Dis(em)Powering Women in a Globalised World: Mapping Evidence from a PRISMA-Based Systematic Literature Review

Despite growing global commitments to gender equality, women’s empowerment remains uneven and often constrained under globalisation. While existing literature has explored various aspects of globalisation, it lacks a comprehensive synthesis of how economic, social, and political globalisation affects multiple dimensions of women’s empowerment. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of 77 peer-reviewed studies published in Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect, spanning diverse countries and regions. Our review reveals that 90% of the studies link globalisation with women’s employment and wages, 39% highlight impacts on education and skill development, 31% examine health and quality of life, 27% focus on decision-making roles, 16% on women’s rights, and 9% on violence against women. The evidence shows both positive and negative outcomes, with sectoral and geographical heterogeneity and institutional barriers shaping the extent of empowerment. Globalisation is a powerful process whose gender effects are shaped, and can be shaped further, by the institutional, cultural, and political choices made at global, national, and local levels.