The cost of domestic violence to women's employment

A new report reveals how domestic violence impedes women’s employment, often forcing them out of the workforce altogether. In many cases they work fewer hours, for less pay, than employed women who have not experienced domestic violence.

This ‘employment gap’ can be as large as 9.4 per cent: 72 per cent of women who have endured economic abuse in the past five years are in employment compared with 81.4 per cent of women who have not been subject to such abuse.

The report, The Cost of Domestic Violence to Women’s Employment and Education, draws on data that enables, for the first time, a quantification of the employment and educational impacts of domestic violence on Australian women. 

The research was led by renowned feminist and journalist Dr Anne Summers AO, Professor of Domestic and Family Violence at the University of Technology Sydney, with support from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

Altogether over 60 per cent of women who currently endure domestic violence are in employment. In 2021-22 this amounted to more than 704,000 women aged 18 to 64 who had experienced partner violence, partner emotional abuse or partner economic abuse in the past five years. 

Many of these women face continuous pressure from their partners to quit their job or to at least reduce their hours. Such pressure is worse from former partners, with the 2021-2022 Personal Safety Survey showing that 451,000 women had a previous partner who controlled or tried to control them from working or earning money. 

Women still living with an abusive partner also experienced such pressure, with 30,700 reporting that their partner has controlled or tried to control them from working or earning money.

The report also found an ‘education gap’. Data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health reveals that, for young women, by the time they are 27, there is a nearly 15 per cent difference in the rates of university degree attainment between victim-survivors and other women. 

The consequences of this are severe, with lifetime earnings likely to be as much as 41 per cent lower than a woman who has a degree. This sabotage of their study by a violent partner often creates feelings of depression, shame, and stress, which leads them to drop out.

Both the employment gap and the education gap are severe setbacks to the enormous progress that women have been making in workforce participation and university attainment in recent decades. 

The new report, which is a sister study to The Choice: violence or poverty, details how large numbers of women have not joined the labour force, have reduced their working hours, or quit their jobs altogether – all because of domestic violence. 

As a result of domestic violence, women’s individual progress, and the historical advancement of women, are both jeopardised. This has significant repercussions for Australia’s economic and social progress. 

Among the key findings from the report are: 

• Domestic violence impacts women’s long-term earnings, with significant declines in full-time employment often lasting at least five years.
• For young women, domestic violence reduces rates of full-time employment by 9.1 per cent. 
• Domestic violence leads to a stark 9.7 per cent reduction in university degree attainment. 
• Victim-survivors report significantly higher rates of financial distress, with 44 per cent unable to meet household expenses and 28 per cent seeking financial assistance from family or friends, compared to just 7 per cent of women who have not experienced violence.
• In 2021–22, women who experienced partner violence or abuse in the past five years had a 5.3 per cent lower employment rate compared to those who had not. For women who recently experienced economic abuse, the gap was even greater at 9.4 per cent.
• Nearly 35 per cent of women who were working when they experienced domestic violence took time off work, with an average of 31 days off following the abuse.

Professor Summers said the data showed that women of all ages who experienced domestic violence often pay a severe economic price.

“Domestic violence isn’t just a private matter – it’s also a workplace and university issue that demands immediate action,” she said. “Too many women are being forced to choose between enduring violence or leaving and facing severe economic consequences.”

Professor Summers said domestic violence actively prevents women from participating fully in the economic life of the country. 

“Women are forced out of their jobs, made to work fewer hours, earn less money, and are less able to provide for themselves and their children if they leave the violent relationship,” she said. “Employment and education are not just tools for empowerment – they’re lifelines.”

PRF CEO Professor Kristy Muir said the report highlighted the need for urgent systemic interventions to safeguard women’s access to economic independence.

“The evidence shows that too many women are paying a huge economic price in addition to the physical, emotional and psychological damage done to them by domestic violence,” she said. 

 “This report is yet another wake-up call. Economic abuse and its impact on women’s livelihoods are forms of violence that must no longer be overlooked.”

The report calls for targeted interventions, including:

• Expanding support for student [and not just staff as is currently the case] domestic violence victim-survivors at universities.
• Increasing awareness of the government’s mandatory 10 days of paid domestic violence leave entitlements and minimising barriers to accessing this leave.
• Amending the Escaping Violence Payment to provide more direct cash support.
• Trialling embedding employment support services within women’s refuges.

• Establishing a virtual resource hub to guide victim-survivors to financial assistance.

   

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