The long experience of our partner organisation Buducnost shows that economic dependence on the perpetrator of violence is the decisive factor for women to stay with or return to a violent partner. Besides lower job opportunities due to the employment situation in the country, the ongoing violence lowers their self-esteem and makes them even more insecure about their own abilities in the labour market. The prevailing support system - women's shelters - has only a provisional effect.
Thus, to achieve gender equality, it is crucial to strengthen the economic status of women and ensure their economic independence. To do so, Buducnost works with women affected by violence to increase their labour market opportunities to allow them to strengthen their financial independence.
Nevertheless, to create a more favourable economic and legal environment for women to find employment, employers and policy-makers need to be on board. Employers tend to behave insensitively towards women survivors of violence: Local businesses fear reduced availability of single mothers and anticipate problems with violent husbands in the workplace. Besides this, many labour market policies are vague and rigid. Both employers and policy-makers need to be activated so that the work environment and policies become more sensitive to survivors of gender-based violence.
Therefore, accompanying women to economic independence is one of the ways to protect them from gender-based and domestic violence in the long term.
