(The France24)
Many abusive partners deprive women of their financial autonomy, in a form of domestic abuse that often gets overlooked. Women’s rights NGOs have been warning about this phenomenon – which they describe as a form of “economic violence” – and some French lawmakers now want to make such actions a criminal offence.
According to a study by a network of French women’s rights NGOs, Solidarité Femmes(Women’s Solidarity), 23 percent of female domestic violence victims say their partners mistreat them financially – ranging from controlling expenses, to forbidding them from working, to expropriating their wages.
The committee on women’s rights for the French National Assembly (lower house) now wants to make such “economic violence” a criminal offence in France.
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, FRANCE 24 discussed the issue with Françoise Brié, a spokeswoman for the Solidarité Femmes network.
