Five years after the first publication of “Where is the money against violence against women?” », the Women’s Foundation reveals, in a new report published Monday September 25, “unprecedented figures which testify to an increasingly glaring observation”.
In 2023, the State will have spent 184.4 million euros to fight against this violence, describes the foundation, which analyzed public budget documents. However, she believes that “needs reach between 2.6 billion and 5.4 billion euros”. These needs are increasing due to the increase in the number of female victims who report violence and the number of support systems.
To arrive at this overall estimate, the Women’s Foundation assessed the cost of each system and multiplied it by the number of potential beneficiaries. She retained a low hypothesis for the number of victims, corresponding to the number of women who report violence to the police, and a high estimate, which corresponds to the number of women reporting violence in victimization surveys.
Financing difficulties
In detail, between 2.3 billion and 3.2 billion euros should be used to fight domestic violence. This sum would notably make it possible to strengthen reception, orientation and overall support systems, as well as specialized accommodation places.
Currently, the state budget in this area has increased by 44.9 million since 2019 to reach 171.7 million euros, according to the Women’s Foundation. However, “this increase in absolute value masks a drop in spending per victim of domestic violence”a sum increased from 1,310 euros to 967 euros.
Between 344 million and 2.2 billion euros are also needed to fight against sexual violence that occurs outside the couple. In 2023, the State will have spent 12.7 million euros for this purpose, a budget “increase slightly since 2018, but still remains derisory”.
Many associations fail to meet the needs of women and face funding difficulties, notes the Women’s Foundation. She calls for the establishment of “multi-year funding” and a simplification of grant application procedures “with a statewide one-stop shop”.