Economic abuse: Coercive debt of Arab-Palestinian women in Israel

Abstract

This article focuses on coercive debt, a form of economic abuse inflicted on women belonging to an indigenous-national minority by their partners/ex-partners. Coercive debt isolates and controls women, making it difficult for them to build a life free of their abuser even after separation, and impeding their ability to meet basic needs, such as housing, employment and amenities. Through a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in 2022 with Arab-Palestinian women in Israel, along with an analysis of several legal cases ( n = 21), we uncovered the mechanism, dynamics, and implications of economic abuse manifested as coercive debt from the women’s subjective perspective. Our findings were then examined against the backdrop of these women’s multiple positions of marginality, vulnerability, and civic exclusion due to their belonging to a minority group. This study enhances the understanding of the predicament faced by minority women in coercive debt, shedding light on the specific difficulties and barriers they encounter.