Making economic advocacy 'core business'

• Domestic violence can lead to significant financial hardship for women and their children. In turn, financial insecurity can prevent women from leaving abusive relationships, gaining safety and recovering from the effects of abuse.
• Economic advocacy around women’s debts, savings, assets and income can help build women’s financial capacity following domestic violence. At an individual level, economic advocacy involves assisting clients to identify and address their financial needs, often through negotiations with financial institutions, companies, government agencies and employers. At a systemic level, it targets the structural barriers that impede women’s financial security.
• Economic advocacy is different to financial literacy education. It focuses on the institutions that impact on women’s financial security, rather than an individual’s financial knowledge and skills.
• In order to ensure women’s financial hardship is effectively addressed, economic advocacy must be undertaken with a view to holding perpetrators accountable and improving women’s safety.
• While many workers in domestic violence and related services already undertake various forms of economic advocacy, the sector’s capacity in this area can be strengthened further by: incorporating economic advocacy into the ‘core business’ of services; pursuing greater collaboration with the financial counselling sector; and better resourcing by funding bodies for this work.