Poor digital & foundational ID infrastructure
Proof of identification is a foundational prerequisite for participation in formal financial systems. Robust and inclusive ID infrastructure can enable secure, direct engagement with financial services and government programs. However, women are disproportionately excluded due to discriminatory documentation requirements, mobility and time constraints, income gaps, and limited access to digital enrollment channels; in low-income countries, 44% of women lack ID compared to 28% of men.
15 Connected Barriers
Most Relevant Segments
- 01. Excluded, marginalized
- 02. Excluded, high potential
- 03. Included, underserved
- 04. Included, not underserved
Most Relevant Customer Journey Phases
- Phase 1: Account Ownership
- Phase 2: Basic Account Usage
- Phase 3: Active Account Usage
- Phase 4: Economic Empowerment
Key Evidence
Normative and structural barriers, and trust issues jointly limit women’s access to identification and financial services.
Hundreds of millions of women globally do not have an official form of ID. They face disproportionate barriers to obtaining ID that range from structural and legal barriers, such as documentation requirements, fees, and fragmented registration systems, to normative barriers such as mobility constraints. These challenges are compounded by lack of internet access that makes obtaining digital ID difficult, concerns about data privacy and misuse, as well as limited gender-disaggregated data. Together, these barriers significantly reduce women’s ability and willingness to enroll in ID systems, which in turn restricts their ability to engage within formal financial systems.
- Globally, an estimated 850 million people lack official identification; in low-income countries, 44% of women lack ID compared to 28% of men, and more than one in five unbanked women cite lack of ID as a primary barrier to opening an account. (Women's World Banking, 2025)
- Over 785 million women lack mobile internet access—particularly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa—limiting their ability to enroll in or use digital ID systems and reinforcing financial exclusion. (Women's World Banking, 2025)
- Structural and practical barriers to ID registration include discriminatory documentation requirements (e.g., spousal consent or marriage certificates), mobility constraints that limit travel to enrollment sites, enrollment fees, and time burdens driven by unpaid care responsibilities. Lower labor force participation and income levels further reduce women’s ability to cover registration-related costs. (The World Bank, 2026; 2022)
When designed intentionally, digital ID systems can be a powerful tool to enable women’s financial inclusion.
Interoperable, biometric digital ID systems can expand access to digital payments, mobile money, and simplified KYC processes, reducing onboarding costs and increasing women’s participation in formal financial systems. However, these systems must account for and address specific barriers to women’s internet access and use.
- Digital ID systems that are biometric-backed and interoperable enable access to digital payments, mobile money, and proportionate KYC frameworks—particularly for low-value transactions and remittances that are critical to women’s financial inclusion (UNCDF)
- Well-designed digital ID systems are projected to unlock up to $13.78 trillion in global economic value (Women's World Banking, 2025)
- Shared KYC utilities and use of mobile operator SIM registration data can reduce duplication and onboarding costs where strong data protection and interoperability frameworks are in place. (CGAP, 2019)
Interventions that have successfully addressed this barrier
The following Exemplar represents one evidence-based interventions that has shown success in addressing this particular barrier. There may be other Exemplars for this barrier in the larger Barriers & Exemplars Analysis compendium deck.
