Myrian recounts the hell of economic violence

According to a survey carried out recently by the IFOP for the feminist newsletter “Les Glorieuses”, 41% of women will experience a form of domestic economic violence in their life.

Telling him what to think, how to dress… The influence began little by little. Myriam does not realize this because she is madly in love with her husband who gradually isolates her from those around her and prevents her from working, she who has completed brilliant business studies. Then comes the beatings on her, on the children, physical, psychological but also economic violence. A more insidious, but very widespread reality: in a survey published on November 6 by the IFOP for “The Glorious”four out of ten say they have experienced a form of domestic economic violence in their life.

“He forbade me from working at the timeexplains Myriam. My only income was unemployment since I had worked before marriage, and he used this salary first to leave me nothing. And then he used his salary and always hid part of his income, which I didn’t find out until much later. He also stole my identity to take out loans. At the end of her rope, she filed for divorce after 13 years of marriage. But even separated, her ex-husband does everything to dry her up economically.

“He promised me he was going to take everything from me.”

“He promised me he was going to take everything from meshe says. He simply stole my vehicle. He no longer wants to pay child support at all.”

“Its only goal is to harm me, to ensure that I can no longer get out of it. And it works. I find myself feeding my children with Restos du coeur.”

Myriam, victim of domestic economic violence

at franceinfo

Myriam has no respite since her ex-husband appeals all his convictions, and also makes false denunciations. This blocks payments from which the mother benefits and deprives her of resources. “I still feel scared in my stomach just to go out. Today, I’m sick. I have blood clots in my head that were created because of all this anxiety. It feels like it’s made us less than nothing, and we continue to be less than nothing.”

Justice is struggling to deal with this violence

This economic violence is not named by the courts, but making it a new offense would not be effective according to Maître Michelle Dayan, president of the Lawyers For Women association, an association of jurists who fight against violence against women. For the lawyer, what already exists should be applied effectively. “Today we have family intermediation which allows, when a man does not pay alimony, for the CAF to do it for him and then go get him. It’s another way of removing responsibility. We’re fed up with it in fact. It is economic violence not to pay, it is delinquency”.

In 2014, France ratified the Istanbul Convention which recognizes the existence of this economic violence but still refuses to create a specific text.