From a public-policy perspective, violence against women will not be solved through a single targeted policy on violence. Public policies shape and create social conditions. Policies can create social conditions that reinforce gender inequality and produce violence against women. Policies can also negatively impact women experiencing violence by limiting women’s access to determinants of safety such as housing and income security.
This literature review presents an overview of the impacts of selected federal and provincial policies on violence against women. The literature review finds that women are regularly required to prove or verify their abuse in order to obtain support or services; that policies do not always reflect the gendered experience of immigration, poverty and homelessness; and that policies often reproduce conditions of women’s economic insecurity and financial dependence.
Despite limited research on financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence, it is clear that financial abuse is a commonly used form of power and control over women and very often entangled in other forms of violence. It is also clear that it has devastating impacts on a woman’s ability to flee violence, be safe and establish financial independence.
This research report draws on qualitative data gathered through surveys and focus groups with service providers and in-depth interviews with survivors. The report examines the experiences and impacts of financial abuse as well as the challenges in confronting it and the opportunities to prevent and address it. The report includes key findings from the research in addition to policy, programs and practice recommendations to help better identify, prevent and respond to financial abuse.