Original article by:
Dr Zuberia Aminah Hosanoo, Lecturer, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Dr Soujata Rughoobur-Seetah, Senior Lecturer, Curtin University, Mauritius
Dr Loga Devi Balla Soupramanien, Senior Lecturer, Curtin University, Mauritius
Dr Melina Doargajudhur, Lecturer, Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Prof. Jessica Lichy, Professor, IDRAC Business School, France
Dr Daniel Wheatley, Reader, University of Birmingham, UK
Introduction
What does it mean for a married woman in Mauritius or Zimbabwe to be financially independent? And does earning her own income shifts her say in how her household is run? This study finds that the answer to these questions is more complicated than conventional frameworks suggest, pointing to layered and often unseen dynamics that resist simple or universal explanations. Existing research tends to treat financial independence as a direct pathway to empowerment, a linear view influenced by Western-centric assumptions of individualised autonomy, formal labour market participation, and institutionalised gender protection. In Global South (economically, socially, and historically marginalised) contexts, however, women’s capacity for empowerment is influenced by informally governed structures, patriarchal norms, and relational dynamics that income alone cannot dissolve (Doargajudhur et al. 2026).
In such contexts, women’s empowerment is shaped not only by material deprivation but also by deeply embedded gender norms, family structures, and institutional arrangements that regulate access to resources and the exercise of agency (Martins 2020). Compounding Kabeer’s empowerment framework with Connell’s Theory of Gender and Power, the study draws on 55 in-depth interviews with married women, 28 in Mauritius and 27 in Zimbabwe, to examine how financial independence translates into what the authors term relational empowerment within Global South contexts: the capacity to renegotiate power dynamics within households, workplaces, and communities. Its central finding is that financial independence is a necessary but insufficient condition for empowerment. Whether income produces agency depends on a combination of societal and institutional factors (Balasubramanian et al. 2024).
Persistent gendered cultural norms and practices
Role categorisation and gender stereotypes are persistent in Global South societies (Chiweshe and Hove 2023). Despite empowering institutions and legal systems, in both Mauritius and Zimbabwe, families traditionally restrict higher education access to male children while women are pushed into marriage and homemaking. These gendered cultural norms and practices in the two case countries and their respective institutions replicate male dominance as well as patriarchal values in legal systems which were created by men for men (World Bank, 2021)
In turn, despite institutional and legal frameworks aimed at protecting women and enabling their empowerment, 90% of the study’s participants in both countries believed that the application of the law is gendered and biased.
This power imbalance extends beyond the home, shaping women’s experiences both in the workplace and domestically. At work, they encounter gendered barriers to career advancement, while at home, they remain secondary earners with household responsibilities largely unchanged despite their employmentstatus. Respondents consistently highlighted the expectation to prioritise caregiving over professional development, a tension that constrains both their economic participation and their sense of agency.
The gap between legal provision and lived experience is consequently wide. Despite progressive developments in the policy sphere of both countries, entrenched gendered social structures continue to shape what is considered acceptable behaviour for women, limiting their access to resources and opportunities in practice.
The role of financial independence in women’s empowerment
On the question of financial independence itself, the study finds that women’s access to earned income enables them to challenge the traditional sexual division of labour (Kabeer 2017), enhances their power over resources, and grants them greater freedom to make life and career decisions.
Financial Independence thus functions as a resource through which women can challenge traditional divisions of power and renegotiate social norms within their households. Financially independent women in the study reported choosing voluntarily to contribute to household expenses, exercising discretion over personal spending, and experiencing a stronger sense of self-esteem and self-worth as a result. By contrast, women who remained financially dependent on their husbands described restricted agency and, in some cases, explicit control over even minor personal expenditures.
Financial Independence alone, however, is an insufficient condition for empowerment. Economic participation interacts with household power dynamics and social expectations in ways that income cannot automatically dissolve. Even where women earn and exercise economic agency, they continue to navigate the persistent tension between paid and unpaid labour (Kabeer 2021), limiting their access to economic opportunities and constraining the scope of their empowerment.
Empowerment as a relational and negotiated process
What, then, does empowerment actually look like for the women in this study? The research identifies three dimensions through which FI translates, or fails to translate, into genuine agency. Drawing on Balasubramanian et al. (2024), the analysis identifies an overarching theme it calls “relational empowerment”, encompassing three dimensions:
- “Participation in household decision-making”
- “Self-esteem and self-worth”
“Freedom to express and spend on oneself”
Together, these dimensions reveal that empowerment in this context is contingent on emotional legitimacy within relationships. A woman’s ability to exercise agency, access resources, and be recognised as an autonomous actor depends significantly on relational dynamics that extend beyond her own income (De 2022; Huis et al. 2020).
This holds even for financially independent women. Their participation in household decision-making emerges as a collective and mutual process rather than an individual achievement; one that is enabled or constrained by their partner’s values and willingness to share authority.
Achieving financial independence does not, therefore, automatically produce empowerment. In both Mauritius and Zimbabwe, gender stereotypes continue to define family roles: the man remains the primary breadwinner in social expectation, while women are positioned as primary carers, regardless of their own employment or earnings.
Conclusion: Empowerment in context
Women in both countries are navigating their way toward greater agency, and communities in both settings show growing pride in women’s achievements. Yet empowerment in these Global South contexts is not a personal threshold to be crossed through earning alone. It is a relational and negotiated process, shaped at every stage by gendered power structures, spousal attitudes, institutional gaps, and cultural norms that formal legislation has not yet displaced. Importantly, the study reveals divergences between the two cases: Zimbabwe’s dual statutory-customary legal system produces contradictions that undermine women’s rights in ways that Mauritius, with its more consistent civil law framework, does not face to the same degree. These contextual differences matter for policy design. This study demonstrates that advancing women’s empowerment requires coordinated, multi-level interventions spanning legal accountability, organisational practice, and social norms. Specifically, the findings point to the need to:
- strengthen legal enforcement and accountability
- shift social expectations that limit women’s agency
- embed equitable, flexible, and supportive structures within workplaces to enhance women’s financial autonomy and decision-making power.
- enforce gender-neutral legislation alongside accountability mechanisms and targeted initiatives that support women’s economic independence, including financial literacy programmes, government-backed entrepreneurial schemes, and gender pay gap monitoring
- establish measures to address unequal domestic labour
- invest in countrywide awareness campaigns targeting both men and women to shift the cultural norms that sustain gendered divisions of labour and domestic violence.
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You can read the full article here: Hosanoo, Zuberia A., Soujata Rughoobur-Seetah, Loga D. B. Soupramanien, Melina Doargajudhur, Jessica Lichy, and Daniel Wheatley. 2026. “Gender and Power: Financial Independence and Women's Relational Empowerment in the Global South,” Gender, Work & Organization: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.70123.
References:
Balasubramanian, P., M. Ibanez, S. Khan, and S. Sahoo. 2024. “Does Women's Economic Empowerment Promote Human Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? A Meta-Analysis.” World Development 178: 106588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106588.
Chiweshe, M. K., and P. Hove. 2023. “Intersectional Analysis of Women Human Rights Defenders’ Lived Experiences Under COVID-19 Lock downs in Zimbabwe.” Gender and Development 31, no. 1: 89–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2023.2181539.
Doargajudhur, M., Z. Hosanoo, S. Rughoobur-Seetah, and J. Lichy. 2026. “Digital Entrepreneurship and Gendered Boundaries: Technology, Work–Life Conflict, and Well-Being.” Gender, Work and Organization: gwao.70090. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.70090.
Kabeer, N. 2017. “Economic Pathways to Women’s Empowerment and Active Citizenship: What Does the Evidence From Bangladesh Tell Us?” Journal of Development Studies 53, no. 5: 649–663. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2016.1205730.
Kabeer, N. 2021. “Gender Equality, Inclusive Growth, and Labour Markets.” In Women's Economic Empowerment, 13–48. Routledge.
Martins, A. 2020. “Reimagining Equity: Redressing Power Imbalances Between the Global North and the Global South.” Gender and Development 28, no. 1: 135–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2020.1717172.
World Bank. 2021. Madagascar – Women, Business and the Law 2021. World Bank. https://wbl.worldbank.org/content/dam/documents/wbl/2021/snapshots/Madagascar.pdf.
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