Kvinnors och mäns möjligheter att framträda som "ideala offer" för ekonomiskt våld i skuldsaneringsansökningar

Abstract

Women's and Men's Opportunities to Appear as 'Ideal Victims' of Economic Abuse in Applications for Debt Relief

Studies show that 13 percent of all women in EU countries have experienced economic abuse in an ongoing or post-separation relationship. However, knowledge about this type of abuse is not well developed. One possible consequence of exposure to economic abuse is over-indebtedness, meaning that the individual can no longer pay off their debts within a foreseeable timeframe.
       The purpose of the present study is, with support from Adams et al.’s (2020) model on economic abuse, to examine whether, and if so how, an individual’s exposure to economic abuse appears in men’s and women’s applications for debt relief, as well as assess the effectiveness of Adams et al.’s model in supplementing the analysis. We also aim to analyse the extent to which men's and women's descriptions allow them to appear as more or less "ideal victims" of the abuse they have suffered.
       The empirical material consists of debt relief applications submitted to the Swedish Enforcement Authority, along with the personal letters attached to these applications. Decisions, assessments, and service notes have been considered as background material. The applications were analyzed using directed content analysis based on Adams et al.’s (2020) model of economic abuse.

The results show that the applicants’ debt relief applications contain examples of economic exploitation and economic control. The results also indicate that applicants of both genders refer to their own roles in the accumulation and growth of debt in different ways and through various linguistic means, which may influence the extent to which they are perceived as "ideal debt victims."