'I'm down to the last two buttons': women speak out about financial abuse

A report by Elizabeth Branigan, 'His money or our money? Financial abuse of women in intimate partner relationships', was released in September 2004. Through the use of different women's stories of financial abuse, the report reveals financial abuse as a systematic means through which women are forced to take responsibility for the vast majority of the economic burden of family maintenance. This article describes some of the experiences of financial abuse shared by sixty-four women in the report, and also outlines the health and other risks faced by women suffering this form of abuse, as well as the importance of secure housing to ensure their future well being and that of their children