How does financial inclusion act as a catalyst for reducing financial crime among women?

Date24 June 2024
Pages279-287
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-02-2024-0058
Published date24 June 2024
AuthorTooba Akram,Naveed Muhammad,Suresh RamaKrishnan
How does f‌inancial inclusion act
as a catalyst for reducing f‌inancial
crime among women?
Tooba Akram
Faculty of Management Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia
Naveed Muhammad
Bahria Business School, Bahria University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan, and
Suresh RamaKrishnan
Faculty of Management Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose This study aims to review f‌inancialinclusion as a catalyst to reduce f‌inancial scams and frauds
faced by women in the f‌ive largest US states by population and proposed measures encouraging womens
f‌inancialsafety.
Design/methodology/approach Recognizing the unique socioeconomic landscape, the study seeks
responses through a surveyquestionnaire from 4,113 women respondents analyzed by usinga basic mixed-
methods approach, including quantitative surveys analyzed through SPSS and qualitative short interviews
thematicallyanalyzed by using Nvivo.
Findings The review results show that 94% of women believe that f‌inancial inclusion can protect them from
scams and fraud. Also, it has been observed that f‌inancial crimes disproportiona tely affect women, often
stemming from a desire to conceal such activities from close family members and partners. Older women,
housewives and those from f‌inancially depressedareas need more f‌inancial inclusion plans to curb f‌inancial fraud.
Social implications The proposed measuresmay have positive social and economic implicationson the
females residingin the f‌inancially depressed areas.
Originality/value The study represents the authorsoriginal contribution, examining the role of
f‌inancialinclusion in preventing women from engaging in f‌inancialcrimes.
Keywords Financial crime, Women, Financial inclusion, USA
Paper type General review
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
The USA faces persistent challenges related to crime, with certain demographics,
particularlywomen, being disproportionatelyaffected. This study aims to address this issue
by exploringthe potential of f‌inancial inclusioninitiatives to empowerwomen and contribute
to the reduction of f‌inancial crime rates, def‌ined by f‌inancial sc ams and frauds. Fina ncial
inclusion is an area of growing global interest in womens empowerment policy and
programming. While increased economic autonomy may be expected to reduce the
prevalence of intimate partner violence, the mechanisms and contexts through which this
relationshipmanifests are not well understood.Younger women tend to have lowerf‌inancial
literacy and f‌inancial literacy among women lags that of men across generations (TIAA
Institute,2022). Women in the USA who have low literacy skillsfrequently lack fundamental
Financial
inclusion act
279
Journalof Financial Crime
Vol.32 No. 2, 2025
pp. 279-287
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/JFC-02-2024-0058
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1359-0790.htm

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