This week, multiple outlets – including The Washington Post and The New York Post – ran an article from The Associated Press claiming ...
This week, multiple outlets – including The Washington Post and The New York Post – ran an article from The Associated Press claiming 70% of millennial women have been “financially abused” by a romantic partner.
Such a high number of a form of abuse most people don’t even think about should set off alarm bells immediately. The survey mentioned in the article is also from 2017. It was created by CentSai, which bills itself as an “online financial wellness community” geared toward millennials. The outlets that ran the story, written by NerdWallet writer Kelsey Sheehy, did not link to the actual survey, instead including a link to CentSai’s press release about the survey.
That press release claims the survey “found that almost two-thirds (60%) of millennials surveyed reported that a romantic partner used money to manipulate or gain power and control in a relationship” and that “Just as many (60%) said a romantic partner had either lied about money, or hid money or debt from them.”
An additional “Seventy-eight percent (78%) said financial institutions have a responsibility to educate consumers on the issue.”
The survey questioned 2,000 millennials aged 18 to 35, but nowhere in the press release does it say what questions were asked of participants. And that’s where the real story lies.
The press release states that the “survey asked about specific relationship behaviors that constitute financial infidelity or abuse.”
We’ve seen this playbook before. The statistics that claim 1 in 5 or 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 women have been sexually abused during college use the same tactic. Instead of asking participants if they have been sexually assaulted, they ask broadly worded questions and then use the responses to claim women were sexually assaulted. The respondents may not believe they were sexually assaulted, but that doesn’t matter to those pushing the numbers.
Without knowing exactly how the questions in the financial abuse survey were worded, we have no clue what women were responding to. CentSai did not respond to multiple Daily Wire inquiries for the raw data, and an email to Sheehy also went unanswered.
There are hints to what the questions may have asked in the Press article and in the press release.
Given the statistics mentioned above, a question may have simply asked respondents if a romantic partner ever neglected to tell them about their debt. In a marriage or relationship heading toward marriage, that may be a problem, but couples in non-serious relationships don’t exactly have a right to know about someone else’s financial troubles, and many people don’t want to share their troubles. It might not be abuse, but fear that holds someone back from telling another that they are facing crushing debt.
The Press article suggests financial abuse “can run the gamut from subtle to egregious.”
“It might look like a partner who can’t keep a job or pay their share of the bills. Or one who makes you feel guilty for spending your own money,” Sheehy wrote. “But it could also be a partner who offers to handle the household finances, then gradually restricts your access to those accounts.”
As with the sexual assault survey, not all of those behaviors can equally be considered “financial abuse.” People may go through a hard time and a series of jobs in a short amount of time that may be due to circumstance rather than behavior. A family emergency might make it difficult to pay the bills one month or two. Perhaps the person made a really ill-advised purchase and that’s why their partner made them feel guilty.
The fact is, we don’t know, and surveys like this don’t care beyond the headline-generating responses.
Most likely, the vast majority of the respondents answered “yes” to questions asking if a partner ever neglected to tell them about their debt or shamed them for a purchase, rather than answering “yes” to questions about partners opening credit cards in their names and defaulting on the accounts.
A final note. CentSai’s 2016 survey found half as many millennial women indicating they had been financially abused by a partner. That survey found that “Men were more likely to be both the perpetrators and the victims of financial abuse and infidelity.”
The next year, the survey was reworked, and voila, women are the victims and the media actually covers the survey… eventually.
Surveys like this are not designed to highlight an actual problem. They’re designed to get media attention and portray women as victims.
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