Identifying Economic Abuse

Survivors of intimate partner violence may experience many forms of abuse, including emotional, physical, and sexual violence. At ROW we address another form of domestic violence that doesn’t get as much attention: economic abuse. Economic abuse may play out in a number of ways, and it often overlaps with other forms of abuse. For many women, finances can impact their decisions about staying, leaving, or returning to a partner, because they may experience multiple economic losses as a result of leaving a relationship. They may lose any of the following: their job, housing, transportation, or their main source of income, and they may experience the loss or damage of important possessions. For domestic violence advocates, being aware of the many forms that economic abuse can take is critical to supporting and standing with survivors.

Some forms of economic abuse include:

Controlling the financial resources (checkbook, income, gas money, etc.)

Destroying credit (Taking out lines of credit in her name, letting her car become repossessed, paying bills late to destroy her credit score)

Taking her money (stealing cash, checks, or money from the ATM)

Making her ask for money or giving her an allowance

Controlling access to financial information (not telling her about life insurance policies, not allowing her to have access to the checkbook or account information)

Gambling or spending away life savings

Demanding details of how money was pent

Not allowing her name to be on accounts

Not letting her talk to others about money

Devaluing her financial contribution

Expecting her to “behave” a certain way because he makes more money than her

Preventing her from having or keeping a job; or destroying homework for school