Home > features > The 21st century: How can The Rich Lady ride the financial tides?

The Rich Lady making her way through the ups and downs of today's financial market must keep her wits about her and her business acumen ahead of the game. But what does it take for her to stay ahead? Has the gender gap narrowed this side of the 20th century as much as had been hoped, or does fiscal inequality still abound for the modern woman?

According to recent research from Cambridge University, women are still working longer hours and for less money than men - yes, this sounds all wrong! Taking into account household and childcare duties, little appears to have changed for women across Europe since 1991.

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In Britain, Germany and France, women were still reckoned to be taking on the majority of work in the home, and had a longer working week at an average of 68 hours, while the average European man's stood at 55 hours.

Lead researcher Dr Burchell told the Scotsman: "Because women are rarely the highest earners in the household, there seems to be an economic rationale for making them responsible for domestic duties."

Outrageous, we hear you cry! According to recent government stats the gender pay gap has reduced by almost five per cent over the last ten years to 12.6 per cent. But that's still 12.6 per cent too much says The Rich Lady!

So if women are still being paid less, but working harder, surely all the more reason to ensure that she is financially savvy with her cash?

But with the recent instability in the financial markets and the resultant credit crunch, what does the future look like? Is The Rich Lady safe to spend or should she be investing? It looks like the world economy is not in the clear yet. International debt markets have slumped and analysts predict that 2008 could be a difficult year for the British economy.

But it isn't all bleak. The credit crunch appears to be making cheap credit for British consumers increasingly hard to find, but it's likely to be only those with bad credit ratings that will really suffer, so making sure your credit rating is A1 is advisable, said Alex Barnett, a spokesperson for Halifax.