What is economic safety?

“Economic safety is vital to a person’s wellbeing. It is the human right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of a person and their family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of circumstances beyond their control*. It means being free of economic abuse and includes:

• Having access to appropriate financial products to help manage your finances
• Receiving fair and appropriate financial support for your wellbeing and the wellbeing of children, or others, in your care
• Having structural and systemic support to maintain and build your economic security over time.”

* Article 25 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Source: Centre for Women's Economic Safety 

What is economic abuse?

The terms economic abuse and financial abuse are often used interchangeably. Economic abuse represents a broader set of behaviours including financial abuse, and is a form of family violence that: “… involves behaviors that control a [person’s] ability to acquire, use and maintain economic resources, thus threatening her [or his] economic security and potential for self-sufficiency.”

Economic abuse includes a range of behaviours carried out by a perpetrator such as:

• controlling a victim’s access to cash and bank accounts
• hiding financial information and assets
• sabotaging study and/or employment opportunities
• forcing a partner to take out debt, and
• manipulating finances to avoid or reduce child support payments.

Adams, A. (2008). 'Development of the Scale of Economic Abuse'. Violence Against Women, 14, 563-588.

Read more about domestic and family violence.

Fact Sheets (CWES)

• What is economic abuse
• First steps to economic safety
• Next steps to economic safety
• Economic abuse and the law

Read more on the Source: Centre for Women's Economic Safety