Empowering Identities Through Financial Literacy: Voices of Young Rural Mothers
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Abstract
Financial literacy has emerged as a powerful catalyst for change in marginalized communities, especially for women navigating socioeconomic constraints in rural environments. This study explores the lived experiences of young mothers from isolated villages in the mountainous region of Central Java, Indonesia, who participated in a community-based financial literacy program.who participated in a community-based financial literacy program. Employing an interpretative phenomenological analysis, the research reveals how financial education functions not only as a cognitive tool but as a transformative journey of identity reconstruction, agency formation, and gender role renegotiation.
Through in-depth interviews with eight participants, the study uncovers four core themes: awakening financial awareness, reclaiming self-worth through decision-making autonomy, navigating resistance within traditional family structures, and fostering a collective sense of empowerment through peer support. These themes illustrate that financial knowledge becomes deeply embodied, reshaping participants’ roles within their families and communities.
Findings indicate that the financial literacy program served as a gateway for young mothers to challenge cultural expectations, assert their voices in domestic affairs, and envision new possibilities for themselves and their children. Beyond technical skill acquisition, the intervention fostered emotional resilience and social transformation. The study contributes to the discourse on women’s empowerment by highlighting the need to integrate subjective narratives into the design and evaluation of literacy initiatives.
By situating financial literacy within the framework of lived experience and personal meaning-making, this research underscores the value of phenomenological approaches in uncovering the hidden dimensions of learning and empowerment in marginalized contexts.
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