Case Study

Catalyzing Inclusive Financial Systems: Chile’s Commitment to Women’s Data

Valuable lessons on collecting and using sex-disaggregated data in the financial sector

Developing and maintaining inclusive financial systems is increasingly becoming a focal point for governments and international organizations around the world. As this concern rises to the fore, the importance of incorporating a gender dimension into financial sector policy is becoming evident. Sex-disaggregated demand- and supply-side data are essential to do this, helping stakeholders to understand differences in financial behavior between men and women, identify gaps in access and use of financial services, generate policies that promote full inclusion, and monitor their impact.

Chile is the only country in the world that, until now, has consistently tracked sex-disaggregated data on its financial system for over 10 years. This case study explores why this was done, maps out the processes taken to generate the data, highlights current as well as potential uses of the data, and extracts the most important lessons so that regulators, policymakers and government entities in other jurisdictions can learn from the country’s experience.

The results of this research were published in the report "Measuring Women’s Financial Inclusion: The Value of Sex-Disaggregated Data".