New data reveals that the gender gap for sending digital remittances to Ghana is rapidly closing, driven by an increase in international mobile money transfers.
Ghanaians living abroad sent home a record $3.8bn (GHC 27 billion) in 2018, making Ghana the second-largest remittance receiving country in Africa.
To mark International Women’s Day, leading online money transfer service WorldRemit celebrates the contribution of Ghanaian women living and working abroad make to their home country.
As remittances continue to grow, women are making an increasing contribution to the country’s development.
New WorldRemit research revealed the proportion of females sending digital money transfers to Ghana via WorldRemit has grown nine percentage points within the last five years.
Despite the global gender gap, Ghanaian women send home an average of 6% more per transaction than their male compatriots
29% of WorldRemit customers sending to Ghana are female, compared to 20% in 2014.
Mobile-to-mobile remittances (transfers sent to mobile accounts via web or app) account for almost 70% of remittances sent by women.
The UN estimates that over 47% of Ghanaian migrants are female, with the majority living in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany.
Money sent from mothers, sisters and aunts living abroad helps millions of families in Ghana pay for essential needs such as healthcare and education.
Globally, women represent approximately half of all remittance senders and tend to send a higher proportion of their income despite earning less than men.
Evidence suggests that, although female migrants tend to earn less than their male counterparts, they send a higher proportion of their income home more frequently.
Digital money transfer companies are improving women’s access to remittances and helping their money go further.
WorldRemit enables the Ghanaian diaspora to send money home in a few taps from their phones without having the travel to an agent, lowering costs and increasing speed and convenience.
As WorldRemit celebrates International Women’s Day, the company is offering new customers zero fees on their first transfer to Ghana if they use the code IWD when making payment. Ts and Cs here.
Pardon Mujakachi, Country Manager for Ghana at WorldRemit, said, “ensuring digital inclusion for financial services for women on both the send and receive side is critically important, as we know that when women thrive, families, businesses and local economies thrive too.
He explained their data shows women play an increasingly vital role in Ghana’s development by sending money home to support education, cover healthcare costs, make investments, and more.
“At WorldRemit, we’re committed to simplifying that process, and making it faster, cheaper and easier to send and receive remittances,” Mr. Mujakachi added.
WorldRemit customers complete over 1.3 million transfers every month from over 50 countries to over 145 destinations.
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