UK wages: survey finds 17% of women are main earner

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/feb/02/wages-women-earnings-childcare

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Nearly one in five women say they are the main breadwinners in their relationship.

A study for Scottish Widows found 17% of women who are in relationships said they earned the most money in their households.

This figure was higher among younger women, with one in four (25%) 25 to 34-year-olds saying that they earned more than their partners. This age group was also more likely to keep their finances separate from those of their partner, with more than half (52%) saying they did not have a joint bank account, compared with 39% of women overall.

The average age when women felt they had became financially independent was 22.

Despite the move towards men and women gaining a more equal footing financially, the survey also found that women still take primary responsibility for providing childcare. Two-thirds (68%) of women with children aged under 18 said they were mainly responsible for caring for them, while two in five (42%) said they had agreed to take a backseat in their careers to bring up the children.

One in four (26%) women with children said that this has negatively affected their progress up the career ladder, and 37% feel it has reduced their financial independence, the survey of more than 2,000 women from across the UK found.

One in six (15%) women who pay for childcare said that more than half of their salary is eaten up by childcare costs.

Jackie Leiper, women and savings expert at Scottish Widows, said: “When Scottish Widows was established in 1815 women were largely excluded from the workforce, couldn’t vote, had no right to their own property – and yet today our research found that the average woman feels financially independent by the age of 22.

“Despite the huge strides that women have taken with their finances, it is clear that childcare remains a significant barrier when it comes to career progression.