Women business’ access to finance

lives and save much time for them to spend Cross-cutting recommendations
meaningfully on other activities.
• Women must continue complying with the • Women face complex engendered issues
loan repayment plans to transform negative such as unpaid care work, patriarchy,
social stereotypes. There is already a good violence against women, lack of control
perception of women’s creditworthiness over resources and limited access to
in the financial community. Such progress markets which reinforce each other to
must be maintained and evidenced through exacerbate poverty and exclusion. Hence
stories of change, video clips and other the government, development agencies,
communication avenues to challenge civil society organizations, women groups/
negative perceptions. representatives and other relevant
• Women must keep abreast with the new stakeholders need to frame a workable
technologies adapting e-transactions to be strategy that guides efforts to challenge
able to generate financial statement when harmful social norms that create gender
accessing finance. Women should open bank inequality.
accounts and deposit their money to boost
the trust of the banks when taking loans. • The Chamber of Commerce is appealing to
• The roles and responsibilities ascribed from Oxfam to provide financial and technical
childhood empower men and subordinate assistance for the formulation of women-
women which leads women to be remorseful friendly investment policy and frameworks.
about their actions for fear of violating The chamber is the voice of the private
and breaching expected societal norms sector and is prepared to collaborate
and behaviours. This limits women’s ability with international partners since it has
and holds them back, keeping them in the unlimited access to the policy development
private spheres. Hence, women should not processes and can easily approach the
be apologetic, but assertive in their actions, relevant public institutions and offices.
voices, and choices in life. In addition, the chamber of commerce
has strong connections with the donor
community to access the necessary funds
and technical support.

– Women business’ access to finance in Somaliland 51
Research Report