The exploitation of women does not belong to the past. It has not disappeared as a result of modernity, urbanization or digitisation of societies. She changed.

She adapted. She has integrated the codes of luxury, development, humanitarianism, mentoring, visible success. She learned to speak the language of consent and to follow the paths of respectability.

What we see today, in Africa as elsewhere, is not a mere succession of different facts: it is a systemic configuration where asymmetry — economic, institutional, symbolic — becomes an operating lever. Understanding this dynamic implies abandoning simplistic moral readings to adopt sociological and philosophical analysis of power.

Asymmetry as a principle structuring contemporary relations

Any human relationship is not necessarily unequal. But when a relationship is part of a context where one of the actors concentrates essential resources — money, mobility, network, status — while the other evolves in a space of relative precariousness, the relationship becomes structurally asymmetrical.

Asymmetry is not in itself exploited. It becomes a farm when used as a capture instrument. However, in contemporary societies marked by massive inequalities, asymmetry is omnipresent. Differences in wealth have widened, international mobility is unevenly distributed, access to decision-making positions remains predominantly male in many contexts.

This cluster of imbalances creates a favourable ground for forms of exploitation subtly integrated into the ordinary functioning of societies. Modernity did not suppress the relations of domination; It has made them less visible, more diffuse, sometimes more socially acceptable.

Globalization and the economy of the monetary differential

Sex tourism is one of the most explicit expressions of this economy of asymmetry. It is not a cultural peculiarity but a monetary logic. Where a massive purchasing power differential exists, the intimate relationship can become a transaction space.

In several regions of Southeast Asia, the Caribbean or West Africa, the gap between a strong currency and the local currency creates a situation in which a few hundred euro represent several months of income. Attraction does not arise from « culture of deviance » but structural inequality.

The relationship is then invested in a dual dimension: affective and economic. She can be sincere in her individual experience; However, it remains framed by radical asymmetry. The tourist may return; the local person stays. Mobility is a strategic resource. The person who has the option of leaving has additional power. This logic is not specific to a continent. It is the product of unequal globalization.

Authentic humanitarianism aims at autonomy; Humanitarian instrumentalization installs subordination. Moral debt can be more binding than financial debt.

Humanitarianism and Respectability: Rule by Virtue

The figure of « benefactor » is another contemporary method of asymmetry. When the relationship comes into a humanitarian or philanthropic context, domination can hide behind generosity. Public morals tend to neutralize criticism against those who finance a school or support an association. Yet the symbolic power conferred by generosity can become a privileged tool for access to vulnerable environments. Respectability acts as a moral shield.

In this configuration, exploitation is not only economic; It's symbolic. The one who gives saviour. The one who receives becomes indebted. Moral debt can be more binding than financial debt.

Political philosophy teaches us that gift, when not framed by neutral institutions, can produce dependence. Authentic humanitarianism aims at autonomy; Humanitarian instrumentalization installs subordination.

Local elites and the heritageization of power

The operation is not only from outside. In several African capitals, political and economic elites use their position to attract young women by offering housing, vehicles, travel, access to international missions or professional networks.

This phenomenon does not always take the form of an explicit constraint. It is part of a gradual progression: proximity, privilege, promise, support, dependence. The relationship can be presented as consensual. Yet institutional asymmetry is obvious. Those who have power can take advantage, block a career, influence a reputation.

When power becomes a personal asset, it ceases to be a public service. Opportunities are no longer distributed according to competence but according to intimate proximity. Meritocracy is weakening. Institutions are losing credibility. This process establishes a parallel economy where the intimate becomes a currency of exchange.

Social networks: the staging of dependency

The digitisation of companies has introduced a new player in this dynamic: the economy of attention. Visual platforms value ostentatious success. Travel, villas, luxury bags, accompaniment like « Call-Girl » international seminars become public evidence of value.

This staging does not invent asymmetry; It makes it desirable. It produces an imaginary where proximity to power or wealth seems to be a shortcut to success. Young generations exposed to these representations can integrate the idea that visibility and relationship are more profitable capital than skill and patience.

The algorithm favours the spectacular. It shows neither dependence nor fragility which often accompany these trajectories.

Polygamy and concentration of wealth

The increased visibility of polygamy in some economically powerful men in Africa cannot be interpreted solely through a religious or traditional prism. It must be analysed in the context of growing economic inequalities.

When wealth is concentrated in the hands of a minority, the matrimonial market is unbalanced. Only men with substantial resources can maintain multiple households in an expensive urban environment. For some women, entering into a polygamous union may appear as an economic security strategy in a context of uncertainty.

This choice, sometimes rational at the individual level, reveals a structural constraint at the collective level: insufficient social protection and weak economic opportunities for women. The contemporary polygamy of elites thus becomes an indicator of inequality.

Consent and structural constraint: a philosophical distinction

One of the central debates concerns consent. Can we talk about exploitation when the relationship is accepted? Legal consent implies the absence of direct coercion. But social philosophy distinguishes formal consent from real freedom. Where one of the parties controls essential resources — housing, employment, mobility — the consent of the other is contained in a coerced space.

It is not a question of denying women's autonomy. The aim is to recognize that autonomy is exercised in a framework structured by inequalities. Freedom without effective alternatives is not full freedom. Modern exploitation thrives in this intermediate area where choice exists, but under pressure.

Visa Geopolitics and the Economy of Hope

International mobility is now a strategic capital. In situations where visas are difficult to obtain, the promise of a trip, invitation or transnational marriage becomes a resource of considerable value. The person who can facilitate mobility has a huge symbolic power. Hope of emigration acts as a currency. It increases dependence and can prolong asymmetric relationships.

Globalization, paradoxically, has reinforced this asymmetry: the flow of capital is fluid; that of the people is controlled. This dissymmetry produces a market of transnational desire.

Collective effects: cynicism and deinstitutionalization

The consequences of these dynamics are not only individual. They affect the moral structure of societies. When success seems to depend more on proximity to power than on merit, trust in the institutions will subside. Young people can develop strategic cynicism : rather than investing in competence, they seek the connection.

This trend undermines social cohesion. It undermines the legitimacy of the state. It reinforces the idea that everything buys and that justice is fiction. The exploitation of women thus becomes a symptom of a wider institutional imbalance.

Universal reading, not stigmatizing

It would be wrong to reduce these phenomena to African specificity. Comparable dynamics exist in Eastern Europe, Latin America, South-East Asia or some Gulf monarchies. Wherever there is high inequality, concentration of power and weakness of control mechanisms, asymmetry becomes exploitable. Geography changes; logic remains.

Modern exploitation is not a cultural archaic. It is a logical consequence of global capitalism and fragile institutions.

Dignity as a criterion of modernity

The central question is not moral, but institutional. A society considers itself able to prevent vulnerability from becoming a currency of exchange. The exploitation of women reveals:

  • Distribution of wealth.
  • Quality of institutions.
  • The strength of social protection.
  • The reality of meritocracy.
  • The strength of ethical standards.

As long as the social ascent is faster by proximity to wealth than by skill, the economy of asymmetry will persist. It will change shape, scenery, platform. But it will remain what it is: a capture of trajectories.

True modernity is not about displaying glass towers or fast digital flows. It is to ensure that no one can turn inequality into an instrument of domination. Women's dignity is at this level. And beyond that, the very credibility of our societies.