Work

Agency and Autonomy: Subversive Practices in Intergenerational Intra-Household Bargaining in Karachi

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: This research explores inter-generational changes within gendered intra-household bargaining patterns in order to understand women’s agency and autonomy in decision-making and their freedom of choice. Utilising Kabeer’s (1999) concept of Agency and Empowerment and Sen’s (1999) Capability Approach, I draw on interviews with fifteen respondents who belong to four joint family households in Karachi. My interviews are designed to pick up on intergenerational changes within these households, as well as ethnic differences across them. My study is about the extent to which younger generations, and especially women, have renegotiated intra-household bargaining patterns over generations and across different ethnic groups in one multi-ethnic, urban metropolis in the global south.

Source: The Proceedings of the International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality.

DOI: 10.33422/icgss.v2i1.898

Author: Amna Ashraf

Institution: Institute of Development Studies

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Reduced inequalities, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W4408242517

FWCI:

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