To Every Woman: Money, Power, Freedom
Credit & Debt Experiences of Immigrant & Refugee Women

In 2008 MCWH implemented the Healthy Credit Project, which explored and addressed the credit and debt issues in immigrant and refugee women’s lives. The project found that credit and debt are significant issues in the lives of immigrant and refugee women and that often, debt is poverty-related. Women are not purchasing luxury items with their credit; rather, they are paying for necessities on credit in the face of a lack of funds to pay for these in advance. Low paid and insecure employment, high property expenses and increasing petrol and food bills are all issues that contribute to the problems immigrant and refugee women experience with debt.

A second important finding was that immigrant and refugee women are often subject to informal debt, at times related to their own family or community members’ migration costs. While these debts are not formally recognised, there are nonetheless strong obligations on women to repay them.

Third, immigrant and refugee women experience 'relationship debt'—debts that are incurred via their partners. However, this project also found that for immigrant and refugee women, this definition has a broader application, extending to relationships with children, extended family and community.
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Report

Summary Report 2008 6Mb

Full Report 2009 500Kb