Financial Inclusion: Blockchain technology could be beneficial for women ─Okonjo-Iweala

*Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation says the Blockchain technology could be particularly beneficial to women who are often excluded from access to finance for their economic empowerment

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

In advocating how blockchain technology could be beneficial to the womenfolk in accessing finance for development, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has urged the G20 Countries to look into the Blockchain technology solutions to close the gender gap.

ConsumerConnect gathered the WTO Chief and Nigeria’s former Honourable Minister for Finance stated the blockchain technology could be particularly beneficial for women, who are mostly excluded in access to finance.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala stressed that Blockchain technology could help to empower both the unbanked and underbanked women around the world, reports Cointelegraph.

Kristina Cornèr, Editor-in-Chief of Cointelegraph, who addressed the recent G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, called on market regulators and lawmakers on how Blockchain technology could help to advance financial inclusion for women during the COVID-19 and beyond.

The Director-General of WTO, who was a Co-Chair on the panel, was the only one out of several members, including representatives from the United States (US) and Singapore to speak on women in Blockchain.

Okonjo-Iweala said: “Of course, Blockchain is something that brings more transparency in the way that business is done and removes intermediaries.

“I think that particularly in the finance area the ability to introduce this into transactions, I think could be particularly beneficial to women who are often excluded from access to finance.

“I think this is a good thing; something we should look into.”

It is noted that women in many countries have often had more trouble accessing financial services than men, a situation that could have been exacerbated by the pandemic with many institutions closed, report said.

Hitherto, several experts were reported to have proposed using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to promote financial inclusion in areas lacking the same infrastructure as developed countries.

It was learnt this proposal, particularly, has referred to women may face long travel times to access credit providers and restrictions on opening bank accounts, and sometimes not even being allowed to legally own property.

A World Economic Forum (WEF) report released April 2021 said women are also still underrepresented working in the Blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.

Likewise, the WTO has previously reported women’s economic empowerment is part of its agenda in the creation of wealth and reducing poverty, with the group suggesting digital solutions.

The Organisation said: “E-commerce conducted through online platforms can be an easy and inexpensive way for women to trade globally, to enter new foreign markets, to expand their businesses and to harness their entrepreneurship.”

Crypto and blockchain could be a likely extension of this view, using digital currencies as a method of payment and blockchain for banking and more, according to report.

Meanwhile, report has noted that it is yet unclear how individual economies of the world will respond as some developed countries reopen amid high vaccination rates while others, especially in developing countries and emerging markets, remain partially or fully closed as of now.

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