Household roles have altered dramatically in the last 50 years and new research suggests the rate of change my soon accelerate further.

National Savings & Investments has published the findings of its study into savings in the period 1957 to 2057, which analyses past trends and anticipates the future of finances in UK households.

It concludes that major household decisions will generally be made by women in 2057, due to higher earnings and basic social change. Already, men make the major decisions in just 20 per cent of households, down from 22 per cent in 1992. The proportion of women having the final say on big decisions increased from ten per cent to 12 per cent in the same period.

The proportion of households in which women make the big decisions will exceed the proportion in which men are in control by 2020, the report adds.

Women in the UK currently earn an average of £1,080 a month, which compares to £1,486 a month for men. Significantly, however, younger women are closing the gap at pace, which suggests wage equality is not a million miles away.

In 2000, women in their 20s earned a wage equivalent to 93 per cent of the average male wage, but this has now reached 96 per cent. The NS&I report predicts that women in their 20s will have actually overtaken men by 2015.

William Nelson of the Future Foundation observed: "In 2007, we are seeing the emergence of a generation of women who are better educated, more ambitious, and more financially confident than any before them. This generation is already more likely to handle day-to-day financial matters than their male partners, and demands to have at least an equal say in the big decisions."

Dax Harkins, NS& I's senior savings strategist, added: "Women have a stronger hand to play than in the past, and will be the key decision makers in many households within a generation."

Interestingly, however, a recent report from the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) concluded that gender equality "is still generations away". Unlike the NS&I report, the EOC predicted that the pay gap would take 20 years to close. The pensions gap is seen as even more insurmountable, with the EOC expecting gender inequality for another 45 years.

© Adfero Ltd