Digital Financial Services and Women Economic Empowerment in Rural North East Nigeria: Evidence from Gombe State

Digital financial services, including mobile money, agent banking, and digital credit, have been proposed as mechanisms for advancing women's economic empowerment by expanding financial access in underserved communities. This study examines the relationship between digital financial services adoption and women's economic empowerment in rural communities in Gombe State, North East Nigeria. A quasi-experimental design was employed, comparing economic empowerment outcomes between a treatment group of 220 rural women who adopted digital financial services in the preceding 18 months and a propensity-score-matched control group of 220 non-adopters. Economic empowerment was operationalised across three dimensions: financial autonomy, business income growth, and savings accumulation. Difference-in-differences analysis reveals that adopters experienced significantly greater improvements in financial autonomy and savings accumulation compared to controls, but business income effects were modest and statistically insignificant after controlling for market access variables. Qualitative findings from 12 focus group discussions indicate that social norms limiting women's independent financial decision-making moderate the income empowerment effects of digital financial service adoption. The study contributes empirical evidence on the conditionality of digital financial services' empowerment effects and recommends that financial inclusion programmes in North East Nigeria integrate social norm change components alongside technology access interventions. Keywords: digital financial services, women empowerment, mobile money, Gombe State, financial inclusion.