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Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
Final Reports (2014)

In Kenya today,millions of people usemobile telephones not only to communicatewith others but also to transfer and receive money. The most widespread money transfer service is that provided by Safaricom through M-PESA.

In this study we tried to find out the extent to which people in some rural parts of Machakos County in lower Eastern Kenya use mobile money transfer services (MMT) in their daily lives andwhat impact this had on gender empowerment and roles.The findings indicate thatmost of the people in the study area use the M-PESA service inspite of the fact that other similar services are available to them.Women in the study area have benefitted more than men from MMT services. This is because mobilemoney transfer services have bestowed upon the women the financial independence that they did not have before the adoption of MMT. We conclude that access to financial services through MMT has had a positive impact on the empowerment of women in rural areas with no salaried jobs. However, access to MMT has had both negative and positive implications for gender roles and the former may prove a social cost to innovation.

    Cover page: Gender Empowerment and Access to Financial Services in Machakos County, Eastern Kenya (Final Report)Creative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    Final Reports (2014)
    In recent years, there has been increased interest in access to formal financial services by the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) in developing countries. Today, there are six competing mobile money transfer systems in Kenya (“M-Pesa,” “yuCash,” “Orange Money”, “Airtel money,” “PesaPoint” and “PataCash”), each of which offers subscribers SIM card registrations and subscriptions to mobile money transfer systems. Thereafter, subscribers access electronic money remittances, payments, micro-credits, insurances, savings accounts, and loan facilities. These products are key instruments in the empowered of the poor as they become exposed to branchless banking in their daily lives. In Kenya, however, very few studies have addressed the inter-linkages between gender empowerment and financial inclusion in banking institutions. This is in spite of the fact that mobile money systems are technologies, which embody gender differences as well as socio-cultural constructs like gender empowerment. This study examines the gender dimension of mobile money systems, exploring how mobile money systems can give one gender preferential access and empowerment to financial intermediation at the expense of the other.
      Cover page: Mobile Money Services and Gender Empowerment in Eastern Kenya (IMTFI Blog)Creative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
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