Résumé
Cadre de la recherche : Les études existantes s’accordent sur le fait que le travail rattaché à la gestion des dettes et de leurs conséquences est majoritairement pris en charge par les femmes. On sait que ce travail de la dette implique plus de privations et de sacrifices, mais on ne connait pas ses effets sur le patrimoine féminin.
Objectifs : Cet article identifie des processus expliquant le lien entre le travail de la dette et l’érosion du patrimoine des femmes.
Méthodologie : Cet article s’appuie sur 44 entretiens semi-directifs menés en Suisse auprès de personnes surendettées en couple avec ou sans enfants dans le cadre de deux recherches sur l’endettement financées par le Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique (2016-2022).
Résultats : Nous montrons que la prédominance féminine dans le travail de la dette peut s’expliquer par le fait que ce dernier n’est pas qu’un travail financier et administratif. Il est vécu comme un travail de care parental et conjugal. Le souci et la préservation du bien-être des membres de la famille, tout spécialement des enfants, conduit les femmes à y investir leur propre patrimoine. Perçu comme un moyen de « faire du genre » (doing gender) dans une situation de surendettement en agissant comme une « bonne » mère et conjointe, ce travail et les inégalités qu’il produit ne sont pas remises en question.
Conclusion : La financiarisation de la vie quotidienne implique de nouvelles formes de travail financier, comme le travail de la dette, qui participent à renforcer les inégalités patrimoniales au sein de la famille, le patrimoine masculin et celui des enfants étant préservé au détriment du patrimoine des femmes. En ce sens, les patrimoines individuels des membres de la famille ont des significations différentes, le patrimoine des femmes étant une variable d’ajustement en cas de difficultés économiques permettant de maintenir le statut familial et les bonnes relations familiales.
Contribution : En portant sur les charges financières assumées par les femmes, cet article propose une nouvelle clé de compréhension des processus genrés de constitution des inégalités de patrimoine qui jusque-là ont surtout porté sur l’accès genré à l’argent et à l’héritage.
Debt Work and Wealth Inequalities: A Gender Perspective. Research Framework: Existing studies agree that the work involved in managing debts and their consequences is mostly undertaken by women. We know that this debt work involves more deprivation and sacrifice, but we do not know its effects on women’s wealth. Objectives : This article identifies processes explaining the link between debt work and the decline of women’s wealth. Methodology: This article is based on 44 semi-structured interviews conducted in Switzerland with overindebted couples with or without children as part of two debt-related research projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (2016-2022). Results: We show that the predominance of women in debt work can be explained by the fact that it is not just financial and administrative work. It is experienced as parental and conjugal care work. Concern for and preservation of family members’ well-being, especially children, leads women to invest their own assets. Perceived as a means of doing gender in a situation of over-indebtedness by acting as a “good” mother and spouse, this work and the inequalities it produces are not called into question. Conclusion : The financialization of everyday life implies new forms of financial work, such as debt work, which reinforce wealth inequalities within the family, with men’s wealth and that of their children being preserved to the prejudice of women’s wealth. In this regard, the financial assets of each family members have different meanings, with women’s wealth becoming an adjustment variable in the event of economic difficulties, enabling family status and good family relations to be maintained. Contribution : By focusing on the financial burdens carried by women, this article offers a new approach to understanding the gendered processes involved in the constitution of wealth inequalities, which until now have focused mainly on gendered access to money and inheritance.
Debt Work and Wealth Inequalities: A Gender Perspective. Research Framework: Existing studies agree that the work involved in managing debts and their consequences is mostly undertaken by women. We know that this debt work involves more deprivation and sacrifice, but we do not know its effects on women’s wealth. Objectives : This article identifies processes explaining the link between debt work and the decline of women’s wealth. Methodology: This article is based on 44 semi-structured interviews conducted in Switzerland with overindebted couples with or without children as part of two debt-related research projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (2016-2022). Results: We show that the predominance of women in debt work can be explained by the fact that it is not just financial and administrative work. It is experienced as parental and conjugal care work. Concern for and preservation of family members’ well-being, especially children, leads women to invest their own assets. Perceived as a means of doing gender in a situation of over-indebtedness by acting as a “good” mother and spouse, this work and the inequalities it produces are not called into question. Conclusion : The financialization of everyday life implies new forms of financial work, such as debt work, which reinforce wealth inequalities within the family, with men’s wealth and that of their children being preserved to the prejudice of women’s wealth. In this regard, the financial assets of each family members have different meanings, with women’s wealth becoming an adjustment variable in the event of economic difficulties, enabling family status and good family relations to be maintained. Contribution : By focusing on the financial burdens carried by women, this article offers a new approach to understanding the gendered processes involved in the constitution of wealth inequalities, which until now have focused mainly on gendered access to money and inheritance.