Kerry Washington called out how women are taught to handle money, and we’re listening

Scandal actress Kerry Washington just spoke out about empowering women financially. Needless to say, we’re standing up and cheering with her!On Tuesday, Washington spoke on a panel at the Forbes Women’s Summit. While this might seem a little random, it actually makes total sense.

Kerry Washington is an ambassador for for the AllState Purple Purse campaign. The Purple Purse campaign works to fight financial abuse. Washington was joined by author Janet Mock, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, and journalist Tamron Hall.

Later Washington met Refinery 29for an interview to expand on her message.

According to the Purple Purse campaign, financial abuse occurs in 99% of abusive relationships. This unfortunately makes a lot of sense. Controlling someone’s access to money makes leaving insanely difficult.

Washington encouraged women to become educated and to offer support in the face of this horrifyingly common problem.

Washington put it this way to Refinery 29:

"A lot of times we say, why does she stay? Why do they stay? We know from our work that the number-one reason people stay is because they don't feel like they have the tools to go. And all of us, rather than shaming and blaming, can use our resources to lend a hand to people who don't have access to that information to be able to transform their lives."

Washington goes on to talk about how important financial literacy is for women. While society doesn’t always encourage women to be financially literate, it is essential. Here is how Washington describes it:

"I know how disempowering it can feel to not feel financially literate. Sometimes, as women, we just don’t want to be involved in the details and don’t want to ask the questions. And because it’s not something that we're necessarily taught, we’re not sure if it’s something we should know...but when you can at least give a woman the tools to walk away, then you can start to do that bigger work."

We think it’s so awesome that Washington is speaking out about financial abuse. It’s so cool that is she lending her voice to an incredibly important topic. On top of that, she’s giving supporters concrete steps to take to help. We appreciate her and all her amazing work. We can’t wait to see what else she will go on to fight for!

Learn more about financial abuse and the ways it can harm victims at WomensLaw.org and at the PurplePurse website.