ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 draws on postcolonial feminist studies, feminist political economy and law and development literature to examine financial inclusion across the nexus of finance, production and social in a postcolonial context such as Kenya. It uses the interrelated concepts of autonomy and solidarity and of opportunity and redistribution to show how digital financial inclusion is based on a logic of opportunity that encourages women’s autonomy while relying on and even profiting from their solidarity and survival practices. These practices are often promoted as ones of resilience and even empowerment, rather than prompting the adoption of measures to ensure decent living standards that take into consideration women’s disproportionate responsibility for social reproduction work. Such logic risks exacerbate gender inequality by imposing on women the further burden of transforming opportunities into success and improving their livelihoods. The chapter argues that rethinking digital financial inclusion according to a politics of redistribution would contribute to a fairer distribution of power, resources and responsibilities, and thus more equal gender relations.
