More young women in Uganda are getting access to banking and mobile money services, but a troubling gender gap is actually getting wider despite overall progress, Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Uganda reported. While Uganda’s formal financial inclusion jumped from 52% to 68% between 2013 and 2023—mostly thanks to mobile money—the gap between men and women grew from 1% to 6% during just the last five years. Now a new three-year research project aims to figure out why young women are being left behind and what can be done about it.
The timing of this gender gap is particularly concerning. Across low-income countries, women start falling behind in financial access right when they’re taking on adult responsibilities like starting families or businesses. Uganda has actually done better than many countries at getting young women into the financial system earlier, outpacing places like Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria.
But researchers still don’t understand what’s working for some young Ugandan women and what’s blocking others from accessing basic financial services. That’s where FSD Uganda’s new action research comes in. The project specifically targets women between 15 and 24—the age when the gender gap typically starts appearing.
The first year will focus on understanding how young women actually interact with banks, mobile money, and other financial services. Researchers want to know how these women make decisions about money and what barriers they face when trying to access financial products.
Years two and three will put those research findings to work. FSD Uganda plans to team up with banks, mobile money providers, and other financial companies to test solutions that could help more young women get the financial services they need to build independent lives and businesses.
