For the first time ever, the BCRA has gathered information on women’s participation in the financial system, their financial involvement across each age band, their access to formal credit, the extent to which financing for their projects grows, and the way they save.
These data show the existing gender gap, which allows developing tools and providing new services to reverse the current situation through financial education and inclusion.
Entrepreneurs, teachers, and economists made themselves heard in a video with a view to encouraging the full economic development of women, as well as other gender identities.
Find out about the lives of the women featured in the video:
Lucila Decoud holds a degree in Economics and is taking a master’s course in Social Economy. She works on territory development for the nonprofit organization Nuestras Huellas which draws on community banks to provide lending to women entrepreneurs in vulnerable neighborhoods in Greater Buenos Aires.
Florencia Ferradas is a secondary school teacher in the southern area of Greater Buenos Aires. She works with senior students on economic subjects, and has participated in the training session on financial education for teachers given by the BCRA.
Anabela Gómez holds a degree in Economics awarded by the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) and a postgraduate degree in Finances (Universidad de Rosario | Rofex). She works for the BCRA on financial inclusion and has participated in international fora such as the G20 and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion focused on gender mainstreaming. Furthermore, she represents the BCRA in committees on financial inclusion such as the Argentine Microcredit Institution Network (RADIM), the Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise (FOROMIC), and the Center for Women’s Development Studies (CEDEM).
Laura Macherett was organizing her daughter’s 15th birthday party and, to reduce costs—given that she was unemployed—she decided to buy the materials necessary to ornament the reception room. This was the starting point for her project which aims to offer furniture hire services and decoration rentals for events. In 2016, she approached the organization Mujeres 2000 where she obtained microcredits, took training courses, and joined a network of women entrepreneurs who helped her get her project off the ground and turn it into a family business.
Sofía Lombardía is a musician and Aldana Palavecino studied cinema. They are friends and, last year, they launched Ninja, a textile undertaking that manufactures printed t-shirts and sweatshirts—mostly of feminist patterns—as well as other accessories such as money belts, backpacks, and mugs. They sell their products online across the country.
Jacqueline Robledo Monti is a Philosophy and Pedagogy professor (Universidad Nacional de San Juan) and holds a master’s degree in Philosophy (Universidad de Chile). She works in the Financial Education area in the BCRA and leads the program Financial Skills for Life whose purpose is to develop students’ skills to interact within the financial system in a rational and responsible manner. In addition, she represents the BCRA in activities aimed to make women become acquainted with investment tools.
Vera Sánchez is a political scientist and cofounder with Cecilia Retegui, of Zolvers, a platform created in 2013 that connects clients with people who are looking for house cleaning or maintenance jobs in many countries in Latin America. Vera and Cecilia work on financial inclusion and access to microcredits for people from this sector.
