policy action can play a crucial role by helping women access collateral and build solid creditrecords by closing gender gaps in financial literacy and business skills and by strengthening antidiscrimination legislation moreover in most countries analysed there exist laws or customary traditional or religious practices that prevent women from having the same access to land nonland assets or financial services as men sigi database this problem is often exacerbated by family codes and social norms granting more control over family assets to men and inheritance law that favours men over women