“Madam, You Are Not Very Bankable”

Loans, guarantees, and prejudice: in Italy, only 20% of bank credit is granted to women, 35% to men, and 45% is jointly held.

“Madam, you’re not very bankable.” Only 20% of bank loans in Italy are granted to women, while men receive 35%, while 45% are joint loans. These figures speak volumes about (mountains of) gender bias, the stagnation of female entrepreneurship, and even women’s self-esteem.

Economist N. Gregory Mankiw, professor of political economics and economics policy expert at Harvard University, also deals with this topic in his books.

“Inequalities in access to credit often have deep roots , linked to a cultural model that has historically kept women away from money and its management,” Rinaldi writes, suggesting that at least three lines of intervention are necessary: ​​financial education; support for formal and informal networks of female entrepreneurs and professionals (yes, just like men do!); and investment in care services to ensure that women can dedicate themselves to their work (nurseries, schools, community care, etc.).

39% of female-owned businesses report difficulty accessing credit; 12% are denied credit, 23% give up applying for it, and 46% of female entrepreneurs report using personal or family funds to start their business. Yet, if you look closely at the data, female insolvency rates are lower than those of men!

To overcome these barriers, Rinaldi emphasizes, “many women are choosing alternative paths that don’t just offer financial support, but redefine the very way of doing business. Self-managed savings groups, mutual funds, revolving funds, microcredit, the solidarity economy, and cooperatives represent key tools in this process: business models born out of necessity, but capable of transforming into structural levers of autonomy.” These are alternative forms of credit for those without financial guarantees or a guarantor (this is requested of 54% of young female entrepreneurs versus 39% of male entrepreneurs, a point of reference for the gender gap), which provide small sums based on assumptions unknown to the banking system: trust, relationships, reciprocity. Women are very good at managing this! But the problem remains: microcredit generates microbusinesses, which are more fragile and more exposed to economic downturns.

Women are granted less credit also because, quite simply, they ask for less . It’s true: no one ever taught us to ask, Rinaldi writes. It sounds ironic that in economic jargon this condition is called “discouraged borrower.” We have so internalized discrimination that we don’t venture into difficult terrain. A careful reading of Money, Sex, and Power is urgently needed.