Men's violence against women is a widely recognized problem that has recently received considerable political and social attention. Previous studies show that one in three women are subjected to violence by a man in a close relationship at some point in their lives, regardless of class, religion and ethnicity. Economic violence is a less recognized form of violence, yet one with serious consequences, both long and short term. This study aims to examine how social workers identify economic violence in their encounters with clients, as well as whether traditional gender roles and conceptions of gender affect the conditions for identifying economic violence. The study consists of ten qualitative semi-structured interviews with social workers in financial assistance. The empirical data revealed that there are several aspects that make it difficult for social workers to identify economic violence. Lack of time affects the conditions for actively working on the issue of economic violence. Similarly, gaps in knowledge about economic violence due to inadequate education, both at university level and in professional life, is something that social workers perceive as a challenge regarding identifying economic abuse. The empirical data also highlights how notions of gender roles can affect social workers' ability to identify economic violence. Norms about the division of responsibilities in the home and subconscious thoughts about gender hierarchies provide space for a normalization process that makes it difficult for the woman and the social worker to detect the violence. Most of the participants admit that they have their own bias about gender, thus making it visible and raising awareness of how these can affect the assessment of what is economic violence or not.

Economic violence is a relatively unexplored subject even though it is often a part of occuring intimate partner violence. Therefore it is of concern to acknowledge how the swedish social services’ take part in this form of violence in their work. By law the swedish social services’ are the responsible authorities for victims of intimate partner violence to seek help and support. Although according to previous research on the subject, women feel like receiving help from the social services is not always an option for them. Women often feel powerless in meetings with a person of authority. This study aims to gain knowledge of the support given by the social services to women who are survivors of domestic abuse and further focus on economic abuse. There is also an understanding that non profit organizations (NGO’s) are a big contributor to helping survivors of domestic violence even though the law states the responsibility lays on a government body. Responsibility for the victims will therefore be another focus for further understanding of why NGO’s have taken on a helping role in society. A result from qualitative interviews on the subjects, with social workers from seven different municipalities, shows that there is a great variation between how social workers take on this kind of issue. The knowledge and experiences with handling cases of economic abuse vary between the different municipalities. Often the size of a municipality and lack of resources is a significant factor to what kind of help the municipality can offer. Working with and helping women who are survivors of economic abuse is complex. The social services and women shelters both work to help and try to find solutions for the problem.

Kommuner kan ha olika rutiner vad gäller utbetalning av ekonomiskt bistånd som på olika vis kan påverka jämställdhet och våld i nära relationer. Det råder även ett begränsat forskningsläge kring utbetalningsrutiners påverkan på dessa faktorer. Därför ville vi med hjälp av denna studie undersöka vilka erfarenheter socialsekreterare besitter av och hur de resonerar kring att utbetalningsrutiner kan påverka jämställdhet och våld i nära relationer. Utöver det ville vi även undersöka socialsekreterarnas handlingsutrymme gentemot dessa rutiner. Även om socialsekreterare i vissa situationer vill handla i enlighet med klientens bästa kan de nämligen hindras av olika rutiner och riktlinjer. I denna kvalitativa studie har vi intervjuat sex socialsekreterare från tre olika kommuner och data har bearbetats genom en tematisk analys. Resultaten visade att samtliga socialsekreterare hade svårt att se hur eller om deras utbetalningsrutiner kunde påverka våld i nära relationer samt att handlingsutrymmet varierade beroende på vilken utbetalningsrutin som tillämpades. / Municipalities have different routines regarding payments of financial support which in different ways can affect equality and intimate partner violence. There are also limited studies about payment routines effects on these factors. Therefore, we wanted to investigate social workers experiences and reasonings regarding the effects payments routines can have on equality and intimate partner violence. We also wanted to investigate social workers discretion to these routines. Although social workers in certain situations want to act in the clients best interests, they can be limited by different routines and guidelines. In this qualitative study we have interviewed six social workers from three municipalities and the data has been processed through thematic analysis. The results showed that all social workers had difficulties seeing how or if their payment routines could affect intimate partner violence. It also showed that the discretion varied depending on what payment routine they were using.

Among all the types of violence against women the economic abuse does not always appear that often in the context of domestic abuse. Previous research interprets and categorizes economic abuse as physical violence and controlling behavior and is not distinguished for what it can imply for the life of the woman. Men’s economic abuse against women can therefore affect women’s life in a lifelong and/or life sacrificing way. The aim of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of social workers experiences of men’s economic abuse against women in heterosexual relationships and which consequences it may have for the women. The study is based on eight individual qualitative interviews with social workers and women shelter employees, both with and without a bachelor’s degree in social work. The empirical findings have been thematically analyzed with Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of gender system as a foundation. The result shows that the connection between the theory of gender system and men’s economic abuse against women, forms for example in gender contracts. The result also shows that social workers' experiences are that abused women suffer from multiple consequences of economic abuse, even after a separation, which can have lifelong negative impact for women as victims of violence.  The gender perspective is useful in social work, to understand and interpret men’s economic abuse against women, and to prevent reproducing these systems. It is also important to acknowledge the consequences, for women, that emerge after the separation to create a stronger safety network for women that have been victims of men’s economic abuse.