How to Recognise Economic Abuse, With Marisa Bate
How to Recognise Economic Abuse, With Marisa Bate
💸One in six UK women will experience economic abuse, which exists in 95% of domestic abuse cases.
And this is worsening for victims since the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
On today’s episode, I speak to Marisa Bate, a freelance journalist, author and commentator on feminist issues. She covers stories that impact the lives of women. Marisa is a passionate advocate for women’s rights, and today we discuss how to recognise economic abuse, where to find help and the long term impact on survivors.
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“There are some women who do have the funds to leave and don’t leave, and there are very good reasons for that still. But there are also a lot of women who are trapped with abusive partners and cannot afford to leave, especially if they have children.”
what is economic abuse?
Economic abuse is a type of domestic abuse and coercive, controlling behaviour. And often, if you're experiencing economic abuse, you're probably experiencing other types of abuse - emotional abuse, physical abuse. Economic abuse has just fairly recently been recognised in the law for the first time.
Maybe it's sabotaging your access to education, maybe it's sabotaging your ability to go to work, your ability to access food, your ability to access hygiene products. So it's anything that we recognise as an economic resource in our life, from your mortgage to your bank account, but also all those other things that we get your mobile phone, your car, all the things that we take for granted that allow us to build economic independence and resilience.
And within that, of course, it's financial abuse, which is more specific to say somebody not letting you have access to a bank account, or somebody not letting you have access to your own salary, or somebody running up huge debt in your name, which then you're being chased for.
There are some women who do have the funds to leave and don't leave, and there are very good reasons for that still. But there are also a lot of women who are trapped with abusive partners and cannot afford to leave, especially if they have children.
The important thing to remember is it can happen to anyone and it's not happening to someone because you're bad at money.
cost of living and impact on victims
For victims of economic abuse, every day is a cost of living crisis.
One of the one of the common tactics of economic abuse is to run up huge debts in a victim's name. With bills escalating, that's even easier to do. You can run up even greater debt. There's just this huge vulnerability to all of us right now, but that is completely magnified for victims.
Different charities are calling for an emergency fund where they are asking for grants of about £500 that would just help somebody leave.
It's still very frightening if you've got two children and you know it's going to be a cold, long winter and your savings have been spent by your abuser and you're in debt.
signs of abuse
It can start in what may feel like a very loving relationship, and it may be presented to you as a thing of concern — being taken care of.
You might ask yourself, why don't I have access to the joint account card? Or why are you suddenly starting to say, I don't need to work when I've always worked and I've always really enjoyed working? The way that abuse creeps up on you can be very sinister.
Abusers are good at doing a drip by drip by drip and often in a loving way, by the time whatever has happened has happened, you almost haven't seen it happen and it's too late.
As an outsider, you need to use your vigilance. Has your friend suddenly stopped coming out because she suddenly can't afford to pay for her share of lunch? Or has she kind of forgotten her purse again? Or has she stopped buying new clothes or whatever it was that she used to buy? Are they only ever using cash? Do they never seemingly have a card on them?
Often in abusive relationships, we find that the victim will sometimes barely have enough to live on, while the partner will be buying designer clothes and £200 meals.
If you are the victim, there is help out there. Organisations like Surviving Economic Abuse have so much information in different languages of exactly what you're entitled to, any benefits you might be entitled to, those first stages of trying to leave and flee.
When this happens, what people need is practical support. A lot of victims are almost a bit embarrassed and ashamed. Shame is all part of what keeps abuse.
Post separation abuse is also very common with the child maintenance system. The parent who doesn't live with a child will refuse to pay the maintenance they owe. Again, often the parent who is living with a child, which is typically the mother, will know that this person has got a nice house and is earning well. There are big problems with the CMS, the government system, and there have been multiple attempts at reform, none of them have ever worked.
Abusers are good at manipulating systems but you can always seek support and get impartial advice from charities.
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