Refuge Everyone's talking about the credit crunch and how it will affect us all. But what about the thousands of women who live with their own economic crisis on a daily basis and have done so for years?

Eighty-nine per cent of respondents who took part in a recent survey by Refuge, the national domestic violence charity, told them that 'financial abuse' was a common part of their experience of domestic violence.

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Domestic violence kills two women every week in England and Wales alone. One woman in four will experience physical violence at some time in her life.

But there are other ways in which an abuser can control a woman's life which are just as, if not more, devastating. This abuse includes controlling techniques like taking all of a woman's money, strictly limiting what she is allowed to spend, putting debt in her name and refusing her access to benefit entitlements.

Some of the key themes emerging from the research showed that:

Almost half the sample who had experienced economic abuse reported that their abuser had interfered with their education and employment
Forty four per cent of women who were still 'allowed' to work were harassed by their partner at work and economically exploited by being made to hand over their wages
Just under three quarters of respondents reported that the abuser controlled their access to economic resources through taking control of their bank account and refusing to let them have money of their own
Eighteen per cent of respondents also reported that their partner had forced them to take out loans, credit cards, contract mobile phones in their own name but then denied them access to these items
Forty one per cent of respondents identified economic abuse as having a negative impact on their emotional health
Forty one per cent of respondents who had experienced economic abuse reported being economically dependent on the abuser and feeling a total loss of control
The majority of the women and children experiencing economic abuse who were interviewed were what the Government considers to be financially excluded, with around one in three of the respondents accessing Refuge's domestic violence services, not having a bank account (compared to one in twenty national average)

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A guide to help women cope with financial abuse