By Tracy Doig, The Circle’s Head of Advocacy and Campaigns
At The Circle, we work alongside women who are leading change in their communities, working together to build a safer, fairer world. Again and again, we hear the same story: public services are non-existent or stretched to breaking point, protections are being rolled back, and aid cuts are threatening closures of vital support systems. And when systems fail, women are expected to hold families and communities together.
One of the biggest forces driving this injustice is national debt.
When we hear the words national debt, it can sound distant and technical, something for economists in grey suits, far removed from everyday life. But debt is not abstract. It shapes whether children go to school, whether hospitals can cope, whether women are safe, and whether communities can plan for the future. Debt justice is a feminist issue.
Our vision: a future where people come before profit
National debt is the money a government owes, often built up to fund public services or respond to crises like pandemics or climate disasters. For many countries in the Global South, debt repayments now take priority over spending on healthcare, education, housing, climate action and protection from violence.
Our vision is clear: no country should have to choose between paying creditors and protecting its people. Debt rules should be designed around human well-being, not around keeping money flowing to wealthy lenders at all costs.
How debt plays out in everyday life – and why women pay the price
Some governments now spend more on debt repayments than on schools and hospitals combined. When that happens, cuts are made. And those cuts land first and hardest on women.
Women are more likely to rely on public services, work in sectors affected by cuts, and step in to provide unpaid care when services disappear. When clinics close, schools are underfunded or care systems are weakened, the work does not vanish, it is pushed into households, mostly onto women.
Debt also undermines efforts to prevent violence against women and girls. Funding for shelters, legal aid and prevention programmes is often cut, just as economic stress and insecurity increase the risk of harm.
Debt justice helps us tell this story honestly – connecting everyday struggles to global economic systems, rather than treating them as individual or inevitable failures.
Most importantly, it is about taking responsibility. Creditors, including wealthy countries, banks and financial institutions, benefit enormously from the current system, yet face few consequences when it causes harm. Debt justice insists that responsibility must be shared, and that historical injustices, including colonial extraction and unfair financial rules, must be acknowledged.
Change is possible
Past debt relief has shown that when countries are freed from unsustainable debt, girls stay in school longer, health outcomes improve, and communities become more resilient.
Global debt levels are at historic highs, while aid budgets, including the UK’s, are being cut. Aid matters. It saves lives and supports vital services. But many countries are now so trapped by debt that no amount of aid can fill the gap. Money flows straight back out again through debt repayments.
Why The Circle is campaigning on debt justice
Economic justice underpins everything we care about: safety, rights, equality and freedom from violence. When women have economic security – fair pay, safe work and strong public services – they have real choices and stronger futures.
That’s why we support women-led organisations on the ground, and why we campaign for systemic change, including fairer global debt rules.
Fairer debt systems could unlock billions for healthcare, education, care, climate action and gender equality – resources that women and girls urgently need. The UK has significant power to influence these rules through its laws and its global role – power that must be used.
The UK government must put people before profit
We’re calling on the UK government to champion fairer debt systems that allow countries to invest in care, services and justice.
Join us and stand with global feminists around the world calling for an economy that finally works for women and girls.
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