What Blacklisting Means

Consequences: Threat of Barring You From Accessing Certain Services or Opportunities

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In a country struggling with getting its economy to grow and create more jobs and consumers battling to get their debt under control, creditors of all kinds have their work cut out for them to collect the outstanding payments you owe. One of the methods entails threatening you with "blacklisting".

But what is blacklisting and what are the implications specifically for women?

Naledi Motsiri, director and S'nenhlanhla Lushaba, candidate attorney, at Werksmans Attorneys, say a blacklist is a list of people barred from accessing certain services or opportunities due to negative conduct that created a perception of untrustworthiness.

"Women face daily challenges in asserting their rights and accessing opportunities. While gender-based violence (GBV) is often understood in terms of physical or emotional abuse, economic abuse is another pervasive form of GBV that undermines women's independence and dignity."

They say one of the most devastating examples of economic abuse is when a partner deliberately overburdens a woman with debt (whether by taking out loans in her name, coercing her into signing credit agreements, or leaving her solely responsible for household debts), ultimately leading to her being blacklisted.