To mark International Women’s Day, leading online money transfer service WorldRemit celebrates the contribution Filipino women living and working abroad make to their home country. New data reveals that the gender gap for sending digital money transfers to the Philippines has rapidly closed by almost 20% in five years.

Filipinos living abroad sent home a record $33 billion (PhP1.72 trillion) in 2018, making the Philippines the third largest remittance receiving country in the globe. This makes up about 10% of the country’s GDP - the highest share in the region.

New WorldRemit research reveals:

● The proportion of females sending digital money transfers to the Philippines via WorldRemit has grown by 10%, compared to the global average of 7%.

● 35% of WorldRemit’s customers sending to the Philippines are female, compared to 25% in 2014.

● Despite the global gender gap, female overseas workers from the Philippines send a greater share of remittances compared their male counterparts, and they rank education as the most important reason for sending remittances.*

Of the 10 million Filipinos currently working abroad, approximately 55% are now women with many living in countries such as the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Money sent from mothers, sisters, and aunts living abroad helps millions of families in the Philippines pay for essential needs such as healthcare and education.

Globally, women represent approximately half of all remittance senders and tend to send a higher proportion of their income despite earning less than men. Evidence suggests that, although female migrants tend to earn less than their male counterparts, they send a higher proportion of their income home more frequently.

Digital money transfer companies are improving women’s access to remittances and helping their money go further. WorldRemit enables the Filipino diaspora to send money home in a few taps from their phones without having the travel to an agent, lowering costs and increasing speed and convenience. As WorldRemit celebrates International Women’s Day, the company is offering new customers zero fees on their first transfer to The Philippines. Customers just have to use the code IWD when making payment to avail of this deal. Ts and Cs here: https://www.worldremit.com/iwd

“Ensuring digital inclusion for financial services for Filipino women living at home and abroad is critically important, as we know that when women thrive, families, businesses and local economies thrive too,” says Michael Liu, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at WorldRemit. “Our data shows that women play an increasingly vital role in development of The Philippines by sending money home to support education, cover healthcare costs, make investments, and more. At WorldRemit, we’re committed to simplifying that process, and making it faster, cheaper and easier to send and receive remittances.”

WorldRemit customers complete over 1.3 million transfers every month from over 50 countries to over 145 destinations. Visit the WorldRemit website for more information on how to send money to the Philippines.