The Ties That Bind: Ambivalent Empowerment of Wives in Economically Neglected Marriages
Abstract:
This paper explores the ambivalence of economic empowerment for wives within households facing economic neglect by their husbands. Drawing from early observations of two women working in the informal sector, the study reveals that access to income—often celebrated as a means of liberation—can paradoxically become a binding force that sustains marital continuity despite neglect. Both women, though abandoned financially, remain in their marriages. Their responses, however, diverge: one responds with nurturing loyalty, the other with emotional detachment and superiority. This divergence raises critical questions about what truly sustains marriage under conditions of asymmetrical contribution and care. Using a socio-legal lens rooted in family law and gender theory, this study examines how normative expectations of family resilience, religious morality, and structural gender roles operate to normalize endurance over justice. It suggests that economic empowerment, in the absence of relational equity, may reproduce inequality in subtler forms. This paper contributes to current discussions on justice and gender in Asia by revealing how informal labor and traditional family structures intersect in maintaining fragile households under the illusion of stability.
Keywords:
Family resilience, gender justice, economic neglect, women’s agency, informal sector, legal norms