Publication: Evening the Credit Score: Can
Psychometric Credit-Scoring Address Collateral Constraints
for Women Entrepreneurs?
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Date
2023-07-13
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2023-07-13
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Abstract
Despite gender parity in access to microfinance, and many group-based microfinance schemes favoring women, women face more difficulty than men in getting loans of larger size, longer duration, individual liability, and more flexible terms that may promote firm growth.1 In Ethiopia, as in many contexts where credit information systems are in their infancy, financial institutions typically impose stringent collateral requirements for larger loans. Women are less likely than men to own large, collateralizable assets such as housing, land, or vehicles due to inheritance practices, unequal land ownership laws, and social customs. Innovative solutions to replace or reduce the reliance on fixed-asset collateral may help to expand access to capital for growth-oriented women owned firms.
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“Alibhai, Salman; Cassidy, Rachel; Ebrahim, Menaal; Goldstein, Markus; Edey, Yemsrach Kinfe; Papineni, Sreelakshmi. 2023. Evening the Credit Score: Can
Psychometric Credit-Scoring Address Collateral Constraints
for Women Entrepreneurs?. Gender Innovation Lab; March 2023. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/39998 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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