Making Digital Public Infrastructure Work for Women

The cross-cutting issue of gender and women’s economic empowerment along with digital public infrastructure (DPI) (core components of the overall financial ecosystem including payment infrastructure, digital identity, and data exchange in tandem with existing banking networks), has been considered a vital theme of the India 2023 G20 Presidency. This encompasses promoting the expansion of financial services among unserved and underserved populations, of which women are a significant segment.

Many women face a number of challenges in terms of lack of formal identification, lower digital financial capability, limited access to smartphones, mobile network, women agents and formal credit, and socio cultural issues impacting their path to economic empowerment. The onus of addressing these challenges falls on various stakeholders in the ecosystem including government, regulators, Financial Service Providers (FSPs), civil society and others. All can play a powerful role in prioritizing DPI and technological innovations that can level the playing field. This policy brief offers eight recommendations that leverage DPI to enable and advance women’s economic empowerment through financial inclusion.