Economic violence. It's not as rare as some might think.
Next door in Spain, according to data from the Nantik Lum Foundation, around 12% of women suffer this type of violence every day.
It's macho violence; it arises when money becomes a factor of domination. But it's a type of aggression that is still fairly unknown to professionals (in the justice system, for example), at least in Spain.
It's especially cruel and also a clear intention to create damage over a long period of time. It's planned by the perpetrator, it's intentional.
At a certain point, it becomes normalized. He takes over the expenses if he feels like it, but if he doesn't, he leads an almost luxurious life while leaving his partner or former partner in trouble, in debt, struggling to pay household bills or childcare costs, or both.
But economic violence is invisible.
Just like other more disguised forms of violence: psychological, sexual and institutional.
María's context
RTVE gathered testimony from one of these victims. María has post-traumatic stress disorder, her son's father takes the money that would have gone to the child, she went into debt to pay for her son's education, and she had to leave her job - because she was her ex-husband's work partner. She left, he stayed with the company.
Women’s World Banking
The context goes back a long way. María grew up in a family environment where patriarchy reigned. In an authoritarian model, her father was "the one who brought food home".
Respect is obligatory: "Sometimes my father shows my mother the accounts so that she understands that he is the one who gives her the money and that she would be ungrateful if she thought otherwise."
Mom hardly ever left the house, but Dad always warned her that he wondered what she was doing when she went out.
Even today... Mom always needs Dad's signature when she goes to the bank. "He makes and unmakes things at home. He owns the houses and the cars. It's all his".
"I'm alone"
Lucía, another victim, began to feel alone when she got married and especially when she became a mother for the first time: "I'm the one who juggles work and children, always alone. I'm the one who has to worry about managing work and family". Something that Maria also felt.
Four years later, she opened a bakery and the business began to be very profitable. Then came the global economic crisis of 2008 and, with it, debts and a toxic family economy. Her money went to pay off the mortgage, the liquid money came from her now ex-husband. Lucia had no autonomy. And her ex-husband never listened to her when she warned of the economic danger the family was in.
"His pride was dragging us down," she still laments today.
Psychology, food
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority (91.2%) of victims of economic violence suffer psychologically.
There is constant manipulation: the aggressor puts pressure on the victim, demands that she pay him for things - even if it jeopardizes her financial stability.
In María's case, even her food was cut. She was left without the food she needed, he has an expensive standard of living, "eating out, with whims, going out... He even throws what he eats in my face".
And still on the subject of food: when they were dating, if she brought food because they were away from home and didn't go to the restaurant, he was the only one who ate. Always. If he was the one who brought the food... he ate it all too. "Because my mother prepared all this for me," he claimed.
