Does it (Re)pay to be Female? Considering Gender in Microfinance Loan Officer-Client Pairs

This paper examines the effect of gender combination client-loan officer pairs on loan repayment in an Ecuadorian microfinance institution. We show that among four possible i.e. female client-female officer, client-male male and most favourable terms are those with officers whereas least officers. also is even further enhanced for all when client’s previous was a woman. Our findings point to relational differences between interacting clients, which highlighted by our qualitative insights from field.