents even when they
are less available, particularly when making high-value
transactions and when they have higher account balances. The
underrepresentation of female agents may contribute to the
persistent gender gap in financial access and usage. |
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