Addressing this issue requires nuance, particularly in distinguishing between financial and economic abuse – an essential step as we consider effective solutions.
Responding to this complex challenge, the Purple Phone Initiative from Financially Included, in partnership with Women Against Violence and funded by Delivering Equally Safe, introduced Scotland’s first helpline and trauma-informed support for women experiencing economic abuse, whether they are still in abusive relationships or starting anew.
What does financial abuse mean?
Financial abuse means controlling access to money or resources, while economic abuse extends to limiting education, employment, and independence. This distinction broadens our understanding of the harm caused.
Nicola Sharp Jeffs, OBE, founder and CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA), exposes how we unconsciously minimise some abuses, leaving women even more isolated.
“There’s something that I call a hierarchy of harm. For example, [economic abuse] has probably been seen as more of a psychological abuse, not being called out. I think it kind of sits at the bottom, and there are other forms of abuse that people might put in the physical section of the abuse as a result. But perhaps emotional and economic abuse, again, is perhaps more harmful.”
Understanding the depth of economic abuse is essential. Financial abuse is limited to controlling money or assets, such as withholding funds or monitoring spending. Economic abuse, meanwhile, includes behaviours that prevent access to education, employment, or the ability to accumulate independence, extending control beyond finances.
Financial abuse can lead to other issues
Economic abuse involves less obvious behaviours that can be perceived as caring, such as encouraging women to stay at home to look after the kids, or dealing with bills unilaterally, escalating into overspending, building up debt in joint and victims’ accounts without their knowledge.
Making this difference explicit highlights how financial abuse can lead to even wider effects.
This control is suffocating, not just in the moment, but for years after. Many women are left battling debt and enormous gaps in work experience, facing a world that feels impossible to re-enter.
Too often, economic abuse leaves women on the brink; 11% become homeless, roughly 470,000 lives uprooted by invisible violence.
It is shown that economic abuse does not happen in isolation, but rather in tandem with other forms of domestic abuse. Over a quarter (27%) of women who experienced economic abuse also had a partner or ex-partner threaten to hurt or kill them.
Despite the harm, support stays scarce. The Purple Phone’s direct, human connection becomes a vital lifeline in the darkness.
Watch the video to listen more from the group.
