British women control the purse strings

It is not just in household finances that British women hold their own: they also own more investments, such as stocks and shares, than women in the eight other countries polled, including Japan, the United States and France.

The results were welcomed last night by prominent businesswomen as a sign of how far women had come in their battle for financial autonomy.

But equality campaigners yesterday warned that the gains would always remain "fragile" as long as women found it difficult to combine maintaining a job with caring for the young and elderly.

The study by the market research firm Synovate surveyed 3,821 women in the US, Brazil, the UK, France, Romania, Saudi Arabia, China, Singapore and Japan last month.

Researchers found a startling difference in women’s attitude to money and the amount of control they had over it.

In almost all categories, British women showed a strong individual streak.

About 92 per cent of women in the UK said they had an equal say in the purchase of an important item such as a car or property - ahead of 87 per cent in France, 78 per cent in America and 55 per cent in Japan. In Saudi Arabia the figure was just 11 per cent.

When it came to individual purchasing power, British women also led the way: 80 per cent of women said they could buy what they wanted without asking their partner for money, compared to 64 per cent of French women, 38 per cent of Americans and 28 per cent Japanese.

In stark contrast, American households were the most likely to share the finances, with three quarters of women holding joint bank accounts with their partners, compared to 68 per cent in the UK and 69 per cent in France.

Dave Skelsey, of Synovate, said the UK was leading the way in terms of independent women. He said: "UK women are among the more independent women and less dependent on husbands for money.

"The US is more of a joint approach and I think some of the other countries are more geared towards at least paying lip service to the males holding the purse strings."

Julie Hall, the president of Glasgow-based business networking organisation Scottish Women in Business, said women had always been capable with money, but a patriarchal society made it difficult to actually be involved in controlling finances.

"At one time - a long, long time ago - women just did not know anything about what was going on in the finances and unfortunately for some of them, if anything happened to their partner it left them in a very vulnerable situation."

Now, Ms Hall said, women with families kept their own bank accounts in order to retain independent spending power.

She said: "Women want to be independent - they feel more secure with their own finances. They do want to have to keep on asking for money.

"It is important for the future. You can plan a bit better if you both know what you are doing."

Ms Hall said women set up their own businesses or worked to ensure financial independence, but pointed out women were still not earning as much as men.

"I think in most cases the man earns more than the woman. We are still not there with regards to equality on pay."

Rowena Arshad, the Equal Opportunities Commissioner for Scotland, said women earned 15 per cent less than men and 30,000 women a year within Britain were sacked, made redundant or had to leave their job just because they had become pregnant.

She said: "Our decision makers remain overwhelmingly male. Women are still the main carers for children or elderly relatives and still struggle to find well paying part-time jobs that allow work to be compatible with childcare. Sadly, for older women the situation is worse, with the income of older women being half that of older men."

Ms Arshad called for measures to ensure women and men could combine care with employment.

"While it is certainly positive to see that such a high percentage of British women feel that they are financially independent, we suggest that for many of these women, real independence remains fragile.

"This independence can change when they face different family situations such as pregnancy or having to care for an elderly relative."

Mr Skelsey said women still needed to become more knowledgeable about pensions and the financial markets.

Although six out of ten women disagreed that men were more financially savvy, only 26 per cent were actively saving for their retirement. Three-quarters said they would not use a financial professional to develop a formal financial plan and more than half did not follow financial news.

From an early age, I wanted to be able to look after myself financially

FOR Sandra Benn and her partner, "what’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine".

The 38-year-old president of the Association of Scottish Business Women bought a house in Musselburgh last year with her partner of four years, Grant Devine, 34.

But both have kept their own flats to rent out and although they have joint accounts for household expenses and holidays, they also keep their own accounts.

Ms Benn continues: "We definitely make financial decisions together and have an equal say in them. But by the same token, once those joint things are decided what’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine.

"I do not question what he spends his money on and he would not question me."

Ms Benn works in the business marketing department of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which she joined after school. Mr Devine is an area manager for the bank.

She said: "My own background is that my parents divorced when I was quite young, so my mum had to bring up myself and my two sisters herself. That meant she had to find a job that meant she could work during school time but holiday during holiday time - it meant working in the evenings.

"So that meant from a very early age I always wanted to make sure that I was financially able to look after myself."

Now she pools her money with her partner for holidays around the world and putting money aside to retire early, but keeps her own account for personal use.

"It is not like a big secret - I know what he earns and he knows what I earn. It is all very open.

"But I like the fact that if I go out shopping - if I want to buy something, it’s my money. I do not have to account to anyone else for that decision and he likes the same."

Like many of her female friends, Ms Benn has investments in stocks and shares.

"I do not know what happened in the past but opportunities are now there if you want to take on something more responsible and increase your earnings and have more flexibility. Women are keen to become independent and with that comes financial independence."

But, unlike many, she has a pension.

She added: "I think most people know that by the time they come to retire there will not be a state pension but whether they are in a position to do much about that just now...

"When I talk to my friends they are not telling me they are putting money away for their retirement."