Join us for IWPR’s 2026 Power+ Summit, The Power Grid: Driving Gender Equity Forward, taking place September 28–29 in Detroit, MI.
Together, we will spark bold ideas, share breakthroughs, and shape the future of gender equity.
It’s also important to know that financial abuse often occurs alongside other forms of domestic violence. In a small 2018 study from the Institute of Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) that surveyed 164 people living in shelters across 11 states and Washington, D.C., 70 percent of survivors had dealt with at least five types of abuse, including financial, physical, sexual, and emotional, along with stalking.
With that said, financial abuse is often a major reason why people remain stuck in cycles of abuse. In that IWPR survey, 73 percent of respondents cited financial difficulties as a factor that drove them to either stay with their abusive partner or return to the relationship. “Financial reasons were the number one reason [survivors we surveyed] either hadn’t left or had to go back,” Cynthia Hess, Ph.D., acting co-president at IWPR, tells SELF.