Are women financially excluded from formal financial services? Analysis of some selected local government areas in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract. The preoccupation of this study is to investigate whether women are financially excluded from formal financial services in Lagos State. Four local government areas (Ikeja, Ifako- Ijaiye, Somolu-Bariga and Agege) were selected for the empirical enquiry. Perceptions of women about formal financial services were collected by means of questionnaires. Of the 280 questionnaires sent out, 202 were recovered and the data was analyzed using descriptive analyses techniques. Two major findings are reported:(i) women are excluded from financial services mostly because of their lower level of education which thus exclude them from being able to utilize financial products such as mobile and internet banking; and (ii)the older the respondents get, the lower their willingness to make use of internet or mobile banking, as the emergence of new products in that line is too sophisticated for them to understand, thus, they experience technical exclusion from financial services. The study recommends that: (i) there is need for specialized financial product for women and increased awareness of beneficial products by the financial institutions; and (ii) financial institutions should design specialized financial products for women and to embark on road-shows in markets where women are mostly aggregated in order to create efficient awareness of these financial products. Keywords. Financial services, Financial exclusion, Financial institution, Nigeria. JEL. G21, O40.