Rethinking the Relationship between Financial Inclusion and Women's Empowerment: A Critical Literature Review

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, financial inclusion has become a central priority in international development agendas. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) have promoted it as a key instrument for poverty reduction, economic growth, and women's empowerment. However, this perspective has been challenged by feminist economics, critical development studies, and political economy, which argue that access to financial services does not automatically enhance women's agency and may, depending on the context, reproduce or even reinforce existing power relations. This article presents an integrative literature review based on a corpus of French- and English-language publications published between 1970 and 2024 and identified through Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Its main contribution lies in integrating the theoretical frameworks of Sen, Kabeer, and Rowlands to examine the mechanisms linking financial inclusion and women's empowerment. The review shows that financial inclusion is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for women's empowerment. Empowerment also depends on agency, effective control over resources, and the institutional and social contexts in which financial inclusion is implemented. These findings suggest that financial inclusion policies should move beyond a narrow focus on access to financial services and incorporate the structural dimensions of women's empowerment.

Classification JEL: J16; G21; O16

Paper type: Theoretical Research