Within Reach: How Digital Wages That Work for Women Can Support Bangladesh’s Economic Future

Authors

• 

  Ella Moffat

  Manager, RISE, BSR

  

  ---

  

  Ella Moffat

  Manager, RISE, BSR

  

  London

  ---

  Ella manages RISE's Financial Health program in global supply chains, working closely with partners Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, The Walt Disney Company, and GIZ. RISE Financial Health supports low-income workers, especially women, to access, use, and benefit from their payroll accounts and build their financial capability in order to increase their financial health and economic empowerment, while also increasing efficiency and transparency in global supply chains.

  Before joining BSR, Ella was partnership manager on CARE International UK’s private-sector engagement team, working closely with companies including Barclays, Mondelez International, and GSK to develop mutually beneficial partnerships and deliver business and social impact, with a focus on women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion. Ella also spent three years as a VSO fundraising advisor in India working for grassroots disability and rural development organizations. 

  Ella holds a Master’s in Development Studies from Birkbeck, University of London.

  Close

• Justin Hui

  Former Associate, BSR

Alice Allan, Consultant and Smita Nimilita, HERproject Country Representative, Bangladesh

Wage digitization of low-income populations has the potential to be a win-win opportunity that can deliver both social and economic progress, helping countries meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For garment workers, it can mean transparency over pay, the chance to open a financial account, and greater economic empowerment. For the wider economy, it can mean improving efficiency for factories, a new market segment for financial service providers (FSPs), and citizens saving and remitting more money. This report sets out three possible future scenarios of how things might evolve for women workers. This exercise aims to assist policymakers developing Bangladesh’s digital road map—highlighting where the risks and opportunities are.