Why We Champion Global Financial Inclusion
75% of the world’s women are excluded from all forms of banking and credit. Due to their
economic status women endure such violence that there are more women missing today
than all the men killed in all the wars of the 20th century. It is the moral crime of our age.
We all pay the price for this ‘financial apartheid’. In countries where girls are uneducated
and women marginalised, chaos and fundamentalism are rife and poverty seemingly
intractable. This is no coincidence.
Remarkably, when microfinance started in the developing world it was the poorest women
who proved themselves to be the most reliable recipients. Furthermore, studies have
shown that a woman is more likely to spend her income on nutrition, education, medicine
and housing for her family. As a result, investing in women transforms whole communities.
(Sources in order of appearance: UNCHS, 2009; New York Times, 2009; UN, 2009)