Women Matter : Findings from Sri Lanka’s National Financial Inclusion Survey 2018-19

Women in Sri Lanka have achieved high levels of human development and education. Yet surprising gaps in their progress remain. For instance, the majority of Sri Lankan women still rely on the informal financial sector for their financial needs. Similarly, while women comprise more than 51 percent of the population, their participation in the paid workforce is much lower than that of men. In 2018, the figure stands at 33.6 per cent for women compared to 73 per cent for men. The country is undergoing a significant demographic transition due to its low fertility rate where, within the next 25 years, the population above 60 will double while the working-age population will similarly fall. Given these shifts, increased female participation in the economy is critical to catalyze economic growth in Sri Lanka. Improving women’s financial inclusion requires policy interventions, for which appropriate sex disaggregated data is essential. Therefore, in the recent National Financial Inclusion Survey (NFI Survey) in Sri Lanka, specific attention was paid to understanding women’s and men’s opportunities and barriers to design a strategy implementation plan that takes gender differences into account.