Setting the stage: women's economic empowerment from a global perspective

Rhonda Breitkreuz, Marian Baird, Karen D. Hughes and Alla Konnikov

Chapter 1 in Women’s Economic Empowerment and the State, 2026, pp 1-29 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, we provide a global overview of women's economic empowerment, outlining key debates in the scholarly literature about the extent to which it serves as a pathway to gender equality. After providing a brief history of the shift from women's empowerment programmes to women's economic empowerment, we outline our key theoretical approaches which include critical human ecology and Rubery's (2015) time, opportunities, rights, responsibilities, and security (TORReS) framework. We identify key themes and points of contention in the literature on women's economic empowerment: paid work; unpaid care work; education; entrepreneurship; migration; violence against women; maternalism; and the role of the state. We conclude with a synopsis of subsequent chapters that provide analysis of women's economic empowerment in six countries across the Global North and the Global South including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ghana, India, and Ireland. We argue that the adoption of women's economic empowerment discourses by supranational actors must be scrutinized with an analysis of the sociocultural and policy environments that shape women's lived experiences and wellbeing in a range of global sites.

Keywords: Women's Economic Empowerment; Critical Human Ecology; TORReS Framework; Gender Equality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781803921167
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