Does the Argentine financial system reduce or amplify the labor market’s gender gap?

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has had a differential impact on women and has deepened the structural problems to achieve their economic autonomy, such as limited access to the formal financial system and excess indebtedness. The purpose of this study is to generate knowledge about access to financing and debt management for women compared to men and to investigate whether or not the Argentine financial system contributes to widening the gender gaps originated in the labor market. For people with formal credit and with formal employments, the econometric results indicate that the differences in access to financing are explained to a large extent, although not exclusively, by the unfavorable labor insertion of women compared to men. At the same time, the study finds robust evidence that women have a lower rate of irregularity in credit payments.

Date of presentation: 03-20-2023

Date of approval: 07-10-2023

JEL classification: D14, E5, G5, J16