When Serena Williams speaks, it’s clever to pay attention. Whether or not Williams is preventing for equality on the tennis courtroom or sharing the story of her traumatic childbirth and postpartum expertise, the 23-time Grand Slam Champion—arguably the best dwelling athlete of all time—is well-known for her unapologetic advocacy. It’s no shock that Williams has partnered with the Allstate Basis’s Purple Purse initiative for the third 12 months in a row to boost consciousness about monetary abuse in relationships.

When requested why she signed on to be an envoy for this trigger, Williams cited the excessive prevalence of monetary abuse in home violence. Though actual numbers are laborious to return by, Purple Purse estimates that 99 % of home violence entails some financially abusive habits. “That was such an extremely excessive quantity,” Williams tells SELF. “It’s mainly all instances [of domestic violence] .”

Monetary abuse is a sample of financial actions that should management and intimidate a associate, based on Purple Purse. These actions can embrace operating up a associate’s credit score rating (which may make it troublesome for them to do issues like get hold of housing), controlling their spending habits, and even intentionally sabotaging employment or academic alternatives.

“It’s actually vital to know the indicators and educate your self,” says Williams, who notes that she’s realized an amazing deal by assembly with monetary abuse survivors and supporting a good friend by way of an abusive state of affairs. “In case you see them attempting to deal with your accounts, or attempting to resolve the place it’s best to spend cash, or asking you for receipts, these are actually huge indicators and pink flags.”

It’s additionally vital to know that monetary abuse typically happens alongside different types of home violence. In a small 2018 examine from the Institute of Girls’s Coverage Analysis (IWPR) that surveyed 164 individuals dwelling in shelters throughout 11 states and Washington, D.C., 70 % of survivors had handled no less than 5 varieties of abuse, together with monetary, bodily, sexual, and emotional, together with stalking.

With that mentioned, monetary abuse is commonly a serious cause why individuals stay caught in cycles of abuse. In that IWPR survey, 73 % of respondents cited monetary difficulties as an element that drove them to both stick with their abusive associate or return to the connection. “Monetary causes had been the primary cause [survivors we surveyed] both hadn’t left or had to return,” Cynthia Hess, Ph.D., performing co-president at IWPR, tells SELF.

These monetary obstacles don’t simply magically occur—they’re intentionally perpetuated by abusers in order that they’ll hold their companions in a dependent state of affairs. Nearly each facet of bodily eradicating your self from a home violence state of affairs requires cash. Whether or not it’s shopping for a bus ticket out of city or attempting to safe an condominium, an individual’s monetary autonomy immediately impacts their skill to start out a brand new life outdoors of an abuser’s grasp.

The extra we communicate out about patterns of abuse, the extra we are able to create pathways for survivors to get the assistance they want. Being vocal about these matters actually does matter in relation to pushing for change. In a 2018 public opinion survey of 1,840 American adults over age 18 carried out by Purple Purse, 70 % of respondents thought latest tales about harassment within the office may create a domino impact of types, prompting much more individuals to share their tales. The identical might be true for monetary abuse.