The EASE Design Challenge, hosted by WomanACT and by our Community Partners at the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the Rotman School of Management was a dynamic two-day event is part of our Economic Abuse Support & Empowerment (EASE) project funded by Women & Gender Equity Canada (WAGE). The initiative focuses on generating innovative, survivor-centred solutions aimed at financial institutions to address tech-facilitated economic abuse.
The EASE Design Challenge brought together students, and professionals in the fields of finance, user experience, and technology to co-create innovative solutions that address tech-facilitated economic abuse. Grounded in research led by WomanACT and mentorship from systems experts, this challenge will ask participants to develop survivor-centred prototypes and business cases to enhance safety, financial independence, and privacy for survivors engaging with banking systems.
To guide participants in developing survivor-centred, practical solutions, teams were provided with a fictional case study—Mei—created using insights from real experiences shared by survivors of economic and financial abuse through WomanACT’s research and interviews. While Mei’s story is fictional, the harms, tactics, and barriers reflected in the case are grounded in what survivors across Ontario have told us.
The case centred around Mei, a 37-year-old newcomer to Canada experiencing financial abuse and technology-facilitated control from her husband. After discovering multiple fraudulent loans and drained savings, Mei sought help from her bank to restore her financial security, dispute coerced debt, and regain control over her accounts and privacy.
This case framework supported teams in designing solutions that respond to real-world challenges survivors face in digital banking environments today.
Each team was assigned one of two challenge questions, designed to explore both preventative and responsive approaches to tech-facilitated financial abuse. Using Mei’s situation as their anchor, participants were asked to create an innovative presentation addressing one of the following:
For more information, please contact:
Aakanksha Mathur (she/her)
Manager of Public Policy, Advocacy and Communications
amathur@womanact.ca
Economic abuse affects many women and gender-diverse individuals in Canada, with rates as high as 1 in 3 women experiencing it from intimate partners.
This project has been funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Women’s Program
Skye is a Canadian-Asian artist and Neofeminist. Her work is an amalgamation of her Canadian and Asian heritage.
Becky leads national programs that help individuals build financial confidence, independence, and long-term money management skills.
Gabi Santos is a Senior UX Design Team Lead with years of experience spanning UX strategy, product discovery, and UI design.
Soroush has over 14 years of experience designing inclusive, user-centered products across the finance, government, and healthcare sectors.
The Lotus Recovery Pathway is an integrated, trauma-informed solution that empowers survivors of financial abuse to regain control. At an individual bank level, the system proactively notifies users of suspicious transactions and streamlines reporting. Survivors can easily verify concerns and connect with trauma-informed bank agents for support. Survivors can then access The Fraud Recovery Hub – a unified hub that provides ongoing assistance through expert advocates, a clear recovery checklist, and also essential third-party resources. Grounded in safety, choice, and autonomy, the pathway offers a holistic approach to resolving coerced or fraudulent debt and rebuilding trust in the financial system.
Project Witness-Echo is a banking technology response protocol designed to support survivors of economic abuse. It helps individuals navigate their financial recovery by connecting them to support and guidance networks, monitoring indicators of ongoing or potential abuse, and facilitating pathways for coerced debt relief. The protocol aims to increase safety, restore financial autonomy, and ensure survivors can access the resources they need to rebuild stability.
The proposed solution focuses on preventing financial abuse by strengthening account safety and control for survivors. It introduces features such as trusted contacts and devices, designated zones of safe use, and real-time authorization notifications. Together, these measures help protect users from fraud, coercion, and the creation of coerced debt, ensuring survivors can manage their finances with greater confidence and security.