Institute for Money, Technology & Financial Inclusion

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.