Isabelle GUERIN. The indebted woman. La Découverte Political Economy Collection. 394 pages. The result of two decades of research and local collaboration, the author invites us on a journey through time and space to illustrate the unique position of women in human cybernetics, based on real-life cases drawn mainly from Asia and Africa, but also, to a lesser extent, from the Western past. The book focuses on women in all their dimensions: as childbearers, wives and mothers, but also in their central role as managers of daily life and in maintaining the balance of the family unit. The various testimonies highlight her vital role in community life and in the often precarious economic balance of the family. This precariousness is created and perpetuated by a combination of several factors: endemic unemployment mainly affecting men, human relationships dependent on social standing within the community, the persistence of practices that lead to indebtedness (dowry, marriage), the aggressive commercial policies of the banking sector and various intermediaries, an age pyramid distorted by the high proportion of young people in need of training and therefore financial support, changes in traditional resources, the emergence of new needs, etc. Women are largely responsible for managing the burden of debt and financial obligations towards lenders, whether they be the community, banks or usurers. This involves difficult negotiations with problematic outcomes, sometimes obtained in exchange for favours, with the woman’s body becoming a bargaining chip or a means of facilitation. This sexualisation in the process is a significant factor, particularly in Africa, despite attempts at alternative forms of financing, such as microcredit or those provided by religious congregations. Furthermore, lenders favour commitments from women, which are considered more reliable, and strengthen this lender/borrower relationship. In summary, in a traditionally patriarchal system, the qualities recognised in women enable them to occupy a central place in family life, in the community and in the economic and social environment. In return for the mental, physical and sexist burden that is their daily life, women often find a joyful outlet in the bonds that unite them. This state of indivisibility tends to diminish with the emergence of a new, more educated generation. A thoroughly researched, resolutely feminist work that allows us to delve into the intimate details of the cases studied over a long period and, through them, to gain insight into other cultures, as well as to relive the reality of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Isabelle GUERIN Socio-economist. Research Director at IED and CESSMA, affiliated with the French Institute of Pondicherry. Co-founder and co-director of the Observatory on Rural Dynamics and Social Inequalities in South India.
She has published numerous works on the financialisation of inequality, the resistance it provokes, and the investigative approach that brings lives and figures into dialogue.