The cost of living crisis has disproportionately affected women’s finances and their ability to withstand the potential impacts of a recession, new research from Quilter has revealed.
The findings showed that 36% of women would not be able to afford their everyday expenses should the UK enter a recession, considerably higher than the 26% of men who reported the same.
Men were also shown to be much more likely to consider themselves to be financially resilient to a recession should one materialise.
Just over a fifth (21%) of men said they were in a better financial position than they were last year and their current finances and earnings would allow them to manage their daily expenses should the UK enter a recession. Just 15% of women expressed the same sentiment.
Quilter said the cost of the living crisis appears to be putting greater pressure on women’s finances than the pandemic. More than three in ten (31%) women said that they are in a worse position financially than this time last year, versus 25% of men. This compares to 21% of women who said they were financially worse off at the end of 2021 than they had been the year prior, compared to 18% of men.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 40% of adults said that affording their rent or mortgage payments was difficult and over a quarter (27%) of households reported that they did not have enough savings to cover a 25% fall in household employment income.
Angela Davy-Makwana, financial planning consultant at Quilter, said: “Our research paints the picture that women are disproportionately facing considerable financial pressures because of the cost-of-living crisis and are fearful of the prospect of a recession, with a third reporting they are in a worse position financially than this time last year. The UK has so far narrowly avoided a recession, but we are not out of the woods yet and it is concerning that more than a third of women feel they would not be able to afford their everyday expenses should one materialise.
“Though it is positive that the government is exploring the impact the cost-of-living crisis has had on women, more must be done to ensure that women feel financially secure. For those who are feeling the strain of the cost-of-living crisis and are concerned about the prospect of a recession, it is important to act sooner rather than later when it comes to assessing your finances and taking steps to improve them.”
Davy-Makwana said making small changes, such as creating a budget to help people get on top of things or putting more money aside each month wherever possible to build up an emergency rainy day fund can make a big difference to financial security.
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