Financial abuse: the lack of minimum skills that becomes gender-based violence
Since 1975 in Italy women have been able to open a personal bank account without the authorization of their father or husband. Thanks to the reform of Family Law, moreover, from that year Italian women have been able to manage their money and their assets. This fundamental legal innovation then established, among other things, equality between spouses.
Hard to believe we are talking about only half a century ago. Especially if, considering the aspect of money management, we stop to reflect on current practices. How used we now are to financial services just a click away and accessible 24/7. To the immediacy of payments offered by ever faster and more powerful smart devices. And, thanks to the proliferation of completely online banks, to the ease with which we can open an account or carry out complex operations from our living room, without even having to go to a branch. Just download an app on the phone, create your own current account and in a few minutes you can set up recurring digital transfers, settle outstanding invoices or pay bills.
The possibilities at a technical level are, today, truly numerous. And they have radically changed the ways money is managed. Despite this, however, on close inspection certain legacies of the past remain alive. Culturally they imprison people in conditions that are extremely limiting. Some population surveys tell us so. In Italy still 4 out of 10 women are not account holders. Low levels of financial education continue to be recorded among all citizens. According to the most recent Eurobarometer analysis (2023), in fact, only 25% of Italians show high knowledge, while 26% have little familiarity with the subject. The comparison with the other EU members is rather merciless: we are below the average and very far from the top performers, that is the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark.
Although this is not a consolation, from a gender perspective we are not the only ones to show persistent and significant gaps. In the item concerning financial knowledge, in fact, in the Union on average the difference between men and women stands at 18 percentage points.
Not being aware of one’s income, not knowing investment possibilities or not understanding the implications of poor savings management can lead more easily than one might think to situations of exploitation or even to limitations of personal freedom, effectively making one dependent on someone else.
On the one hand, a failure to understand the consequences of one’s financial choices makes one more exposed to manipulation. And on the other hand, in cases where there is no direct access to money, situations of decision-making imbalance can arise. In a negative spiral, one can end up in cycles of control and violence from which it becomes almost impossible to escape. Events not so unheard of, but in which more often and especially women find themselves trapped.
Whatever the imbalance, it is wrong to think that these are distant, marginal examples or typical of areas of degradation, perhaps in poor countries. The danger is closer than one thinks and affects also the Western world. An example in this sense comes from the United States. The World Economic Forum reports that overseas in 99% of recorded cases of domestic abuse there was also a form of financial abuse. A silent pandemic that, again according to the WEF, affects one in three women worldwide. Although it does not always, fortunately, reach forms of physical violence, these are still abuses linked to different power relationships, in which the victim is more frequently a woman. From prohibiting her to work, look for a job or train to aspire to better opportunities, to controlling her income or expenses, to excluding the victim from family investment decisions. And from denying access to bank accounts to cases of deception, identity or property theft. Or exploitation of labor in family businesses without, in return, fair pay.
As we said at the beginning, fifty years ago in Italy a fundamental basis for emancipation was laid. But between female employment rates that remain particularly low even compared to countries with similar social structures and development paths; stereotypes that lead too many Italian women to delegate to partners or husbands the financial management of assets (shared or not); and in the face of domestic burdens that still weigh disproportionately on their shoulders, the risks remain high. They bind many to positions of inferiority within the couple, prevent true independence. And leave them in situations from which not all have the material or cultural tools to escape.