This year the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report about preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women. The 102 page report addressed the magnitude and risk factors of intimate partner and sexual violence against women. But the report also studied current strategies that are used to prevent violence against women. The findings may surprise you.

The strategies were grouped by what the WHO referred to as life stage. Meaning they studied strategies developed for child...

What is domestic violence? If we look at the definition put forth by the CDC it says there are four main types of intimate partner violence (domestic violence), physical violence, sexual violence, threats of physical or sexual violence and psychological/emotional violence.

The WHO (World Health Organization) has similar definition “behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psycholog...

Recently The Toronto Star interviewed me for an article that appeared in that newspaper today. During the interview we talked about my life but the reporter, Trish Crawford, was also interested in why financial literacy skills are so important for women.

I told Trish financial literacy is especially important for women who are in abusive relationships. Having bank accounts and credit cards in their own name is their safety net to be able to leave the relationship.

The abuser controls the ...

I was interviewed yesterday by a reporter who seemed surprised that I was a victim of domestic violence. It was clear the reporter had a picture of what a domestic violence victim “looks like”. The picture the reporter had was of a low income woman who may also be on public assistance. As a Wall Street executive I didn't fit that picture.

Well I was abused and so many other women who have been and are being abused are just like me. Women who have successful careers are no less immune to ...

Survivors of domestic are resilient. I have always believed that and so does Professor Kim Anderson of the University of Missouri. Professor Anderson suggests that we work with survivors to help them recognize the strength and resilience they learned from their situations.

For years The Business of Me has worked with survivors to identify their strengths and use those strengths to help move the vision they have for their life forward. We call this part of the program “Values Assessment”...

Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is   (www.jumpstart.org) a non-profit coalition that has an interest in advancing financial literacy among students in pre-kindergarten through college. Since 1997 Jump$tart has administered surveys to high school seniors regarding financial literacy. The survey has 31 multiple choice questions. During 2008 they administered the survey and the average score was……….47.5%.

Our children are failing financial literacy. This is a disast...

Do you have a plan for how you want your life to be? Or are you wandering through life fantasizing about how you wish your life would be?  

For years I wandered through life fantasizing about how I wished my life was different “from the hell I was living”. All I had were dreams and dreams don’t become a reality. I had to do something to make my dreams a reality.

It was not until I wrote down my vision (my dreams) for the life I wanted that I was then able to do something about it. Th...

Most people think physical abuse is far worse than emotional abuse. Yes, physical abuse can send the victim to the hospital but the scars of emotional abuse can last for years. Many of you know I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome shortly after I left my ex-husband and was in therapy for 10 years.

A woman may not be physically abused but if she is emotionally abused – she is being abused. Even if she may not acknowledge it, emotional abuse is abuse.

A woman is emotionally ...

When I left my ex-husband I was 39 years old and during our marriage he dominated the family finances. I was a vice president with a Wall St. insurance company and I would turn over my earnings to my ex-husband who gave me an allowance that I had to account for. I did not even have my own checking account until I left him.

The abuser controls the finances as a means of control over the victim. Women arrive at shelters bewildered and scared and so many don’t even have a credit card or any ...