When it comes to managing the family finances, women are increasingly taking control or ensuring their influence is at least equivalent to their husband's, according to research released today.
Men continue to be the principal breadwinners in the vast majority of Britain's 17.4 million families, the report from Norwich and Peterborough Building Society says.
But of the 16 spending categories studied, families said that decisions on 13 of these were made jointly.
These were likely to be on major outlays such as the cost of moving house (85 per cent), holidays (78 per cent) and family treats such as days out (67 per cent).
However, in cases where the family financial decisions were not made jointly, women took the lead in no less than 13 of the 16 categories.
These include choosing how the budget was spent on garden plants and accessories (32 per cent), decorating and furnishings (32 per cent), pets (27 per cent) and children's pocket money (30 per cent).
Typically, in the absence of joint decision-making, men chose how the family would spend its income on electrical goods (29 per cent), cars (32 per cent) and DIY (36 per cent). More parents within a family used a joint account for all their expenditure and did not worry who paid for what expenses when using it.
However, 16 per cent preferred to have a joint account as well as their own accounts for personal expenditure and six per cent said the main income earner gave them an allowance to cover family costs. Organising and planning family savings was also a joint exercise, with 44 per cent of people seeing it as a collaborative effort.
However, women (35 per cent) were more likely to take responsibility than men (12 per cent) for this if a sole decision maker was needed.
Almost one in five families never saves money, the researchers found.
Gary Lacey, the group product manager at N&P, said: "Although men are generally the main income earners in a family, it is fascinating to see that most financial decisions are actually made jointly by both the mother and the father.
"Indeed, this puts the myth of the father as the financial head of the family to rest.
"In addition, while men rarely appear to have the final say in matters of finance, women often step up to make the day-to-day decisions with regards to spending on their homes and children. "This may be due to the fact that they are the main care givers or - possibly - because mother often knows best."
The study was based on responses from 630 people surveyed in January and February this year.
Don't be bl**dy ridiculous ! women have ALWAYS controlled the family finances, it's just that men haven't always realised it.
Oh sweet, I remember my ex wife taking control of our finances. She got a higher paid job than me and complained that she wasn't getting to spend the money. I agreed to let her run the finances and four weeks later I got my one and only phone call from the bank manager - we were over our overdraft limit of 1000 pounds! Have a guess who had to go cap in hand to a friend for a temporary loan?
I think woman does control the finances better. Look at the finance minister! Darling definitely isn't the best control. Mr Brown! You should replace Darling with a woman....maybe your wife who feeds you well.
One year after we married we agreed to have a joint account. Since then I have taken care of our every day expenditure, banking etc. Major financial decisions to do with the house, car, savings and so on are made jointly.In 2009 we will celebrate our golden wedding - fifty years of mostly financial harmony, so at least for us it has worked.
Perhaps I can help Sarah Womack. Main findings: "Men are generally the main income earners in a family." "More parents within a family used a joint account for all their expenditure and did not worry who paid for what expenses when using it." In other words, it is as you would expect, and - nothing new here. This article is just another bit of spin by a feminist dinosaur.