'Everyone around you loses': How domestic abuse hurts economies

Sine Hope's big passion in life is Latin and ballroom dancing, but her days of samba and rumba are over — two years ago a vicious assault by her then-boyfriend left the vivacious South African in a wheelchair.

The former construction industry consultant, who was her family's main breadwinner, has not worked since.

“I almost died at his hands,” the 35-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “It's affected my life entirely — physically, mentally and financially.”

Hope, who lives in Ladysmith, about 310km southeast of Johannesburg, used to support her younger brother's studies but he has had to quit his civil engineering course and is now unemployed.

Hope's story illustrates the devastating financial impact of domestic violence on women and their families. But it is not only individuals who suffer. Experts say governments could save billions of dollars a year by tackling domestic abuse, and hope that revealing the financial toll will spur them to act.

Research suggests the global cost of all violence against women could be about 2% of GDP. That's roughly 2-trillion dollars, or the size of Canada's economy.

Domestic abuse burdens health, police and judicial services, leads to absenteeism at work, cuts productivity, erodes families' finances and is a barrier to ending poverty.

From Australia to Lesotho, a slew of studies have attempted to put a price tag on domestic violence.

“Whether it's a highly developed country or a lower-income country, the dollar figure has impact,” said NATA Duvvury, a pioneer in costing studies. “It makes governments and officials sit up. The studies all show the same thing — that it's extremely costly.”

While a lack of data makes it hard to definitively measure the burden for any given country, the Thomson Reuters Foundation tallied the financial impact on two women — Hope in SA and Mexican activist Carolina Ramirez.

After adding up lost earnings, medical expenses and legal costs for the women and their families, the Thomson Reuters Foundation found the extreme violence that ruined their lives could also cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

INTERGENERATIONAL COST

In rich countries, studies on the economic impact of domestic violence often focus on public resources but in lower-income countries, where public services are weaker, studies concentrate more on the personal and household costs.

For example, one study in Vietnam found survivors of abuse spent roughly the equivalent of a quarter of their income on dealing with the repercussions of domestic abuse.

Duvvury, director of the Centre for Global Women's Studies at the University of Galway in Ireland, said there had been “an explosion of research” in this area.

Although the studies are not comparable as they use different methodologies, most put the cost at 1% to 2% of GDP — roughly equivalent to what many low-income countries spend on primary education. But with domestic violence widely underreported, these estimates may be conservative.

Many women suffer abuse for decades, afraid to speak out for fear of being stigmatised or blamed. In some places, spousal violence is even tolerated. The noxious effects often ripple through to the next generation, disrupting children's education and restricting future opportunities.

SINE HOPE'S STORY

Hope's violent partner was already costing her money before the attack that put her in a wheelchair. She lost several contracts when he picked arguments before meetings with clients.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation estimated the overall cost to Hope and her brother to be about R1.66m so far.

Hope, who is now largely bedridden and needs a full-time carer, said her health insurance, medication and carer's wages come to R10,800 a month. She has also paid legal fees and she would like to buy an electric wheelchair to get around.

Over her lifetime, she could lose about R10m in potential income, not taking into account inflation or pay rises. If her brother had completed his degree he could have been earning around R240,000 a year.

Duvvury says governments can ill-afford to ignore domestic abuse — not least, because a failure to tackle it undermines investments to cut poverty in lower-income countries.

“That actually interests governments more than simply saying it's [costing] 2% of GDP,” she said.

Experts say wealthy countries could also save money by investing in earlier and more targeted intervention.

STUDIES INFLUENCE POLICIES

Putting a price on domestic violence can help convince governments to act when they are not persuaded by human rights arguments alone, said Melissa Alvarado, UN Women's expert on ending gender-based violence in Asia.

“It often does take additional evidence to lay out the case and say, 'Look at how violence against women is costing ... all of us',” she said.

Alvarado said such studies had influenced policies in Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor and Australia, among others. In Vietnam a 2012 study led to greater investment in healthcare for survivors and created better awareness of the wider ramifications of domestic violence.

Australia, New Zealand and Ireland are among a handful of countries that have introduced leave for survivors.

Colombia offers companies financial incentives to hire women affected by violence, while Brazilian companies must protect jobs for six months if survivors take time off.

Domestic abuse not only leads to increased absenteeism but affects timekeeping and concentration, reducing productivity, with the perpetrators affected as well as the survivors.

One survey in Papua New Guinea found every staff member lost over 11 days of work a year because of violence, with one firm alone losing an estimated 26,200 days annually.

Some larger companies are starting to look at the role they can play in addressing the issue. A recent survey by UN Women of 22 of Britain's biggest companies found many offered support including flexible working, special leave and financial aid.

CAROLINA RAMIREZ'S STORY

But for the vast majority of women, assistance from employers or governments is all but non-existent — something Mexican campaigner Ramirez knows all too well.

Ten years ago, Ramirez, 61, was kidnapped and tortured by her former husband after leaving hospital in Mexico City following a stroke. He held her captive for four days, attacking her with a knife and hammer and cleaning out her bank account.

“I had to rebuild myself from zero,” said Ramirez, who needed surgery for multiple injuries and then had to rent a property near the hospital — 230km from her home in eastern Mexico — so she could continue treatment.

“You get support the first two or three months, but then the donations and help end,” said the former human rights consultant.

Her son, a photographer, and her daughter, a teacher, gave up their jobs and moved to Mexico City to care for her.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation calculated that domestic abuse had cost Ramirez and her children more than 3.92-million Mexican pesos ($232,460) so far.

Ramirez, who now needs a wheelchair, could not work for three years. She eventually resumed part-time work, but worsening health forced her to quit in 2020. She now lives with her daughter and has set up a campaign group to lobby the government to support abuse survivors.

Over her lifetime Ramirez will lose about 4.5-million pesos in potential earnings, according to calculations by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The activist needs another operation but having run out of money, she is selling her last asset to pay for the surgery — a small house she had planned to leave her children.

Her former husband was jailed for eight years and died in prison in 2018. Were he still alive, Ramirez thinks she would have had to spend even more money going into hiding.

“Violence affects your entire environment,” she said. “You lose, your family loses, and everyone around you loses.”

Thomson Reuters Foundation