International Economic Abuse Awareness Day

By Anna, Domestic Abuse Intervention Facilitator

It’s more than money; it’s freedom

Economic abuse is one of the least understood forms of abuse, yet 1 in 6 women have been subjected to it. As a society we may have heard of financial abuse where abusers withhold money from survivors.

Economic abuse is much broader than that- it prevents a survivor from meeting their daily living needs. It can prevent them from putting the heating on, driving the family car or accessing sanitary products.

As well as depriving them, abusers can intentionally exploit the survivor’s economic resources including forcing them to hand over all their income, savings, inheritance or sign up to credit cards with or without their knowledge and build up debt in their name.

Economic abuse can also involve deliberately sabotaging someone’s opportunity to work or gain education. In my work as a domestic abuse practitioner, I’ve worked with survivors where the abuser has shut the laptop while they were doing an online interview, insulted their boss at work events or hidden the car keys or refused to look after the children so the survivor cannot work. Economic abuse is an intentional attack on a survivor’s economic autonomy and ultimately their freedom.

One household, two lifestyles

Within one household, there can be two very different lifestyles. There can be a perpetrator who is going on luxury golf holidays, driving a fancy car and wearing designer clothes whilst a survivor is begging for bus fare and going hungry themselves in order to have enough money from their tiny allowance to feed the children.

A long journey to recovery

The impact of economic abuse can be severe. Research shows it is linked to increased risks of cardiovascular disease and mental distress including depression, anxiety and suicidality.
Economic abuse can take years if not decades to recover from. If a survivor has huge debts, bankruptcy or a poor credit score, they will have fewer options when it comes to rebuilding their life and trying to get a mortgage or a business loan. In the post-separation period, the economic abuse will often continue. Examples of this include unpaid child maintenance, shaming the survivor for not having enough money and / or bribing children with expensive gifts.

Spotting the signs, supporting our clients

As professionals we can support survivors, if we can spot the signs of economic abuse.

We can ask these questions:

• Has someone’s appearance changed?
• Do they need to check with their partner before spending money?
• Do they share a phone or an email address?
• Are they named on the mortgage?
• Do they give up a job they enjoy or say, “I’m useless with money!”?

These are just some of the signs of economic abuse.

Economic abuse can be subtle and hard to spot. Abusers can exploit existing inequalities and their abuse can be hidden in amongst traditional gender roles where a woman might give up work to look after children. It can be present in the richest and poorest households.

The next time you hear someone say, “I’m useless at managing money” ask yourself, is that true or is this something that they have they been told repeatedly?