The financial fallout of a divorce hits women much harder than men, according to a new report.

In the aftermath of a break up, men were found to be more likely to make contributions to a company pension and a savings account.

The Fawcett Society research revealed that unmarried men and women save an average of £100 per month, while married women make similar contributions.

However, married males pay in 50 per cent more, at an average of £150 a month.

Men were also more likely to be part of a pension scheme, with 72 per cent making provision for their retirement compared to 68 per cent of wives and 54 per cent of single people.

Five years after a divorce, savings levels among men were higher than before the break-up, while women took a decade to reach a similar position.

The Fawcett Society campaigns for gender equality. It was set up in 1866 and led the female suffrage movement.

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Divorce 'costs wives'

Thursday, 15 Nov 2007 12:57

The breakdown of a marriage has a bigger negative financial impact on women than on men, a new report has claimed.

Large financial inequalities that exist within couples grow when relationships are dissolved, according to the Fawcett Society.

The organisation, which campaigns for equality between women and men on a range of issues, claims men are likely to have higher savings and greater private pension provisions than their female partners.

It says such differences are magnified when relationships end, with men financially recovering from the impact of a failed marriage more quickly than women.

The study published by the Fawcett Society, based in part on a fresh analysis of the British Household Panel Survey, finds unmarried men and women both contribute an average of £100 a month to savings.

Within married couples women also contribute an average of £100 a month to savings, but married men save £150 for a rainy day.

Married men are also reported to hold individual savings amounting to an average of £8,000, compared to £5,000 for married women.

Among those whose relationships have broken down, the report found that 36 per cent of married men and 34 per cent married women were saving in the year prior to their divorce.

But a year after their divorce, just 28 per cent of women were putting away money – compared to 32 per cent of men. Five years on, 42 per cent of divorced men were saving but the report claims that it took the women studied ten years to reach a similar position.

In addition the gender savings gap, the difference between the average amounts saved by men and women, was also found to greater among divorcees. Married men save around 36 per cent more than their wives, according to the report, but men who are separated from their partners save 87 per cent more and divorced men save 41 per cent more than women in the same position.

The study also claims married men are more likely than their wives to pay into a company pension scheme and the birth of a first child has more of an impact on the savings of new mothers than fathers.

Commenting on the results of the report, Fawcett Society director Dr Katherine Rake said: "Most couples would say that they want to be equal partners and yet we have further evidence here that where money is concerned, there is still a big divide."

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