New Books in Finance Isabelle Guérin et. al., "The Indebted Woman: Kinship, Sexuality, and Capitalism" (Stanford UP, 2023)
Nov 29, 2025
Isabelle Guérin, a Senior Research Fellow and expert on gender and debt, joins to discuss her groundbreaking work on Dalit women's experiences with debt in Tamil Nadu. She highlights how gender shapes borrowing and repayment, exposing the intricate link between capitalism and womanhood. Guérin introduces the concept of the "sexual division of debt," revealing how systemic pressures and societal norms push women into precarious financial situations. The conversation also touches on the role of transactional relationships in managing debt and the complexities of women's financial agency.
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Sexual Division Of Debt
- Women and men access different credit sources and repay differently, producing a sexual division of debt.
- This division ties to labor, assets, repayment practices, and the corporality of debt affecting women's bodies and sexuality.
Domination Makes Women 'Good Payers'
- Lenders target women despite their low formal creditworthiness because domination and moral obligation shape repayment.
- Historical and social hierarchies make the dominated more reliable payers than wealthier clients.
Credit, Housewifeization, And Changing Value
- Rapid credit expansion for women coincided with tightened sexual norms and 'housewifeization' among Dalit women.
- As women's paid labor declined, credit became a route to regain social value and economic agency.