Empowering Indonesia’s Artisans: Financial Inclusion Insights

Women’s economic empowerment is context-specific. Much has been written about the relationship between women’s financial inclusion and their economic empowerment, but studies tend to be focused on the impact of financial inclusion interventions.

This study, using original data, takes a comprehensive look at the relationship between financial inclusion and economic empowerment through contextual factors such as social norms, income, and financial capability among women artisans in Indonesia.

• Financial inclusion has a particularly strong and statistically significant relationship with women’s ability to enact their preferences and bargaining power.
• Restrictive social norms and low financial capability are barriers to financial inclusion and thus economic empowerment.
• Particularly when coupled with income, financial inclusion is a powerful predictor of women’s economic empowerment.
• These are specific challenges related to women artisans' habits and money management techniques that financial service providers (FSPs) are well-positioned to address.

The contextual constraints in which women operate should determine how we engage with them financially. These findings are relevant to how we think about segmentation and the decision of gender-focused financial services. The last section of the report offers concrete recommendations that policymakers, FSPs, and grassroots support organizations can implement in order to enhance women’s economic empowerment.