Women's Financial Inclusion in Tunisia: A Widening Gap

Women's financial inclusion in Tunisia is moving in the wrong direction. According to the World Bank's Global Findex 2025, just 26.6% of Tunisian women had an account in 2024, against 49.6% of men, a gap of 23 percentage points that has widened since 2021. A 2026 field study in Tunisia's interior and south shows why: low incomes, cash wages, distance and distrust.

Women's financial inclusion in Tunisia: the Findex numbers

The Findex survey measures account ownership at banks, other financial institutions (including the post office) and mobile money providers. For Tunisian adults:

Between 2021 and 2024, men's account ownership rose by about four points while women's fell by two. Survey estimates for sub-groups carry a margin of error, but the widening is large enough to be a warning sign.

How Tunisia compares

Tunisia is often cited as a regional pioneer on women's legal rights. On access to finance, it now lags most of its neighbours. In the 2024 Findex data, the share of women with an account was:

• 40.2% in Egypt
• 34.7% in Morocco
• 26.6% in Tunisia
• 18.1% in Algeria

The global average for women is 76.6%. Egypt's figure is notable: its overall account ownership tripled in a decade, and the gap between women and men there is now under six points.

What a 2026 field study found

In September 2026, the Observatoire de l'inclusion financière (OIF) and UNDP published a study on women and young people in seven governorates: Kairouan, Gabès, Médenine, Tataouine, Gafsa, Tozeur and Kébili. It surveyed 1,457 women, mostly aged 25 to 49, a third of them university graduates. The authors stress that the sample is not nationally representative and over-represents graduates, so the real picture for women in these regions may be worse.

Key findings for women:

• Accounts: 41% had a formal account. Postal accounts (27%) were more common than bank accounts (18%). Only 0.3% had an account with a payment institution.
• Cash wages: 55% of working women were paid in cash, which the study links to the absence of any legal requirement to pay salaries into an account. 98% said they preferred cash.
• Income: 58% of working women earned less than TND 500 a month.
• Credit: 33% had borrowed from a bank or microfinance institution.
• Insurance: 16% had private insurance, not counting the national health fund (CNAM). 45% found insurance products too complicated.
• Distance: 32% of rural women could reach a financial institution within 15 minutes, against 54% of urban women.

The study also found that the most common reason for not using financial services was lack of money (51%), and that 22% of women distrusted microfinance institutions. On the supply side, products designed specifically for women were rare.

Microfinance: the channel that reaches women

Microfinance is one of the few channels where women are well represented. In the OIF/UNDP study, 6% of women were microfinance clients, against 4.5% of men. Taysir Microfinance reported in its 2024 bond prospectus summary that 46% of its financing went to women. Enda Tamweel, the largest institution, lists women entrepreneurs among its target groups, and a TND 160 million bank syndicate arranged in June 2026 was explicitly aimed at women business owners among others.

The trade-off is price. The average effective rate on microloans was 25.7% at the end of 2024, according to the regulator, far above bank lending rates. More detail in our microfinance explainer.

Public programmes

The government runs a national programme for women's entrepreneurship and gender-sensitive investment. Its financing line, known as Raidet, supports women-led projects; in June 2025 a Burundian delegation led by Imelde Sabushimike visited one such project, a small workshop in La Soukra that employs four people and targets export markets. Public reporting on Raidet's overall volumes and terms is limited, so its reach is hard to assess.

What would move the needle

The data points to a few concrete levers:

• Salary accounts. If 55% of working women in the study are paid in cash, payroll digitisation, whether mandated or encouraged, would bring many into the system at once.
• Low-cost accounts. A 2024 BCT circular capped account fees at TND 36 a year for clients earning under TND 1,500 a month. Making such offers permanent and visible matters for women on low incomes.
• Agents and mobile wallets. With rural women far from branches, cash-in and cash-out points and simple wallets can close the distance gap. See mobile payments in Tunisia.
• Products built for women. Savings, insurance and credit designed around irregular incomes and home-based businesses are almost absent today.

Why it matters for fintech founders

Women make up the largest unbanked group in Tunisia, and the trend is not improving on its own. For fintechs, this is a large, under-served market, but one where trust, simplicity and cost will decide success more than features. Founders working on wallets, micro-savings, digital credit or embedded insurance should treat the Findex gap as a design brief. For the wider context, see our overview of financial inclusion in Tunisia and the cash economy.