BRIEF Social Norms Change for Women’s Financial Inclusion “Young girls get misguided [with cellphones]. It can break families and ruin relationships… Why do girls need [a] cellphone? The Internet is a waste of time and money for a middle- class community like us. Girls should better utilise their time for study and other works.” —village elder1 In 2016, village elders banned mobile phones for unmarried women in a community in Gujarat. The male elders had decided that there is no benefit to unmarried women’s access to a phone and that such access is a nuisance to society. Any unmarried woman found using a phone is fined, and anyone reporting them receives a reward. While this story does not represent women’s experience and expectations for responsibilities in households, globally, it does in South Asia, where women are 38 per- communities, markets, and public life. cent less likely to own a mobile phone than men (GSMA There are two types of social norms: injunctive norms and 2015). In addition to social norms around women’s phone descriptive norms. Injunctive norms reflect what an individual ownership, collective attitudes concerning women’s paid person feels or understands internally to be the most and unpaid work, inheritance and ownership, and mobil- appropriate behavior. Descriptive norms reflect what an ity outside of the home impact the division of labor with- individual sees or believes to be the most common behavior in the household. These social norms negatively affect of others around them. For example, a woman may initially women’s ability to benefit from outside economic op- abide by the injunctive norm that she should save part of portunities—in turn, many women are not able to access her weekly earnings to build a cushion for times of need, and use financial services that would help them. It is im- but if she sees that none of her neighbors or friends is doing perative that organizations working on women’s financial this, she may decide to follow the descriptive norm that inclusion understand the social norms that limit women’s she doesn’t have to save. Alternatively, poor or low-caste access to and use of financial services and the degree women may abide by the injunctive norm that it is socially to which these norms can be shifted to achieve devel- acceptable to work outside of the home out of economic opment goals. This requires going beyond supply-side necessity, but they may be restricted by descriptive norms solutions that focus on investments in financial services around women’s mobility in society at large, which keeps providers. The focus should be to better understand the them from interacting with financial institutions for fear of social norms at play and to devise strategies that engage strong public disapproval or sanctions. a broader range of stakeholders at different levels of the market needed for more impactful change. Descriptive norms can be easier to influence than injunctive norms because they are very often derived from This Brief is intended for funders, practitioners, and misperceptions. People are very likely to overestimate policy makers who are committed to women’s financial or underestimate the extent to which people around inclusion and economic empowerment. It introduces them undertake any certain private behavior or the risks basic concepts of social norms change theory, reviews associated with behavior change. However, changing current practices regarding gendered approaches to injunctive norms, while more difficult, can have longer- financial inclusion, and explores how lessons learned lasting effects because they emphasize the benefit from other sectors that are embedding norms changes of following a set of values or practices, regardless of in their design can be applied to women’s financial in- others’ behavior. Injunctive norms can be influenced by clusion programming. government institutions and by community members or groups, such as self-help groups (SHGs) or village savings What are social norms? and loans associations (VSLAs), through strong messaging Social norms refer to the rules and accompanying about what people and/or community members should do. behaviors that govern social behavior, perceptions, and conduct. Social norms shape how people behave and Changing norms for improving how people expect others to behave. These informal rules are often highly gendered in that different norms women’s financial inclusion apply to men, women, boys, and girls, and they impact Those involved in women’s financial inclusion have and resonate in varying ways. Gendered social norms rarely embedded social norms change programming in permeate actions, perceptions, and expectations at project design. Instead, the focus is mostly on product the individual, household, and community level. They development and roll out. The assumption is that simple can manifest in differences in women’s and men’s roles product tweaks for women is all that is needed to reach July 2017 1 Dave (2016). 2 the women’s segment. Interestingly, financial services Care International has made transformative norms change have often been considered a conduit for changing norms an organization-wide priority and is addressing the gender linked to other social outcomes like health and education, norms that affect financial inclusion through its work but rarely norms that influence women’s financial inclusion supporting VSLAs. In Uganda, where underlying norms directly. However, financial-sector and wider market dictate that women should not work outside of the home, systems projects are increasingly taking social norms into Care has introduced a series of interventions that directly consideration when designing and implementing initiatives addresses this constraint. The program introduced a mobile aimed at increasing women’s financial inclusion. wallet to help women practice mental stocktaking around the use of their finances with subwallets earmarked for A majority of these interventions are norm aware— different uses. The program also introduced dialogue initiatives that work within existing social norms to address between men and women around intra-household resource market constraints for women. These interventions do management and the role of women in the paid economy. not attempt to change unequal power relationships Early evaluation results show a general uptake of subwallet between individuals within a community or challenge accounts, improved self-confidence, reduced anxiety, and deeply rooted expectations regarding women’s unpaid increased women’s participation in household decision- care work, ownership rights, or appropriate professions. making over time. Instead, they focus on supporting women’s paid work by providing workarounds to social norms constraints, GSMA worked with Telenor in India to address norms such as limited mobility or lack of collateral, that restrict changes linked to phone ownership on a project called women’s economic participation. Sampark. While this work did not directly address mobile money, it aimed to influence one of the main bottlenecks The DFID-funded ELAN RDC Project in the Democratic that impact women’s access to mobile money—having Republic of Congo is an example of a norm-aware project their own phone. The product offered families a “combo- that sought to address the gender barriers of women’s SIM” package in which a purchase of one SIM for the male limited mobility and control over cash incomes through head of household came with a free SIM for his wife. For a project design modifications. The project attempts to limited time, as the family topped up the main phone, the increase women’s savings rates and control of their income second phone was topped up as well, and both phones within their existing restricted mobility by introducing were eligible for free talk between the SIMs. The idea was improved cook-stoves and solar lamps, delivering to provide an incentive for men to give their wives a phone agricultural trainings in areas that are conveniently and to demonstrate to their wives the benefit by being able accessible for women, and providing mobile banking to communicate more easily within the family. To reinforce facilities. Another example of a norm-aware intervention is the product, GSMA and Telenor trained sales agents and being piloted by the World Bank Group’s Finance & Markets led an awareness and technical literacy campaign around Global Practice and the Gender Innovation Lab under the initiative. After the top-up subsidy period ended, the the Women’s Economic Development Project (WEDP). project found that men allowed their wives to keep their To address ownership norms that disproportionately phones and continued to pay for their phone use. exclude women, innovative credit technologies, such as psychometric tests, are being introduced to lenders to Unlike norm-aware approaches that seek to create predict the ability of a borrower to repay a loan and reduce alternative channels for women’s financial inclusion, norm the need for collateral. While the project does not address transformative solutions attempt to change or remove the underlying norms around women’s asset ownership, those barriers and open up equal access for women to the technological solution removes the immediate barrier the formal financial sector. This requires thinking beyond of collateral to help increase access. traditional partners in financial inclusion (i.e., financial services providers and regulators) to engage a range of Norm-aware programming that works to increase women’s individual, community, and institutional actors (e.g., family access to economic opportunities is no doubt critical for members, community groups, media, enterprise support achieving gender parity in development interventions. providers) needed to challenge perceptions of women’s However, it is increasingly recognized that creating roles that limit their ability to be economic actors and to workarounds to address norms barriers without changing create scalable and lasting change. Box 1 offers an example underlying social dynamics can limit the effectiveness and from a partnership in Kenya led by Women’s World Banking impact of these interventions and, in some cases, can that aimed to address many psychological barriers faced by lead to unintended negative consequences, such as loans women when engaging with the banking sector. diverted to male relatives, increased workloads that do not alleviate other household/community responsibilities, and Lessons learned from other sectors increased intimate partner violence. Norm transformative Normative change approaches have major implications interventions that explicitly work to change social norms for programming costs, timeframes, and scalability—all through direct engagement of men, women, and the of which can discourage more investments into these broader community around these barriers are much less types of programs. However, development practitioners common, but increasingly being considered. are increasingly working to design measurable norm- 3 Box 1: Innovative Partnerships for Transformation and Scale Women’s World Banking (WWB) developed an education campaign in Kenya to encourage low-income, underbanked women to open and use bank accounts. Partnering with a local educational television show “Makutano Junction,” WWB used market research findings on the psychological barriers faced by women in accessing bank accounts to develop storylines in the shows and embed messages to examine power relations in the family to shift norms and perceptions around financial services for women. The psychological barriers found were imbedded in gender norms around women as economic actors and included perceptions that banks were not for them, that women do not have enough money to have an account, that a bank does not add value to their money, and that they do not have the literacy or familiarity with banks to properly complete forms to access an account. In Kenya, WWB collaborated with the producers of Makutano Junction to develop a six-episode story as part of their weekly series, which reaches an estimated 6–8 million adult viewers, representing about 20 percent of the country. The storyline featured a fictitious bank branch manager who launched a campaign to get women to save by teaching viewers, especially women, to become more financially literate. Storylines had financial messages about opening and regularly using saving accounts, money management, and other themes. Approximately 138,000 low-income female viewers opened an account after the show; on the other hand, no female nonviewers opened accounts. It also led to an increase in account activity by viewers, with viewers withdrawing less and saving more than nonviewers. Viewers cited TV as the most useful source of information on how to manage their money and consistently remembered the core lesson promoted by the program that everyone is eligible to open a bank account. WWB’s local partners were critical in the overall success of the initiative because they ensured that there was a relevant product that allowed women to put these new ideas into practice. The Nawiri Dada campaign, as it became known, was aligned with local promotion through three partner banks: Equity Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust DTM, and Family Bank. Different media, including radio commercials, poster distribution, and marketing materials such as magnets and piggy banks, were used. At the end of each episode, a cast member would mention the three partner banks and encouraged viewers to visit them and open an account. Source: WWB (n.d.). change solutions with realistic budgets and time frames products and services support rather than exacerbate to ensure desired impact. Financial inclusion practitioners women’s existing responsibilities both within their can learn much from other sectors, such as public and household and the community at large. Approaches that reproductive health, education, gender-based violence, use critical thinking, personal reflection, and interactive and the environment, where understanding social norms learning will also have a greater impact in identifying is increasingly being embedded into program design. The restrictive norms and embedding new ones. following are some key insights that have emerged. Interventions that do not overemphasize negative social Programs that seek to shift social norms should leverage norms or apply punishments can avoid unintended peer-group influence to bring about change. Because consequences, such as incurring backlash or shifting social identity is so important to an individual’s likelihood norms change in the wrong direction. In addition, of adhering to a set of norms, social networks can be messages and approaches that are aspirational and particularly influential allies in norm-change interventions. identifiable are key. Mass media is being used increasingly Normative messages delivered through an individual’s most as a potent tool to influence changes in social norms proximate group of friends or peers have a more substantial around women as economic actors. By promoting positive impact than messages that come from outside of his or attitudes and beliefs among large segments of a population her direct social network. Women’s SHGs or VSLAs have about women as entrepreneurs, small business owners, and historically played an important role in changing gender bank clients these campaigns help create more accepting norms that restrict women’s economic empowerment, by environments for women to adopt new behaviors. building women’s confidence, transferring knowledge, and Programs that focus on gender-specific norms change promoting a greater sense of self-esteem. should benefit all groups and should not pit one Interventions should respect participants’ experiences group against another. Interventions should approach and values as well as context-specific local realities. gender equality as an abundant resource that is good Normative messages that are aligned with people’s for the entire community and offers benefits to all. A personal beliefs about what is right and wrong for their synchronized approach that engages men and women in peer group or social status tend to have greater impact addressing social norms change is important in ensuring than those that focus on what external experts think or transformative change. Interventions that highlight the do. Recognizing women’s unpaid care work along with benefit of women’s greater financial inclusion to the their paid labor will be critical to ensure that financial whole family, through increased income levels, education July 2017 All CGAP publications for children, health care, time-saving devices, and so Anderson, Elizabeth. 2000. “Beyond Homo Economicus: are available on the forth, and minimize the disadvantages of changing New Developments in Theories of Social Norms.” CGAP Web site at www.cgap.org. gender roles, by engaging public-sector institutions Philosophy & Public Affairs 29, no. 2: 170–200. and/or government programs to help support women’s Babalola S. 2006. “Readiness for HIV Testing among Young CGAP unpaid work, will have the greatest success. People in Northern Nigeria: The Roles of Social Norm and 1818 H Street, NW Normative change does not happen all at once. Perceived Stigma.” AIDS and Behavior 11, no. 5: 759–69. MSN IS7-700 Programs must acknowledge a staged process that Washington, DC Dave, Hiral. 2016. “Gujarat Village Bans Mobile Phones 20433 USA leads people to new value systems or ways of thinking. for Unmarried Women.” Hindustan Times, 18 February. Norms are influenced, mediated, and buttressed by http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/gujarat-village- Tel: 202-473-9594 dynamics at the relationship, family, community, regional, bans-mobile-phones-for-unmarried-women/story- Fax: 202-522-3744 and institutional level. Thus, successful norm change iziKwjYckgmOOP8ZRBNn3K.html approaches will often operate at numerous levels of a Email: systems framework and require the participation of all Ensminger, Jean, and Jack Knight. 1997. “Changing cgap@worldbank.org members of the community to uphold and reinforce Social Norms: Common Property, Bridewealth, and Clan expectations about men and women’s roles in society. Exogamy.” Current Anthropology 38, no. 1: 1–24. © CGAP, 2017 This helps build critical mass and reinforce lasting change. Feldman, Douglas A., et al. 1997. “HIV Prevention among Moving forward Zambian Adolescents: Developing a Value Utilization/Norm Change Model.” Social Science & Medicine 44, no. 4: 455–68. Understanding the social norms at play and the potential Galván, Adriana, Agnieszka Spatzier, and Jaana Juvonen. influence they may have on financial inclusion programing 2011. “Perceived Norms and Social Values to Capture is not always straightforward, given the hyperlocality of School Culture in Elementary and Middle School.” Journal informal rules, which can differ dramatically by context, of Applied Developmental Psychology 32, no. 6: 346–53. even within the same country. Common norms, such as restrictions on women’s mobility and safety, intrahousehold GSMA. 2015. “Bridging the Gender Gap: Mobile Access decision-making, and unpaid work and perceptions of and Usage in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.” London: appropriate roles for women in the community, tend to GSMA, 2 March. restrict women’s access to and use of finance. Knowing Kallgren, C. A., R. R. Reno, and R. B. Cialdini. 2000. “A exactly how norms apply in any given context and the Focus Theory of Normative Conduct: When Norms Do and opportunities for shifting behaviors through both norm- Do Not Affect Behavior.” Personality and Social Psychology aware and norm-transformative efforts will be critical for Bulletin: 1002–12. closing the gender financial inclusion gap. Latkin, Carl A., et al. 2003. “Norms, Social Networks, and It is important that programs specifically targeting HIV-Related Risk Behaviors among Urban Disadvantaged women incorporate a social-norms dimension to any Drug Users.” Social Science & Medicine 56, no. 3: 465–76. upfront diagnostic work to look beyond classic supply- side constraints to access and use of financial services. Lewis, Todd F. 2005. “Readiness to Change, Social Norms, Diagnostics that explore how women use existing and Alcohol Involvement Among College Students.” financial services, expectations around women as financial Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling 26, no. 1 actors, perceptions around access, and ownership of (October): 22–37. new technology will be critical to designing programs that bring together men and women to promote Markel, Erin, et al. 2016. “The Social Norms Factor: How development goals that benefit the entire community. A Gendered Social Norms Influence How We Empower Women client-centric approach, where practitioners and donors in Market Systems Development.” The BEAM Exchange, July. collaborate with organizations that understand social Nayak, Mahesh. 2015. “Uninor: Project Sampark.” norms change and experiment to imbed this learning London: GSMA, March. http://www.gsma.com/ into future programming will be essential as we think mobilefordevelopment/programme/connected-women/ about impactful and transformative approaches to uninor-project-sampark women’s financial inclusion. Todd F. 2005. “Readiness to Change, Social Norms, and References Alcohol Involvement among College Students.” Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling 26, no. 1: 22–37. Alm, James, et al. 2013. “When You Know Your Neighbor Pays Taxes: Information, Peer Effects, and Tax WWB (Women’s World Banking). n.d. “From Access to Compliance.” Malden, Mass.: Fiscal Studies, September. Inclusion: Educating Clients.” New York: WWB. AUTHORS: Deena M. Burjorjee, Mayada El-Zoghbi, and Lis Meyers, with Brian Heilman