Gender and power : financial independence and women's relational empowerment in the Global South

Abstract

This study adopts a positive and contextually grounded representation of married women in Global South (GS) countries through the theory of gender and power (TGP) and Kabeer's empowerment framework, to examine factors driving financial independence (FI) and empowerment among women in Mauritius and Zimbabwe. Drawing on 55 in-depth interviews with married women (28 in Mauritius and 27 in Zimbabwe), findings indicate that gendered power relations and institutional forces are pivotal in shaping empowerment for married women. Three interconnected themes emerged: “societal and institutional factors,” “context-embedded financial independence and autonomy,” and “women's relational empowerment.” Theoretically, we intersect Kabeer's empowerment framework with the TGP to illustrate how FI operates at the nexus of resources, agency, gendered power relations, and structural constraints, both aligning with and challenging universalized assumptions in gender, development, and empowerment research. Empirically, the paper advances scholarship by providing nuanced insights into empowerment processes within under-researched GS contexts.