FOREWORD Samiro DOUGLAS Chief Executive Officer
WIRE Women’s Information is a statewide women’s information support and referral service in Victoria. Each year WIRE talks to more than 12,000 women about the myriad issues of concern to them. However family violence, seeking legal advice, facing a housing crisis and seeking employment consistently rank among our top contact issues. For many women these issues are entwined, as the stories in this research show. WIRE holds significant and specialist knowledge in talking to women living with family violence. We are often the first point of contact for women seeking help and, therefore, the first service to identify the behaviour they are living with as family violence. This is especially the case when control and abuse tactics other than physical violence have been employed. WIRE's focus on women’s economic security began in 2006, when we started hearing concerns raised on a national level about women’s low superannuation savings and the impact of this on women's retirement. We realised that women themselves were not talking with us about this issue and, in fact, we were not talking about it. This led to our early research on women’s financial literacy and security, “Women’s Financial Literacy Research Report” 2007 and “Young Women and Money Research Report” 2010. Through these reports we were alerted to the impact on women's lives of financial abuse in the context of family violence and the lack of specialist knowledge and information on this topic, for individual women and for professionals. Consequently, WIRE developed and delivered a workshop series for professional and individual women. The workshops for professionals were fully booked and well received, but we struggled to attract individual women. We knew we had to hear directly from women in more detail and, in particular, learn the language they use and the kind of information they need. Without this, we would not be able to provide women with support to make informed choices about their financial future. I believe this is important research. Whilst some of the findings confirm what women are already talking to us about, the extent of the abuse through systems that ought to be helping women in crisis has shocked us. We now have greater insight into the often long and harrowing journey women take on behalf of themselves and their children in order to receive their entitlements. And we are confronted by the reality that fathers who are prepared to financially deprive the mothers of their children of a more secure financial future also deprive their children. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the reference group members: Professor Roslyn Russell from RMIT University, Tanya Corrie from Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services and Julie Kun from WIRE Women’s Information for their support and expert advice amidst their own very busy schedules. I also thank Alexa Ridgeway for assisting our researcher Prue Cameron, and for her support with the focus groups, transcriptions and insights into the findings. Without a doubt I have to commend the dedication and wisdom of our researcher, Prue Cameron. Prue created a safe environment for the women to share their stories. She listened to each of these women’s stories, witnessed their distress and felt their relief as they also heard other women speak about their experiences, and so felt less alone. She observed their resilience and resourcefulness, and their commitment to sharing their stories for the benefit of other women. Finally I need to thank all of the women who made their first tentative contact with WIRE, uncertain if financial abuse was their experience and whether or not they were eligible to take part in the research. We were committed to making this a positive and empowering experience for you. Thank you for your willingness to share your experiences.
FOREWORD
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