Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article proposes a feminist ecological economics approach to debts, which, by means of making the hidden visible, critically (re-)assesses the question of who owes whom. It highlights the importance of ecological debts that the Global North owes the Majority World, colonial debts that former colonizers owe those who have been enslaved and colonized, and reproductive debts owed to women who carry out the lion’s share of reproductive work without monetary compensation. The article argues that if these invisible debts were considered, the picture of the global political economy of debt would be entirely different. Although quantifying invisible debts is, strictly speaking, impossible, a feminist ecological economics approach to invisible debts as discursive intervention gives legitimacy to demands for debt cancelation and reparations. Moreover, a focus on invisible debts can serve as an alliance-building strategy for social movements in the fields of feminisms, decoloniality, and environmental justice.
Source: Feminist Economics
Author: Corinna Dengler
Institution: Vienna University of Economics and Business
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7140144959