Sahana Dharmapuri
Photo Courtesy of Veera Batlu/Unsplash
In 2025, the words cryptocurrency, digital assets, and blockchain are becoming increasingly commonplace, yet they are still a new terrain for many in the policy world and almost absent from discussions about peace and security.
However, asking a simple question—“How will people, especially women, be affected by these technologies in their daily lives?”—opens a pathway to new solutions for long-standing problems, such as banking the unbanked and increasing economic security in humanitarian crises.
Caveat: this technology is new. Its applications and implications are also emerging. The world is still in the early stages of learning, adapting, and experimenting with these technologies in everyday life. In fact, the majority of Americans say they don’t trust technology. Including women in the design and implementation of these tools is essential. One policy lens that can help achieve this is Women, Peace and Security. The examples below only scratch the surface of current possibilities, but they hint at what could be achieved.
Banking the Unbanked
Women still constitute a majority of the unbanked population, making up 55–56% of unbanked adults globally, according to the World Economic Forum and The Borgen Project. Interestingly, the Pew Foundation found that 60% of the 2 billion unbanked people today own a smartphone, devices that could allow them to hold personal accounts, make purchases, and receive income. These financial records could help lenders determine eligibility for credit or loans to buy property or start businesses. Digital assets make these processes more accessible. Microlenders can reach women who lack bank accounts and traditional credit without going through a bank.
Women often face systemic barriers due to a lack of proper identification, limited access to mobile phones, and fewer resources, all of which contribute to their higher rates of being unbanked. Expanding mobile phone access to women and girls opens the door to digital assets that can enhance economic security. In Kenya, for example, M-Pesa, a mobile money service launched in 2007—where “M” stands for mobile and “Pesa” means money in Swahili—has provided prepaid devices or “smart meters” that let low-income households pay for electricity and water in small, incremental “pay-as-you-go” amounts, giving users more control over their personal finances.
Increasing Economic Security and Freedom in Humanitarian Crises
According to Women for Women International, over half of the 100 million displaced people worldwide are women and girls. Women are often the first responders in crisis situations, yet their voices are frequently absent from policies designed to protect them. Beyond the general hardships of displacement, women face additional pressures from cultural norms that discriminate against them.
Addressing economic insecurity for women and girls in refugee crises may seem overwhelming, but some digital asset innovations offer tangible solutions. Humanitarian organizations use M-Pesa to support refugees, particularly in Kenya and other parts of Africa. Instead of distributing goods, agencies like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Kenya Red Cross Society, and the World Food Program (WFP) provide cash transfers directly to refugees and displaced people for mobile phones for disaster relief, food assistance, and drought response.
Using M-Pesa reduces overhead costs, stimulates the local economy, and increases refugees’ physical security by removing the need to carry large amounts of cash in dangerous conditions. Direct mobile transfers also allow displaced people, particularly women, to make autonomous decisions about what they need and want to buy.
Women’s Security is Human Security
The most important measure of these technological developments’ ability to “do good” is ensuring women have the same access as men to mobile phones, digital assets, new forms of payments, and income. Policy-makers and the private sector must understand the barriers displaced women face, which differ from those affecting men.
How can these gendered differences be addressed when developing and deploying digital technologies? Applying a Women, Peace and Security lens helps ensure that both men and women can benefit from economic innovations, creating safer, more resilient, and more independent environments, even in the most vulnerable situations such as humanitarian crises. These technologies will not solve every global problem, but empowering more people to use them strengthens communities and builds resilience.
Author bio: Sahana Dharmapuri is the Vice President of Our Secure Future: Women Make the Difference, an organization dedicated to Women, Peace and Security.