Low-end phones and lack of payment interoperability exclude more women than men in terms of access to finance systems, despite widespread payment technology, according to a new report Payment system design and the financial inclusion gender gap.

An excerpt from the report, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, stated: “Women are typically underserved and have more to gain from new providers and new services that target a wider range of client segments. In Kenya, where the market is more developed, we were able to assess various interoperable services such as M-Shwari and M-Shwari locked accounts in focus groups.”

The report added: “In Côte d’Ivoire, a less developed DFS market with only rudimentary interoperability, women reported primarily moving money between networks by withdrawing and depositing cash. This cost them significantly in time and money -costs they would not face if interoperability were more prevalent in that market.”

According to the research, women are 20% more likely than men to own smartphones in low- and middle-income countries.

“We recommend updating the principles to support low-end devices with a principle that states: All primary functions should be accessible to users with inexpensive basic/feature phones - typically enabled through USSD interfaces on such devices,” the report recommended.

Other issues such as identification and lack of total finance in the community relegate women to the rear of financial inclusion.

In an IMF report, Hanan Morsy, the director of the macroeconomic policy and research department at the African Development Bank Group added: “One way to foster women’s demand for financial services is thus to introduce financial products aimed at meeting the needs of borrowers who traditionally use informal systems of finance—for example, loans that accept smaller and more movable assets and traditional wealth storage mediums such as livestock and gold as collateral.”

Morsy encouraged African governments to get involved in designing financial systems for women as well.