Beyond Education: Why Women's Economic Empowerment Also Requires Assets
Delaying marriage and expanding educational opportunities are important, but long-term economic security also depends on who owns wealth.
Education is widely recognised as a pathway out of poverty. It can improve employment opportunities, strengthen decision-making, and help women participate more fully in economic life. Yet education alone may not guarantee financial independence.
For women, economic empowerment also depends on the ability to accumulate assets, control resources, and withstand financial shocks.
The challenge begins early
Early marriage can interrupt education and narrow future employment opportunities. Indonesia has made progress in reducing child marriage, but the decline has been gradual. The figures cited in the underlying research show that the prevalence fell from 14.67% in 2008 to 11.21% in 2018.
When girls marry early, they may have fewer opportunities to complete their education, develop professional skills, or establish an independent source of income. These constraints can affect their economic position well into adulthood.
Education and delayed marriage should therefore be understood as investments in women's capabilities. However, building capabilities is only part of the challenge. Women also need opportunities to translate those capabilities into lasting economic security.
What can we learn from Bangladesh?
Research conducted by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in rural Bangladesh offers useful insights into policies aimed at delaying marriage and supporting adolescent girls.
The evaluation examined two interventions: a conditional incentive programme and an adolescent empowerment programme.
Under the incentive programme, eligible unmarried girls aged 15–17 could receive cooking oil every four months until they married or turned 18. The programme provided families with a tangible economic incentive to delay marriage.
The empowerment programme offered girls opportunities to socialise, receive educational support, and participate in training covering life skills, women's legal rights, communication, nutrition, reproductive health, literacy, and numeracy. Some communities also received financial literacy training.
The findings were revealing. Conditional incentives reduced child marriage and teenage childbearing while increasing years of schooling. The empowerment programme slightly increased schooling but did not reduce child marriage or teenage childbearing. It also increased the dowry brides had to pay.
These results demonstrate that well-intentioned programmes do not necessarily produce the expected outcomes. Social norms, family incentives, and economic pressures can shape decisions in ways that education and awareness alone may not overcome.
The evidence also suggests that policies addressing the immediate economic incentives surrounding marriage may complement programmes that strengthen girls' capabilities.
However, delaying marriage and extending schooling do not automatically create long-term financial security. Additional policies are needed to help women turn education and employment into accumulated wealth.
Why asset ownership matters
Consider two women with similar levels of education and income. One owns land or a home, while the other owns no substantial assets.
If both experience an unexpected loss of income, the woman with assets may have greater financial flexibility. Depending on the asset and her legal rights, she may be able to use it to secure financing, support productive activities, or provide a buffer against hardship.
Assets can also be transferred between generations. Families with accumulated wealth may help their children finance education, establish businesses, or purchase homes. As a result, wealth can influence opportunities long after the original income was earned.
This is why the distinction between income and wealth matters. Income measures the resources a household receives over a period of time. Wealth reflects what it has accumulated and can potentially draw upon in the future.
For women, ownership also matters within the household. Control over land, housing, and other productive resources may strengthen their ability to participate in decisions about spending, investment, and family welfare.
Building a more complete empowerment agenda
A comprehensive strategy for women's economic empowerment should connect three policy areas.
First, invest in capabilities. Girls need access to quality education, life skills, financial literacy, and opportunities to delay marriage without facing disproportionate economic or social penalties.
Second, expand opportunities to earn. Education should connect to employment, entrepreneurship, agricultural productivity, and access to markets. Skills are more economically valuable when women can use them to generate income.
Third, support asset accumulation. Women need fair opportunities to own land and housing, inherit property, access appropriate financial services, and register assets in their own names or jointly with their spouses.
In rural Indonesia, land certification programmes could make joint ownership the default option for married couples, supported by simpler registration procedures and accessible legal assistance. These measures should be accompanied by agricultural training, market access, and other services that allow women to benefit from productive assets.
The objective is not merely to increase the number of women participating in the economy. It is to ensure that participation can lead to greater economic security and control over resources.
From participation to lasting security
Education, employment, and delayed marriage are essential components of women's empowerment. But their benefits may remain incomplete when women lack control over the assets that sustain livelihoods and preserve wealth.
A more inclusive development agenda must therefore move beyond asking whether women attend school or participate in the labour market. It must also ask whether they can accumulate wealth, exercise control over property, and pass economic opportunities to the next generation.
Empowerment is not complete when women can earn an income. It becomes more durable when they also have the resources and rights to secure their economic future (TS).
Another relevant article: Poverty Is Not Just About Income: Who Controls the Assets?
Note: some ideas of this post has been presented in the International Conference on Diversity & Inclusion: Advancing Towards a Peaceful and Inclusive Pakistan, 5 November 2026 at Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore.
