That's according to a report on the financial damage perpetrators unleash on women victim-survivors, which found a 9.4 per cent employment gap between those who experience economic abuse and those who do not.
University of Technology research led by feminist and journalist Professor Anne Summers showed the career toll sets in early, with a 15 per cent difference between university attainment rates by the age of 27.
The report sounded the alarm on women being pressured by partners to quit work or reduce hours as 704,000 victims aged between 18 to 64 are in the workforce, which is equivalent to about three in five.
"Whichever way you look at it, many women are paying a huge economic price in addition to the physical, emotional and psychological damage done to them by domestic violence," the report said.
"It is no accident that employment and education - the pathway to better employment - are targeted by perpetrators as a prime means of depleting or even destroying women's ability to be financially self-sufficient."
Some 44 per cent of victim-survivors struggled with household expenses and just over a quarter sought financial help from loved ones, compared to seven per cent of women who hadn't experienced that form of violence.
Women took an average of 31 days off work after suffering abuse, while drops in full-time employment often last at least five years.
The Cost of Domestic Violence to Women's Employment and Education report was based on data from 2021-22 and funded by the The Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Immediate action must be taken in workplaces and universities to address domestic violence, Prof Summers said.
"Too many women are being forced to choose between enduring violence or leaving and facing severe economic consequences," she said.
"Women are forced out of their jobs, made to work fewer hours, earn less money, and are less able to provide for themselves and their children if they leave the violent relationship.
"Employment and education are not just tools for empowerment, they're lifelines."
Recommendations included boosting supports for university students who experience violence, raising awareness of 10 days of domestic violence leave entitlements, more direct cash support for women escaping violence and embedding employment services within refuges.
Some one in six women and one in 18 men have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from a current or former partner by the age of 15, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare based on 2021-22 data.
It's similar to rates of economic abuse, which affects one in six women and one in 13 men.
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