Economic abuse can restrict women’s employment opportunities or force them into exploitative jobs with poor conditions and limited opportunities for advancement.
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Financial abuse against women does not always involve a man limiting his partner’s access to money, but can also involve him refusing to take financial responsibility and instead exploiting her income.
Rene Moonsamy, director at National Debt Counsellors, says financial abuse can take different forms.
“Financial abuse can work in more than one direction. It’s not always one partner controlling the other’s access to money, but can also arise where one partner deliberately avoids financial responsibility and places an unreasonable financial burden on the other.”
Research into economic abuse against women has documented exactly this type of behaviour, including male partners who become chronically financially dependent on working women or deliberately refuse to meet household financial obligations.
A study published in the Journal of Family Issues found working women reported financial sabotage that included their husbands’ chronic economic dependency and abandonment of family financial obligations.
Women reported using their own money to support their households when their partners were unemployed or earned little. However, some said that even when their husbands were earning an income, they deliberately refused to provide financial support and instead depended on the women and depleted their finances.
This left some women in debt and caused conflict within relationships. The researchers also found that women who challenged their partners about abandoning their financial responsibilities could face emotional and physical violence.
Moonsamy cautions, however, that a woman supporting a partner financially does not automatically make a relationship abusive.
“There is an important distinction, however, between a household where one partner earns more or temporarily supports the other, and a situation where someone is being financially exploited. Many partners consciously agree on who will carry more of the financial load because of factors like childcare, unemployment, study or other circumstances.”
Moonsamy says the concern is when a woman is expected to carry the financial burden without genuinely agreeing to do so, particularly when her partner could contribute but refuses.
“The concern is where there is no genuine agreement and one partner is expected to carry the household, a partner’s lifestyle or take on debt while the other is unwilling to contribute despite being able to do so. Over time, that can leave the financially responsible partner over-indebted, and financially vulnerable,” Moonsamy says.
Australian research into economic abuse found women and other victims described partners repeatedly asking for money, persuading them to lend money without repaying it, leaving them to pay for everything or making them solely responsible for joint debts.
Some make partners also concealed their debt, earnings or employment situation.
One study of first-year university students found 18% reported at least one form of economic abuse, with the most common being made to use their own money to buy things for their partner or pay their bills when they did not want to.
For women subjected to economic abuse, the consequences can extend beyond the immediate loss of money.
Research published through the US National Library of Medicine found economic abuse can have a devastating impact on women’s financial security by limiting their access to economic opportunities and assets and damaging their longer-term financial capabilities.
Studies have also established links between economic abuse and depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms.
Even employment does not necessarily protect women. The research found economic abuse can restrict women’s employment opportunities or force them into exploitative jobs with poor conditions and limited opportunities for advancement, potentially damaging their careers and wellbeing over the longer term.
Moonsamy says a healthy financial relationship does not require both partners to contribute exactly the same amount.
“We often focus on who earns the money, but healthy financial relationships are really about transparency, contribution and shared responsibility. Contribution does not necessarily have to be equal in rands, but both partners should understand and agree on how the financial responsibilities of the household are being carried.”
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