Women’s World Banking operates as both an NGO partnering with financial institutions and policymakers to design gender-intentional solutions facilitating systemic change, and as an investor through Women’s World Banking Asset Management (WAM) advancing women through direct equity to bring financial security, prosperity, and independence. Founded in 1979 by Michaela Walsh, Esther Ocloo, Ela Bhatt, and Mary Okelo following the 1975 UN Women’s Conference, Women’s World Banking emerged from the questions: How can a woman exercise her human rights without access to financial services in her own name? Isn’t a safe place to save a basic human right? Women’s World Banking’s mission is to expand the economic assets, participation, and power of low-income women and their households by helping them access financial services, knowledge, and markets, partnering with financial services providers, policymakers, investors, and donors to bring women-centered products, services, and policies to market. For over forty-five years, Women’s World Banking has provided low-income women worldwide with the financial tools and confidence to participate equally in their societies and economies.
Why it matters: Women’s World Banking addresses the reality that 700 million women remain excluded from the formal financial system and that reaching full inclusion will take over 100 years in some countries without intentional intervention requiring gender-intentional solutions rather than gender-neutral approaches. By operating as both an NGO and investor, Women’s World Banking demonstrates that expanding women’s economic power requires both designing women-centered financial products and advancing women through direct equity investment. The organization’s founding questions connecting financial inclusion to human rights show that economic growth cannot be fully realized until women have the financial tools and confidence to participate equally.
