Nature of Rural Women’s Financial Exclusion in Zimbabwe.

Abstract

Most rural women in the developing world are financially excluded from the formal financial sector. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of rural women’s financial exclusion in developing nations. Causes of rural women’s financial exclusion is discussed. This helps governments, agro-based companies, banks and development partners to understand the extent of rural women’s financial exclusion so that measurements to address such issues can be made. A desk research was used to carry out the study. Most literature show that rural women in Zimbabwe do not have the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements needed by banks and financial institutions to open bank accounts and access loans for income generating projects. Banks do not want to relocate to rural areas because rural women are not an attractive clientele due to the feminisation of poverty rampant in rural areas. In most developing countries, just as is the case in Zimbabwe, there is a bias towards urban areas in the financial sector. Rural women do not own the acceptable collateral. Men own most of the acceptable collateral. There are also gender inequalities in the access to financial services in rural areas besides women constituting the largest population in world’s rural areas.