Is Climbing Difficult? A Gendered Analysis on the Use of Financial Services in Ghana and South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the gender gaps in the use of higher-order financial services such as investment and insurance, draws on the FinMark national-level data from Ghana and South Africa. The main observation is that females in South Africa are more likely to use general financial and investment products than in Ghana. The results also reveal that in Ghana, a substantial part of the gender differentials in the use of financial services can be attributed to unobserved characteristics, mostly related to attitude and perceptions that inhibit women's use of financial services.

Keywords: gender gaps, types and levels of access to finance, Ghana and South Africa

JEL Classification: G21, J16