Understanding economic abuse through an intersectional lens: financial abuse, control, and exploitation of women’s productive and reproductive labor

Financial abuse refers to men’s control over money, assets, and women’s education or paid work. As a corrective to existing undertheorization of men’s (and their family’s) abuse of and control over women’s unpaid (domestic) labor, this article proposes a new conceptualization of economic abuse. Drawing upon life-history interviews with 41 South Asian women from the United Kingdom and India, this article explores control and abuse in relation to financial resources and women’s paid work as well as unpaid work. It utilizes an intersectional perspective to explore how gender, migration status, race/ethnicity, and class can improve understanding of women’s experiences as a continuum of economic abuse.