Gender Inequality and Access to Microfinance: Evidence from Ghana

Abstract

This paper draws on the qualitative and quantitative evidence from a dataset generated from a survey of 499 households in Ghana to explore the implications of access to microfinance for the gender asset gaps. Two sets of statistical analysis are undertaken. The first is a cross-sectional regression analysis that examines the importance of microfinance for intra-household gender wealth inequality. The second uses the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method to examine the gaps in wealth between female-headed and male-headed households. The results show that higher access to microfinance is associated with lower gender asset gaps within and across households. The evidence suggests that targeting credit to financially constrained households, and in particular to women, can contribute to reducing poverty and gender inequality.