Exploration of Women’s Empowerment Within Gangster Culture: A Case Study of Mafia Queens of Mumbai

Gangster culture is a representation of masculinity, which makes women's involvement in the gangster world a neglected subject. Traditional gender roles and socio-cultural norms in South Asian society continue to suppress women's growth in gangster environments. Studying women's empowerment within South Asian gangster subculture is an attempt to highlight the challenges and limitations faced by women in male-dominated spaces while observing their provocative and resistive acts against the patriarchal intersection of gender, crime, and power structures. The research uses descriptive textual analysis from the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai to depict the experiences of women and their socio-economic motivation behind the joining of the criminal world. Through postfeminist lens, Chesney Lind's female delinquency, and Butler's theory of gender performativity, the research indicates the reinforcement of feminine attitudes and empowered characterization of women while surviving the male-dominated gangster environment. This paper aims to increase the visibility of female gangsters in the literature and discuss their associations and obstacles within the criminal world. Consequently, it influences women trapped in the gangster world to raise their voices against gender exploitation. Hence, setting new norms and individualistic patterns by women facilitates the negation of socially imposed behaviors.