Employment challenges often magnified for racialized women: Report

August 17, 2022

Besides the harsh realities faced by women who suffer from domestic violence, they also often have many tough challenges when it comes to employment, found a new report.

And when those unfortunate women are racialized, the problem is often compounded.

The report, Intersections between employment and safety among racialized women, was recently released by the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto (WomanACT) and it was the result of 59 surveys completed between Jan. and Feb. and 24 interviews with women.

“We realized that often in those abusive relationships, women are experiencing something that we call employment sabotage, that’s where the partner would actually harm the partner’s ability to work or be successful at work, and we also know that this phenomenon of employment sabotage treats racialized women differently because of the added impact of economic and employment inequality in general and the labour market for racialized women,” says Premila Chellapermal, project coordinator at WomanACT and the author of the 33-page report.

By conducting this research, insight was gained into some of the unique challenges faced by racialized women who go through domestic violence.

“It was important for us because we know that financial economic security is very closely linked to women’s safety, as well as empowerment, and so we need to understand how to support women, especially racialized women, to become economically independent,” says Chellapermal.

Source: HR Reporter