Factors to be Considered in Financing Rural Women

Gender segregation still persist in the financial sector, rural women face various challenges in accessing financial services and products especially in the rural areas. Men own most of the land and agricultural machines in the rural areas. The Post structural Feminist theory will be used in this study to show that women are different from men and have different categories that need to be considered in rural financial services. Women constitute 52% of the Zimbabwean population yet they are not fully benefiting from financing programmes. As a result, they resort to informal channels of financing such as Self Help Groups in form of Rotating Savings Cooperatives and Associations (ROSCAs) which offer limited funds at exorbitant interest rates. Rural women usually find challenges to meet the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements from many financial institutions because gender issues are often ignored in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of these programmes. Policy pillars to include gender in rural finance will also be discussed. Importance of rural financial services and the challenges that rural women face in the financial sector will be discussed. Gender issues in the rural financial sector will be explored so that rural women can meaningfully benefit from available programmes hence reduced poverty.