How do women's debt, capitalism, sexuality, and kinship all connect?
Our book goes by the title The Indebted Woman: Kinship, Sexuality, and Capitalism ». Why is it that financial capitalism is suddenly interested in poor women, even in remote parts of India? And why are women so keen to take out credit and pay it back on time, even when they lack income, capital and the support of their husbands? This book is a response to these questions.
A long journey
Initiated by Isabelle Guérin, a French research economist, it was made possible by collaboration with Santosh Kumar and G. Venkatasubramanian, both Indian socio-anthropologists. They have worked together for 20 years, combining their skills, but also their gender, their social background and their sensitivity to explore the materiality and intimacy of debt. Their fieldwork has gradually taken them in completely unexpected directions, revealing how women's debt is at the heart of contemporary financial capitalism, while being shaped by and constitutive of norms of kinship and sexuality.
Capitalism
This book will make for essential reading if you want to dig deeper into the complexities of our current financialized capitalist system.
We argue that the indebted woman plays a critical role in this financialized capitalism. Our perspective is rooted in two decades of on-the-ground research in rural Tamil Nadu, South India, where we combined quantitative surveys with ethnography. To make our point, we draw parallels across different times and places.
So, why is the indebted woman such a significant figure? Over the last couple of decades, real incomes (adjusted for inflation) have barely budged, while expenses, including basic survival, healthcare, housing, education, and even social ceremonies like weddings, have skyrocketed. Debt becomes the lifeline that bridges this gap. Women, especially those in the laboring classes and marginalized groups (like Dalits in Tamil Nadu), are often the ones managing debt, especially when it comes to repayment.
What's the bottom line here? Debt steps in to fill the void created by meager and unpredictable incomes, as well as the failure (or reluctance) of private capital to offer fair wages. It also acts as a buffer against the shortcomings of states in protecting their citizens. Additionally, various social policies, directly or indirectly, nudge families toward accumulating consumer debt, with women frequently shouldering the burden.
In essence, our entire economy hinges on debt. According to our surveys, out of every 100 rupees of income, an average of 48 goes toward debt repayment, and a staggering 30 is devoured by interest rates alone. It's as if families are toiling primarily to keep the financial system afloat.
Furthermore, managing debt is no small feat in itself. Women often juggle multiple debts, some concealed and barely visible. Navigating this web of debts requires tackling routine, time-consuming tasks and deploying skills in calculations, negotiations, and sometimes even elements of seduction and intimacy. It's a genuine job, and more often than not, it's women who bear this responsibility. While we often envision the world of finance as the realm of highly qualified, typically white, male experts operating from Wall Street, Paris, or Shanghai, it's crucial to recognize that marginalized women are indispensable yet often overlooked players in this financial game.
Kinship
How does debt intertwine with kinship? Kinship isn't just about marriage alliances and family ties; it also encompasses property rights, divisions of labor, and societal norms regarding gender roles.
In South India, recent decades have seen seismic shifts in the rules governing women's marriages – who marries whom and at what cost – resulting in the devaluation of women as economically productive individuals. This shift has two significant implications for debt: first, women themselves seek out debt to compensate for their dwindling economic value, and second, they adhere to a stringent repayment ethic, making them prime targets for lenders.
Where does this repayment ethic originate? It springs from gender and kinship norms that label women as ‘obligated’ individuals, always in debt to their children, husbands, extended families, communities, or nations. In Tamil Nadu, this ethic is exacerbated by women's limited access to paid employment, rendering them ‘useless’ in the eyes of society. Additionally, it's reinforced by narratives of the ‘responsible woman’ propagated by various stakeholders, including the Indian state, bankers, NGOs, and activists.
Lenders capitalize on this ethic, often leveraging women's maternal devotion to enforce repayment. To be considered a ‘virtuous woman,’ perfect repayment is expected, whether in the context of microcredit, pawnbrokers, welfare schemes, or collection agencies. This isn't just an issue in India; it's a pattern repeated in many countries across the global South, as well as in France and the United States.
Sexuality
Why does sexuality matter in this context? Women often find themselves drowning in debt relative to their incomes. So, how do they repay? Some take on additional work, but their options are severely limited. Others turn to their husbands or male relatives for financial assistance. Frequently, they resort to accumulating more debt. At times, they turn to selling their bodies as a means to preserve their creditworthiness, reduce the burden of debt, or to settle it. This can manifest in various ways, from friendly gestures to touching, and sometimes penetrative relations.
It took us years to realize a crucial truth: women's bodies, in fact, serve as collateral, something lenders can leverage throughout these transactions. However, it's essential to understand that engaging in sexual acts for debt isn't solely about exploitation. It can also be a tool that women employ, albeit with varying degrees of success, to gain a better handle on the market or to challenge norms of passive sexuality by forming genuine emotional bonds with their partners. At the same time, women constantly have to safeguard their reputation, a balancing act that traps them in a never-ending ethical dilemma. Their financial debt is further compounded by a sense of guilt, making it nearly impossible to repay. Throughout history, women's bodies have been both an asset and a source of stigma.
The Tamil Nadu case isn't an isolated incident. Comparing different times and places reveals that the indebted woman is a recurring figure in the history of capitalist economies, often coinciding with a specific family model that designates men as breadwinners and women as mothers and homemakers. Financial independence has become synonymous with masculinity, while debts incurred just to make ends meet have become viewed as degrading and emasculating, often left for women to handle.
What does the future hold?
So, what may be on the horizon for indebted women? While there isn't a one-size-fits-all profile for an indebted woman, recurring patterns persist. The key lies in reevaluating who owes what to whom and erasing the stigma associated with debt, a cause already championed by some feminist movements. It also involves recognizing the intricate interplay of sexuality, gender, and the body.
Female guilt lies at the heart of women's indebtedness, rooted in the definition of women as ‘other’ – inherently inferior and stripped of individuality and sexuality, existing solely for the benefit of others and their kin. The first step on this journey is acknowledging the mutual dependence of sexuality, kinship, and debt. This lesson is fundamental for understanding the nature of debt, the concept of gender, and to consider the possibilities and conditions for ending the unpayable burden of women's debt.
Start reading The Indebted Woman »
Comments