Empowering sustainable future in the wake of COVID-19 and beyond: insights from a novel gender equality financial inclusion and its determinants in Asia and Africa.

Considering how important financial inclusion and gender equality is in the United Nations’ 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs), we formulate a new gender equality-based financial inclusion index by incorporating its three dimensions: access, use, and quality. Using panel data for year 2020 and 2021 observations from 55 countries in Asia and Africa, we explore whether education, the use of mobile banking technology, and access to credit (borrowing) are related to the financial inclusion index. Additionally, we use the interaction effects of the stringency index to represent the restrictions introduced by the governments during COVID-19. This study employed a “Two stage least square instrumental variable” (2SLS IV) regression econometric approach. Considering the endogeneity issue and confirming its robustness, this research supports that education, borrowing (access to credit), income distribution inequality, use of technology (mobile banking), and the human development index are all factors that influence financial inclusion based on gender equality in Asia and African region. The majority of women in Asia and African regions, due to their lack of education, face problems of access to and actual use of financial services. However, several plans are underway to enhance their accessibility for financial products. Specific plans regarding financial inclusion may be changed to make it easier to use technology and get loans. The study findings are helpful for designing and executing education promotional and women empowering specific policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]