Lack of female agents
Agent networks are a critical access point for financial services but women remain significantly underrepresented within them. When female agents are scarce, women customers - who in many contexts limit interactions with male agents due to trust, safety, and social norms - may be less likely to transact or seek sustained access to services. In India, only 10% of the two million digital financial service agents are women, despite evidence that female agents often outperform male counterparts in customer enrollment and service quality. Expanding women's participation in agent networks has a direct impact on women's economic empowerment.
18 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
Evidence shows that women face key structural and normative challenges to becoming a mobile agent. Despite this, women enroll more customers and provide better customer service than their male counterparts. This is particularly important to female customers, who in many contexts prefer to interact with female agents.
Women remain underrepresented in agent networks because the requirements for becoming an agent, such as access to capital, established business presence, digital capability, and time availability, tend to align with economic roles and resources that are more accessible to men.
- Women are good for business: Hernandez et al. (2023) finds that women agents are more customer-centric than male agents, and are preferred by women customers in many geographies. (CGAP, 2023)
- Women face several norms-induced constraints that limit their participation as agents. Many women lack essential hard skills, such as accounting and device operation, as well as soft skills, like confidence and leadership, due to restrictive gender norms. Additionally, limited access to working capital and electronic devices creates a barrier, while community attitudes often constrain women’s time and mobility, further restricting their ability to work as agents. (CGAP, 2023)
Evidence shows that in many contexts, women customers prefer female agents due to trust, safety, and social norms, and that the presence of female agents can increase access, usage, and direct engagement with financial services.
- In many contexts, women customers report greater comfort and trust when interacting with female agents, particularly where social norms restrict interactions with men. Female agents are often better able to engage women clients, explain products, and support first-time users, helping to increase uptake and usage of financial services among underserved populations. (CGAP 2023)
- In India, most female customers (52%) prefer a female DFS agent. In one study, female agents were more likely than men to instill a sense of security and confidence, provide reliable and consistent services, and appear knowledgeable and empathetic. (Grameen Foundation, 2023)
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.
A study on customer preferences for agent gender, transaction amounts, and agent gender preferences in markets with low female agent presence.
3 Connected Exemplars
