This case study examines the intersection of women’s political participation and the governance of oil resources in post-independence South Sudan. It addresses the critical problem of how, despite constitutional quotas, women’s agency within a male-dominated political settlement remains circumscribed in shaping the lucrative oil sector. Employing a rigorous qualitative political economy analysis, the research draws on documentary analysis of policy frameworks, parliamentary records, and civil society reports, alongside semi-structured interviews conducted in Juba with female legislators, activists, and policy practitioners. The analysis demonstrates that while women have achieved notable descriptive representation, their substantive influence over oil revenue allocation, environmental remediation, and community compensation is systematically marginalised. Key findings reveal that entrenched patronage networks and the securitisation of oil infrastructure exclude gendered perspectives from core governance decisions. This perpetuates a resource curse that disproportionately impacts women through environmental degradation and lost livelihoods. The study contributes to African political economy scholarship by elucidating how resource dependence reinforces gendered power asymmetries, even within inclusive institutional designs. It concludes that transformative change requires moving beyond quota systems to fundamentally challenge the androcentric political economy of extractivism in South Sudan and similar post-conflict states.