International Journal of Human Research and Social Science Studies

Purpose: Bangladesh counts more than 239 million registered mobile financial service (MFS) accounts, yet registration alone says little about whether women can control and use digital money for their own purposes. This paper reframes women’s digital financial inclusion as financial agency and asks where the pathway from registration to agency breaks down.

Design/methodology/approach: The study is a structured policy review combined with a secondary-data descriptive analysis. It draws on Global Findex indicators for Bangladesh (2017, 2021 and 2024 survey waves), Bangladesh Bank statistics and regulations (MFS data, no-frill account reports, e-KYC guidelines, the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2021–2026) and peer-reviewed research on mobile money, intrahousehold control and digital fraud.

Findings: Women’s account ownership fell from 43.5% in 2021 to 33.4% in 2024 while the gender gap widened slightly to 20.2 percentage points. Only 49.3% of women had a SIM card registered in their own name and 21.4% could change a phone PIN without help, against 74.0% and 38.7% of men. Bangladesh Bank recorded 101.02 million female and 137.88 million male registered MFS accounts in February 2025, but publishes no sex-disaggregated activity data. The paper organizes barriers along five stages (access, activation, regular use, productive use and resilience) and proposes a Gender-Responsive Digital Finance Scorecard that pairs each volume indicator with a control or protection indicator.

Originality/value: The paper moves measurement from counting accounts to auditing control, safety and remedy.

Implications: Regulators and banks can adopt the scorecard to standardize sex-disaggregated activity, credential-control and complaint data.

women’s financial inclusion, financial agency, mobile financial services, intrahousehold control, digital fraud, Bangladesh

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