Unshackling the Feet: A Narrative Synthesis of Women’s Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Through Kabeer’s Triadic Framework

Women’s empowerment has transitioned from a localized feminist discourse to a cornerstone of international development policy. This paper presents a narrative literature review examining the role of entrepreneurship as a catalyst for empowerment, anchored in Naila Kabeer’s triadic framework of resources, agency, and achievements. Despite the potential for financial autonomy, women entrepreneurs especially in developing economies remain limited by "shackled feet," a metaphor for the systemic gendered structures of constraint that dictate resource access and mobility. By synthesizing empirical evidence from diverse contexts, the review explores how material, human, and social resources enable the exercise of agency, ultimately leading to transformative achievements that challenge patriarchal power. The analysis highlights the tension between necessity-driven survivalist ventures and accumulation-oriented enterprises, emphasizing that sustainable empowerment necessitates shifting from individualistic "magic bullets" to collective agency and integrated social reforms.

Women’s Empowerment; Entrepreneurship; Agency; Gendered Structures of Constraint; Narrative Literature Review

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