Debt and Economic Violence: The Financial Experiences of Chilean Women.

Economic violence is one of the most prevalent and understudied forms of violence against women. The few empirical studies addressing economic violence tend to focus on intra-household dynamics of financial abuse related to domestic or intimate partner interactions. However, little is known about debt as a form of gender-based economic violence. Drawing on feminist approaches to violence (Vergès, 2022) and debt (Cavallero, 2021; Cavallero and Gago, 2019), this paper explores Chilean women experiences of regarding indebtedness and economic violence from a feminist perspective. We explore the relationship between debt and economic violence in Chile, because the massive access to financial products and the increasing rates of indebtedness after the pandemic outbreak have led one fifth of the Chilean population to have a soaring financial burden, making Chile the leading country in Latin America in terms of household debt.

Using statistical data from the Chilean Financial Market Commission and 80 semi-structured interviews conducted as part of a study on women's economic autonomy in Chile, we show that meeting basic needs such as food, housing, and education is one of the main reasons for women’s indebtedness. We also show that the lack of financial literacy and unattainable financial requirements imposed by banking institutions often push women into resorting to informal economic practices and risky institutions, increasing women’s economic dependence and hindering their economic autonomy. In doing so, this paper contributes to expand theoretical conceptualizations and empirical approaches to economic violence and strengthen scholarship addressing gender-based violence from a feminist perspective.