Financial inclusion for underprivileged women has contributed to an increase in business profits, savings and women’s role in household decision making, a recent joint study shows. The study looked into the Financial Services Authority’s (OJK) Laku Pandai (branchless banking) program and its effect on unbanked but productive women in five rural villages in East Java, namely Bojonegoro, Gresik, Lamongan, Ngawi and Tuban. The study, titled Unequal Ventures: Results from an Endline Study of Gender and Entrepreneurship in East Java, Indonesia shows that the program helped increase women entrepreneurs’ revenue by 15.5 percent and savings by 14.7 percent. “Women lack access to a safe and reliable saving place in developing countries,” said Myra Buvinic, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development who conducted the study with other researchers. ...