The Financial Impact of Gender-Based Violence in BC
When women experience gender-based violence, it impacts their safety, health, relationships, finances, living situation, work and sense of self. The impact on an individual is far-reaching, infiltrating many aspects of their daily lives.
The impact of gender-based violence on our communities is similar. It reduces labour productivity, destabilizes families, and increases pressure on health care, policing, justice and housing sectors. We also know that gender-based violence affects our economy, so we decided to look into just how significant that financial impact is.
The Cost of Inaction: Measuring the Economic Impact of Gender-Based Violence in BC, conducted by economist and public policy expert Robin Shaban through funding from The Houssian Foundation and SPARC BC, revealed gender-based violence costs BC $1.12 billion each year. As data on gender-based violence is extremely limited, this is a conservative estimate, and the costs are likely much higher.
While prevention has its own cost, it’s significantly less. Our report shows that community and social programs aimed at preventing gender-based violence average $1,000 per person, compared to $15,000 per sexual-assault investigation. That amount doesn’t even cover costs to legal systems, health care, employers or survivors themselves.
The provincial government did acknowledge gender-based violence is an epidemic and systemic crisis last fall. But when Budget 2026 was released earlier this year, no new funding was allocated to address it. With communities and governments facing challenging economic times, investing in prevention instead of reaction to gender-based violence is a smart financial decision.
At YWCA BC, we support survivors of gender-based violence through many of our programs and services. We offer safe transitional housing, child care, employment programs, legal assistance, mentorship, support groups and so much more. We’re also passionate about advocating for systemic change to address gender-based violence at its root.
For more information about our report and how you can support our advocacy work, contact Shauna Shortt at sshortt@ywcabc.org or 604 613 2485.
