Living on credit: Women’s care work and economic vulnerability in Brazil’s credit society

This seminar addresses the growing burden of debt among low-income families in Brazil as a new condition of poverty and a driver of inequality. Marie argues that in Brazil’s credit society, the aim is no longer for people to become debt free but testing how much debt people can take on without defaulting to “keep the wheels going”.

The targeting of women in particular for insecure lending is investigated through ethnographic research on women’s struggles over credit access and debt payments, as well as the financial sector’s credit assessment schemes based on algorithmic technologies.

Marie will share insights from her long-term fieldwork in Brazil on how women use credit to compensate for lack of income, to provide care, to invest in precarious livelihood schemes or a better future for their children. Life on credit produces situations of heightened economic vulnerability and strains care networks as debt impacts families across generations.

This event will be particularly useful for those interested in South American studies, and gender in Brazil.

Related links

• Post-pandemic Poverty: Debt and the Feminisation of Finance in Marginal Sites
• Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU)
• TCRU seminar series
• Social Research Institute

Image

Leonid Andronov via Adobe Stock.