Women and Mobile Money in Lesotho: Intended and unintended consequences of mobile money usage in Morija

Sammanfattning: Limited access to formal banking leaves large shares of the population in developing countries underbanked or unbanked. One tool believed to enhance financial inclusion is the financial service mobile money, which has spread quickly especially in Africa. The mobile service offers payment, transfer and banking services to low rates and without the need of a bank account. In Lesotho, mobile money was launched 2012, and within three years more than half of the population had subscribed. Lesotho is a patriarchal society, with high inequality and growing gender inequality. Women have traditionally had restricted direct access to cash and deemed subordinated to men. This qualitative field study focuses on women’s usage of mobile money in Morija and explores the influences it has on their everyday life and perception of empowerment. To analyse the data, the concepts of empowerment and unintended consequences have been applied, in combination with the social shaping of technology approach. The findings are divided into intended and unintended consequences. From an intended consequences perspective, the women experience increased financial inclusion by using mobile money. The unintended consequences widen the understanding of the outcome of mobile money usage. Primarily they suggest that women mainly are the prime beneficiaries of mobile money, as they carry the bulk of household responsibility. The service is chiefly used as a household strategy, yet it enhances the interviewed women’s capacity to manage their own money. An empowerment perspective shows how many women have gained increased financial and social independence from utilising mobile money. The overall outcome of this study suggests that women’s usage of mobile money in Morija taps in to the ongoing process towards gender equality.