Financial Inclusion and Women Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Mexico

Financial inclusion and women entrepreneurship concern policymakers because of their impact on job creation, economic growth and women empowerment. Women in Mexico do engage in paid work but many of them work in the informal sector because they lack opportunities to work in the formal sector. Moreover, financial exclusion rate in Mexico remains the highest amongst OECD countries, affecting women in particular. This paper uses an individual-based panel dataset over the period 2009-2015 to examine the determinants of women entrepreneurship in Mexico and to determine the relationship between women entrepreneurship and financial inclusion across informal and formal work and across economic sectors. The results suggest that financial inclusion is positively linked with entrepreneurship and it can open up economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs. Various financial access points like banking branches, POS terminals, banking agents, ATMs and microfinance banks can be a gateway to the use of additional financial services which can allow businesses development through access to credit facilities. However, the positive relationship between women entrepreneurship and financial inclusion does not hold for women entrepreneurs working in the informal sector or women working in the commerce sector, highlighting lower entry barriers, including financial, in the informal sector and problems pertaining to financial illiteracy. Results also highlight that the probability of a women being an entrepreneur in the informal sector is higher than in the formal sector. Education, age, income, marital status (married or divorced), and income level at the municipality level are amongst other significant determinants which are positively linked with women entrepreneurship. The results also highlight the existence of gender disparity in the status of entrepreneurship across formal and informal work in Mexico. On average, women are about 56% less likely to be entrepreneurs in the formal sector and 63% more likely to be entrepreneurs in the informal sector, as compared to men, after taking into account other relevant individual and municipality level characteristics that are important in explaining entrepreneurship.