Navigating gendered barriers: A qualitative study of women leaders in India’s FinTech sector

Purpose The global Fintech revolution has reshaped financial services, promising unprecedented innovation and financial inclusion. Yet, beneath rapid technological advancements lies a persistent gender imbalance, with women continuing to occupy fewer than 10% of leadership roles within global fintech firms and only 5% in Indian Fintech start-ups and established firms. What are the barriers preventing a greater participation of women in the Indian Fintech sector? This study aims to draw on interviews with multiple Indian women Fintech leaders to understand the barriers preventing their equal participation and growth in the sector. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on an original qualitative dataset of nine in-depth semi-structured interviews with senior women leaders in India’s fintech sector, this paper uses purposive sampling and systematic thematic analysis to investigate the biases and barriers they encounter. The analysis identifies three intersecting challenges – (1) access to capital, (2) perceptions of leadership capability and (3) exclusionary professional networks, and highlights the progressive steps taken by these women in fintech organisations to address some of these biases. By centering a small, hard-to-access group of women in fintech leadership, the study offers a distinctive empirical contribution to scholarship on gender and leadership in financial technology. Findings The interviews highlight the deeply embedded structural and cultural barriers facing women in the fintech sector including 1) exclusion from informal networks, 2) lack of visible role models and 3) investor bias leading to limited access to capital. Originality/value The paper adds to the growing body of literature on women’s entrepreneurship in India. It invites scholars to go beyond the simplistic narrative of fintech as a democratising force, and to focus more on the institutional, cultural and financial challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the Indian fintech sector in particular, and in the Global South in general.