Economic abuse extends beyond controlling bank accounts, restricting household spending, or accumulating debt. It can also involve deliberately undermining a woman's ability to get a job, advance professionally, or achieve financial independence. For women with children, access to dependable childcare can determine whether they can attend an interview, participate in training, or accept a job. When an abusive partner deliberately withholds childcare support, disrupts childcare arrangements, or uses parenting responsibilities to restrict employment, childcare becomes another instrument of economic control. The SOFEI Group has witnessed how these barriers affect women's opportunities, and how targeted financial assistance can help overcome them. Through the AFEI Giving Circle, SOFEI supported a mother experiencing abuse who needed childcare assistance while pursuing employment. An AFEI Grant helped cover childcare expenses so she could attend job interviews. That support he...
Financial abuse is not always visible, but its consequences can affect a woman's safety, independence, and future. Money is often described as a pathway to freedom, opportunity, and security. But what happens when someone uses money not to build a future together, but to control another person's choices? For many women experiencing domestic abuse, financial control becomes an invisible barrier to independence. A partner may restrict access to bank accounts, interfere with employment, accumulate debt in someone else's name, or withhold money for necessities. These behaviors are not simply disagreements about household finances. When used to establish or maintain power and control, they are forms of economic abuse. Economic abuse can occur alongside emotional, psychological, physical, or other forms of abuse. It can also occur without physical violence. Its consequences may extend far beyond the relationship. Damaged credit, interrupted employment, housing insecurity, ...