«I’m not clueless in financial matters. I studied economy in England, I worked around Europe and now I teach and yet I trusted my husband and was left with practically nothing. This is because we women are all victims of a social legacy whereby we almost don’t want to be autonomous but rather rely on ourselves and feel like princesses, even if incapable.” Patrizia, fictional name, 48 years old, is still dealing with the consequences of trusting him. She moved to Turin from Milan to follow her husband who was having work difficulties «when the problems increased, stressed, he started insulting me – she says – she. She told me all sorts of things in front of the children. The climate in the house was terrible »she talks about an ugly and violent separation. I turned to some associations and a lawyer advised me to take time, but I couldn’t take it anymore so we left with my two children.” In the meantime he would have lost his job «but he lives in our house in Gran Madre, he has a partner and has rebuilt his life, I live in Porta Palazzo, in 50 square meters, an area where I experienced degradation, and I risk that the children prefer him to me. We see them every week but our living conditions and opportunities are now different.”
Yet a few years ago, Patrizia assures, this was not the case. She owns a house in Milan, with a steady job. «We also bought a house in Turin, half the mortgage but 99% of the property to him. I also decided to jointly register the account, where my salaries and the income from the rented house went. Even though you are graduated, capable and experienced, when you are inside you don’t understand what you risk with certain choices. But now – he concludes – I’m doing a master’s degree with a thesis on financial education and I don’t give up, I trust people, you can’t be stigmatized for a mistake and I want my story to be useful”.
She is in contact with Kermasofia, a social enterprise that deals with gender equality in the economic and financial field and which in one year has attracted around 200 people with courses and practical activities on financial education. «We help women and others to achieve greater financial independence», says Giulia Grignani, president. A theme that today will be at the center of the conference “When gender violence is economic” promoted by the Young Accountants Union of Turin, in collaboration with the Order of Accountants of Turin, the Young Lawyers Association and the Young Labor Consultants Association of Turin and Kermasofia. The event will be held from 3pm at the order’s headquarters in via Carlo Alberto 59. «We believe there is a need for both generational and gender financial literacy», explains the president of the Young Accountants Union of Turin, Giuseppe Buonocore. He cites the Bank of Italy survey, «among young people between 18 and 34 years old, only 35% of those interviewed were able to answer correctly the questions on the main economic concepts. The situation is worsening to the detriment of women. Only 1 in 4 women is financially literate and 4 in 10 do not have a current account.”
Thus the importance of talking about it “because many do not inform themselves or do it on social media, trusting those who define themselves as financial experts”, but also, he admits, “because as an association of young professionals it alarms us to think that generations do not have financial education and plan for the future, because it means both that work will decrease but also that the territory will become impoverished.”
#teach #economics #husband #managed
– 2024-03-31 11:43:42
