Economic violence is an integral part of domestic violence. They are based on financial control, which can go as far as the total dispossession of women’s means of subsistence. Nearly one in four women have already been confronted with it, according to a Ifop survey carried out for the National Federation Solidarité Femmes and Crédit Mutuel.
“Economic violence is domestic violence”reminds Solidarity Women. Another one Ifop study for Les Glorieuses indicates that 99% of the women concerned have also suffered physical or psychological violence. This influence is based on several insidious mechanisms and remains difficult for victims to identify.
Control over expenses
Economic violence “often very subtle at first”as indicated by the association SOS Domestic violencestart with spending monitoring. What may initially seem like budget management quickly becomes control.
“He monitors my bank accounts. He criticizes the way I spend money. He has exclusive control over financial decisions.lists Solidarité Femmes on its site.
According to the Ifop report for Solidarité Femmes, 26% of women do not make daily budgetary decisions without the advice of their partner, a figure which rises to 44% for important financial decisions.
The influence becomes even deeper when one partner prevents the other from having their own resources. According to this same report, 48% of women could not afford to leave the marital home without outside help, 30% have no personal source of income and 28% do not even have a personal bank account.
“Pressuring the victim to stop working or reducing their working hours, often by making them feel guilty about the needs of the children (…), limiting the victim’s professional development, by preventing them from studying, by controlling the jobs they apply for or by forcing them to refuse promotions…”, are all behaviors that result in financial dependence, warns SOS Domestic Violence.
THE wage inequalities between women and men “amplify the impact” of this dependence, according to Solidarité Femmes. The association recalls that in 75% of heterosexual couples, men have the biggest salary.
Impoverish and go into debt
After control and financial dependence, comes impoverishment and debt. Nearly 15% of women found themselves in a situation of over-indebtedness and 9% banned from banking because of their spouse, according to the Ifop note for Solidarité femmes. In total, 17% of women have had a partner who cut into their savings, degraded their savings capacity or worsened their debt, according to the Ifop survey for Les Glorieuses.
Salary embezzlement, account blocking, unpaid bills… Behaviors that aim to impoverish or put one’s partner in debt are not marginal. In all, 28% of female victims no longer have personal savings, which often prevents them from breaking the cycle by leaving home. In the event of separation, 57% of them encounter difficulties in covering their basic needs.
If you recognize your spouse in the mechanisms mentioned, contact a association Or call 3919 in order to be listened to and guided.
