Income alone is not enough – control over it is the protection
Economic abuse in the research ranged from withheld income to coerced transfers and debt taken in women’s names, with bank cards, salaries, and identity documents held by partners. A salary a woman cannot reach protects nothing; income paired with control over how it reached her did.
What the women themselves said would have helped
Women’s own reflections were consistent across the sample: knowing their rights and how to recognise harm earlier, premarital education grounded in real life rather than ideals, social support through family and community, and consistent enforcement when they sought protection.
How the findings map to policy
The protective factors run backwards into the programme design: relationship education and premarital training reform work before marriage, mediation pathways and standardised marriage agreements work during it, and child support processing and standardised procedures across islands work at separation and after.
Key facts
- The most consistent protective factors identified were a woman’s own income with control over it, education, unconditional family and community backing, and institutional response.
- Economic abuse documented in the research ranged from withheld income to debt registered in women’s names.
- Women interviewed consistently said knowing their rights earlier and premarital education grounded in real life would have changed their outcomes.
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