Financial Inclusion: Assessing Gender Disparity in Account Ownership in West Africa

The main purpose of this study is to assess gender disparity in account ownership in West Africa. According to the World Bank 2018 report on financial inclusion, about 1.7 billion adults worldwide (31% of adults) do not have a basic transaction account and almost half of these unbanked people are women from poor households in rural areas. This study uses secondary data from the Global Findex Database to analyze 13 West African countries who were surveyed in 2011, 2014 and 2017 out of the 16 West African Countries. T-Test (Two-Sample Assuming Unequal Variances) is used to test the null hypothesis (Ho =There is no significant gender disparity in account ownership in West Africa). Base on the fact that the p-value<0.05 (0.005139596) and the t Stat> t Critical two-tail (2.785070432>2.063898562) we reject the null the hypothesis. Therefore there exist gender disparity in account ownership in west Africa.


Objective / Question / Hypothesis Objective
The purpose of this study is to assess gender disparity in account ownership in West Africa using data from the Global Findex Database Research Question  Does gender disparity exist in formal account ownership in West Africa? Hypothesis  Ho =There is no significant gender disparity in account ownership in West Africa  H1= There is significant gender disparity in account ownership in West Africa

Theoretical Framework: The Grameen Model
The Grameen Model is based on the philosophy that 'credit is a fundamental human right, is brilliantly simple: lend to poor people on terms that are suitable to them, teach them a few sound financial principles and they will help themselves' (Muhammad Yunus, 1999). Yunus (199) believes that, 'charity only makes the poor dependent and vulnerable' than a loan which they would have to pay back. This model deviates from traditional banking system. It turned the banking system up-side-down. Grameen which means 'rural' provides loans solely to the poor who possess not more than half acre of land or assets that do not surpass the value of an acre of minimum quality cultivable land (Wahid, 1994). Unlike regular banking system, Grameen Bank does the opposite as summarized in the following table Owned by the poor women customers (97%) The Grameen model is like a rescue ship that has come to the aid of stranded individuals who now own the ship. This ship will only take them as far into prosperity as they wish to go (Bornstein, 1996). The model suggest that the poor are credit worthy and will repay their loan. Grameen model believes that poor people are bankable. Therefore, focus should be on their cashflow and repayment history than on physical collateral. The repayment of loans is remarkable due to good methodology and rigorous discipline in the system (Joshee, n.d.). It is on this premises that the Grameen bank gives out uncollateralized loan, most of which targeted women as a start-up capital for self-employment (Bornstein, 1996).

Literature Review
Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper,and Bank (2012) conducted a research on financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa using data from Global Findex database (formal and informal financial service users) and World Bank Enterprise Survey data. These authors found out that not up to a quarter of Africans possess formal accounts and most Africans use informal methods of saving and borrowing. More so, African countries are more financially excluded than other developing countries. Zins and Weill (2016) examined the determinants of financial inclusion in Africa using data from the World Bank's Global Findex database. These authors found out that Africa has the lowest rate of financial inclusion worldwide. Their finding also suggests that those who are more financially included are men, older people, educated persons and high income earners; income and education play the greatest role in financial inclusion. Equally, gender and education are the fundamental cause for exclusion.
Kairiza, Kiprono and Magadzire (2016) examined gender differences in financial inclusion in Zimbabwe base entrepreneurs and they found out that females are less financially included than their males counterparts within the formal financial sector. More so, Karmakar, Banerjee and Mohapatra (2011) suggest that the expansion of branches by financial institution and the elimination of obstacles to account ownership are solutions to financial exclusion. On the other hand, Grohmann and Menkhoff, (2017) argue that ensuring financial literacy among the general population will promote financial inclusion.

Methodology
This study is based on raw data retrieved from the Global Findex database, which was launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has been published every three years since 2011 (World Bank Group, 2018). This study's population is West African Countries (16 countries) and the sample size is limited to those West African Countries (13 countries Vol.11, No.2, 2020 containing several variables on financial inclusion. The t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Unequal Variances is used to test the null hypothesis. The above table clearly shows that there still exist gender disparity in account ownership in all West African countries. Surprisingly, the figures show that as the year go by, the gap becomes even wider, with men having greater access to formal accounts than women. A close look at just 2017 figures, it is clear that there is gender disparity in account ownership in West Africa. More males are financially included than their female counterparts. Nigeria has the highest disparity (24%) while Ghana, Guinea and Sierra Leon have the least gender disparity (8% each). However, Ghana (58%) has the most number of account owners while Niger (16%) has the least number of formal account owners.

Hypothesis Testing
Ho =There is no significant gender disparity in account ownership in West Africa From the above results based on 2017 statistics, given that the p-value<0.05 (0.005139596) and the t Stat> t Critical two-tail (2.785070432>2.063898562) we reject the null hypothesis. Therefore there exist gender disparity in account ownership in west Africa.

Conclusion
Despite the growing wave of discussions on the promotion of gender equality over the years, inequality has rather been growing especially in developing countries as shown by our table. This study suggest that (1) there exist gender inequality in account ownership; (2) Women are less financially included than their male counterparts in all West African Countries; and (3) this gab in formal account ownership gets wider as the year goes by. However, this study is limited to just gender as a variable in accessing disparity in account ownership and it is limited to just West African countries. Further research can include income disparity in account ownership and can concentrated on other regions of Africa.
From the above results, a proper recommendation will be to employ certain aspects of the Grameen Bank Model such as: increase financial literacy among the female Africans, encourage opening of microfinance institutions in remote areas of Africa where most of the poor could be reached. Also, formal banking should be encouraged as opposed to hoarding money, through affordable banking charges and requirements. Financial institutions should be encouraged to provide more affordable loans to female Africans. However, financial institutions trying to ensure rural financial inclusion should manage such petty loans effectively so that they do not default and harm their survival and growth (see Mbah & Wasum, (2019) for more details)