Half a million men in Spain do not pay child support.

BarcelonaNearly half a million women residing in Spain have not received child support payments for the past 12 months, as stipulated in their divorce agreements. For the first time, the five-yearly macro-survey conducted by the Ministry of Equality includes a question on economic violence, the third most frequent type of gender-based violence and "a very silent and devastating form," as described this Wednesday by the Spanish government's delegate for Gender Violence, Carmen Martínez Perza, at the presentation. The report also concludes that 30% of women over the age of 16 have experienced an episode of gender-based violence at some point in their lives. In this edition of the macro-survey, the ministry has separated economic violence from the control exerted by the abuser because, as Martínez Perza indicated, it goes beyond monitoring the woman's behavior, movements, and financial resources, which "limits her autonomy and freedom and makes it difficult for her to escape." This category includes everything from non-payment of child support to excessive control of spending, the use of credit cards, taking out loans in the woman's name without her consent, preventing access to bank accounts, and prohibiting her from working or studying outside the home. According to the survey, the prevalence of this type of abuse is around 12% of women, almost three million, who in many cases are subjected to these situations for years, becoming completely dependent. Gemma Fernández is one of those women who, once divorced, has no choice but to "put up with it" because her ex-husband has abandoned their two minor children, and, being insolvent, she doesn't dare report him. "What would be the point? None," says Fernández, who, to pay off loans her former partner took out without informing her, is forced to work two jobs and watch every penny. In fact, financial abuse is one of the least reported forms of violence.

Transversal and chronicle

At the presentation of the large-scale survey, the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, emphasized that the data reveals gender-based violence to be "cross-cutting, structural, and chronic," and indicated that the objective of this analysis is to "design more effective public policies" to end these aggressions that affect everyone. The report's data is once again dramatic: 6.4 million women (30%) have suffered gender-based violence at some point in their lives at the hands of their partner or ex-partner. Of these, 12.7% (2.69 million) report having suffered physical or sexual violence within a relationship, and 14.5% report having been victims of aggression outside of a relationship—that is, more than three million. The consequences are profound, and nearly 1.6 million women continue to suffer physical or psychological effects as a result of these aggressions. The ministry is focusing on the long-term impact this violence has on mental health. Women who have suffered physical or sexual assault within a relationship are 11 times more likely to have attempted suicide than those who have not experienced similar situations. Redondo has highlighted the prevalence (12%) of digital gender-based violence. More than two million women report having received harassment, with messages of a sexual nature (9%) or not (8%), with younger women being the most exposed. The study involved interviews with 11,894 women, 24% more than in the previous edition.