 As we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th, there is no shortage of activities and calls to action to support women’s empowerment. Financial inclusion for women, who make up half the global population, is an enabler for many development outcomes, including poverty alleviation, economic growth, education, and health! In this Newsletter, we welcome you to check out what your colleagues are doing to commemorate International Women's Day and we encourage you to participate, share on social media using #IWD2020 and #FinEquity, and post anything we've missed on Dgroups.
Warm regards on behalf of the FinEquity team!
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Special Message from H.M. Queen Máxima
United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate
for Inclusive Finance for Development
to the FinEquity Community:
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 “According to a McKinsey Global Institute report, up to $28 trillion dollars could be added to the global GDP by 2025 if women had the same role as men in labor markets. There is also emerging evidence that financial inclusion for women can reduce economic inequality. The economic empowerment of women could be a game-changer for families, children’s education and overall well-being—and it’s a critical component of efforts to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
FinEquity has an important role in knowledge exchange and collaboration on this front. I encourage anyone working on women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment to join FinEquity and help accelerate positive change."
– H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA)
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Member Spotlight: Greta L. Bull, CGAP CEO
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 CGAP's revised vision statement points to its prioritization of women's financial inclusion. Convening FinEquity furthers CGAP's commitment to collective problem solving for women's financial inclusion. Read the interview we conducted with Greta Bull CGAP CEO ahead of International Women's Day in which she outlines progress made and challenges that remain.
"It’s about getting women in parliament, women in the judiciary women in business – and women in finance."
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In Case You Missed It - FinEquity in February
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FinEquity’s Technology Lead Katie Highet participated in a panel discussion "Digital Identity: A Development Agenda," during Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)'s annual Digital Futures Forum, together with the Digital ID team at Columbia World Projects (CWP) and representatives from USAID, Georgetown, Columbia University and Digital Equity.
Katie spoke about the vital role that digital ID plays in women’s financial inclusion (financial inclusion being the most quoted functional use case of digital identity) and the FinEquity community’s interest in this area as highlighted in our 2019 Technology Working Group survey.
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, held a FinEquity hosted Peer Review on the contours of their new gender strategy. Read more from CFI Managing Director, Mayada El-Zoghbi who highlighted how valuable the exercised proved to be.
FinEquity hosted a webinar Understanding Women’s Rural Transition and Service Needs - Opportunities for Financial Service Providers (click here to view a recording) moderated by Social Norms lead Nisha Singh, with AgdevCo's Jasmin Hidanovic, Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab's Anne Maftei and Clara Colina, and Katie Naeve of the Women in Agricultural Initiative at Root Capital. Discussion centered on the novel approaches to customer segmentation proposed in the recently published Pathways to Prosperity report and the associated gender deep dive. The webinar featured examples of how institutions can design programs to address gender barriers on specific pathways to support transitions for women entrepreneurs.
Many thanks to the Center For Financial Inclusion at Accion for hosting a FinEquity Social in Washington DC. We enjoyed meeting up with old and new friends and are excited by the great ideas and collaborations discussed. Socials are a terrific way to get to know other members of the FinEquity community. For information about hosting a FinEquity Social contact FinEquity@CGAP.org.
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What are you doing to promote Women's Financial Inclusion
around #IWD2020?
Here are some great #FinEquity member events, articles, scholarships and videos
to kick off the month. Let us know what you're up to, share on Dgroups!
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ATTEND:
March 4, Washington D.C.
17:30–19:30 (panel + Q&A)
19:30-20:30 (networking)
FINCA Impact Finance International Women's Day Panel 2020
Can access to finance lead to women’s political empowerment? The panel discussion is moderated by Andrée Simon, President and CEO of FINCA Impact Finance with panelists: Gayatri Patel, Director of Gender Advocacy at CARE USA, Caroline Hubbard, Senior Advisor for Gender, Women, and Democracy at NDI and Shamarukh Mohiuddin, Principal Associate at Nathan Associates specializing in private sector development and engagement. Register here.
March 6, Charlottesville, Virginia
8:30 - 10:00 (lecture and breakfast)
Building a Gender Equal World
Danielle Hopkins of Inclusive Finance Consulting and lecturer at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia presents “Financial Inclusion: A Tool for Female Empowerment in Developing Countries.”
WATCH:
March 5, 12:30 – 13:30
Press Conference to launch UN Women’s report “Women’s Rights in Review 25 years after Beijing.” 170 Member States have submitted national reports, and hundreds of civil society activists have contributed to national and regional reviews, combined with global data and analysis. Watch on UNTV.
In honor of International Women's Day 2020, Financial Alliance for Women members from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America share how they're #EnablingEquity for women in their own organizations. Watch this series of 8 videos being released throughout the week.
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READ:
Digital Frontiers Institute - Leading up to International Women’s Day on the 8th of March 2020, DFI will provide 100 full scholarships for our 4-week Digital Identity online course. Preference will be given to female applicants, especially from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Apply Here
The Toronto Centre - To promote female financial supervisors and regulators on International Women’s Day, the Toronto Centre is offering multiple scholarships to its upcoming international leadership programs. Apply here.
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During a November 2019 visit to Pakistan, UNSGSA Queen Máxima listens to
Safia Javed, a 48-year-old beautician, explain how a mobile wallet helped give her more security and control over her money.
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