Men earn the money and women put the kids to bed. Violence against women will only disappear if that changes, says the chairwoman of the Association of Working Mothers.
Approximately 170,000 women were victims of domestic violence in 2022. “We should finally start taking preventive action against gender-specific violence,” says Cornelia Spachtholz BuzzFeed News Germanya portal from Ippen.Media. She is chairwoman of the Association of Working Mothers (VBM) and launched the MeForHer.International campaign.
In order to prevent violence against women, a change is needed away from it patriarchal society (which is also noticeable in the world of work) towards an equal society in which women are no longer financially dependent on their partners, calls for Spachtholz. She knows what intimate partner violence feels like because she experienced it herself.
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How economic dependency can lead to domestic violence
Economic dependence not only leads to: Women more difficult to get out of violent relationships can liberate themselves: “Practice shows us too often that economic dependence can be the breeding ground for financial violence, including a form of domestic violence,” says Spachtholz. Only recently did she come into contact with a woman whose partner cut off her credit card. “Violence has many faces,” says the VBM chairwoman. And: “Financial violence often ends with physical violence.”
There are no concrete figures available. That is why the VBM calls for more studies on the subject of domestic violence. The latest study, which we find, is from 2014. It shows that women are most often affected by violence when they are increasingly dependent on their partner. But women who free themselves from this dependency and break with traditional gender roles are also at risk – if their partner does not accept this and wants to continue to cling to the patriarchal system, i.e. the supremacy of men.
Every third woman in Germany is financially dependent
The dominance is expressed in the fact that women earn on average 18 percent less than men (Gender pay gap). This is also because they more often work part-time to look after relatives, look after children or organize the household – in short, they do care work. In return, women are not financially rewarded and receive less pension in old age due to the lack of years of work (Gender pension gap).
A Europe-wide survey in the summer of 2023 comes to the conclusion that almost one in three women surveyed (30 percent) in Germany is financially dependent and cannot support their life alone. Things look a little better in other European countries: in Portugal, Romania and France, 80 percent feel financially independent.
How political decisions fuel financial dependence among women
In order to prevent domestic violence from occurring and to make it easier for women to free themselves from violent relationships, something must change in this financial dependency, demands Spachtholz. “We must empower girls, women and mothers, structurally and culturally, to be able to live financially independent and self-determined lives.”
“Politics do not support women enough to become independent. Tax benefits such as spousal splitting, non-contributory co-insurance in health insurance, mini-jobs and not enough and overly expensive care options lead women to financial dependence,” says Spachtholz BuzzFeed News Germany. There is a much greater need for parental leave models that also motivate fathers to do care work.
More on the topic: There is a lack of 3,500 shelter places for victims of domestic violence
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