Inadequate gender-responsive innovation and barriers to women’s access to digital financial services in selected lower-middle-income countries: a systematic review

This article examines gender-responsive innovation and its contribution to women’s access to digital financial services in six selected lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), including Ghana, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Togo, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The search string is ((‘gender-responsive’ OR ‘gender-sensitive’ OR ‘gender-inclusive’) AND (‘financial access barriers’ OR ‘credit access barriers’) AND (‘lower-middle income countries’ OR ‘LMICs’)). Based on the PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines, 122 articles met the predefined inclusion criteria. Publications from 2020 to 2024 were retrieved in the Dimensions Database. From this set, 71 articles were selected for qualitative data review, and an additional 17 within the timeframe were retrieved from Google Scholar and Scopus. Quantitative analysis was conducted using bibliometric analysis of the full set of 122 articles in VOSviewer to map distributions of publication years, co-authorship versus authors, and keyword co-occurrences. In addition, the study drew on Ecological Intersectional Theory to link gender-responsive innovation to its ability to enhance digital financial services. The findings revealed eight key barriers that resulted from inadequate gender-responsive innovation that restrict women’s access to digital financial services. These include exclusion from access to formal financial institutions, low digital financial literacy, gender inequality driven by patriarchal norms, limited access to the market and business opportunities, marginalisation in financial planning and budgeting, economic vulnerability during shocks, inadequate implementation of science, technology and innovation (STI) policies, and finance-related constraints in accessing health services. The article recommends that governments in LMICs, policymakers, development experts, and stakeholders strengthen inclusive financial systems through gender-responsive digital financial inclusion and economic empowerment frameworks.