Ladder or Safety Net? Financial Inclusion and Women’s Social Mobility in Mexico

Ladder or Safety Net? Financial Inclusion and Women’s Social Mobility in Mexico | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Ladder or Safety Net? Financial Inclusion and Women’s Social Mobility in Mexico María Jose Roa, Alejandra Villegas This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8894749/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper asks a policy-relevant question for Mexico: when financial inclusion expands, does it help women climb the socioeconomic ladder, protect them from falling, or both? Using the Survey on Social Mobility in Mexico 2023 (ESRU–EMOVI 2023) survey and a use-based measure of financial inclusion, we combine probit models with intergenerational origin–destination transition matrices to document how inclusion correlates with mobility—and how the pattern differs by gender. We find that financial inclusion is associated with a more favorable mobility profile overall, but the returns are distinctly gendered. Among those originating at the bottom, inclusion is more strongly linked to men’s exits from the lowest quintile, while for women inclusion is especially associated with remaining in the top quintile and avoiding downward mobility. These asymmetries align with evidence that women face binding structural constraints and unequal financial socialization within households, which can weaken women’s ability to convert financial access into upward movement. Taken together, the results imply that closing gender gaps requires policies that go beyond access—pairing inclusion with interventions that relax structural barriers and disrupt gendered transmission of financial skills so that inclusion can function as a genuine mobility ladder for women. JEL Codes: D14, G21, I24, J16, O15 financial inclusion social mobility gender equality financing for development intergenerational transmission Mexico Full Text Additional Declarations Competing interest reported. Competing interests Financial interests: This article builds on research originally conducted as part of a consultancy project commissioned by the Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY). Both authors received consultancy compensation for that prior project. The manuscript submitted here is an independent academic extension of that work. No specific funding was received for the preparation of this article. Non-financial interests: none. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8894749","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":600146247,"identity":"fb31b16c-f566-4c94-a078-58d702f68ce1","order_by":0,"name":"María Jose Roa","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"María","middleName":"Jose","lastName":"Roa","suffix":""},{"id":600146248,"identity":"9a29e295-3bc5-45bc-99fe-e461ec6e9c5b","order_by":1,"name":"Alejandra Villegas","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA90lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCA0DMw8cOZtvwGBCthY0ZzE4jTgsYQLUcZiCoRbf97MMDPxgOy7AxMx9+8ePPeRlz9t6HDxhzDuPUYnYm3eBgD8NhoMPY0ix7227zWPYcNzZg3JaGW8uBNIYDPEAvsDHzmBnwNtzmMbiRxibBuM0Gt5bzzxgO/gFr4f9m+OfPOR6D+89AWiRwa7mRBnQVMGyBtjA/5mE7ALSFjYAtN54B/W4A0sJmxizblgz0SxqzQSI+v5xPY/74pkLCnp+9+fHHN3/s7M3ZjzE++LgNd4hBACQu2BDuTyCgAQaYPxCpcBSMglEwCkYYAADjJkl1qaL9vgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Ibero American University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alejandra","middleName":"","lastName":"Villegas","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-16 16:24:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8894749/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8894749/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107251319,"identity":"6b0b1a5b-c97f-4755-8798-c1219d417e4e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-19 10:25:04","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1128906,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20260216FinancialInclusionandSocialMobilityofWomeninMexico.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8894749/v1_covered_fc058eaa-a647-4731-b3f0-7758932a85a9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"Competing interest reported. Competing interests\n\nFinancial interests: This article builds on research originally conducted as part of a consultancy project commissioned by the Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY). Both authors received consultancy compensation for that prior project. The manuscript submitted here is an independent academic extension of that work. No specific funding was received for the preparation of this article.\n\nNon-financial interests: none.","formattedTitle":"Ladder or Safety Net? 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