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There was a time when the ordinary woman's only path to wealth was a good marriage. But research today suggests that not only is she now rather adept at generating her own money, she is actually better at it than her male counterpart.
In fact, according to Barclays Wealth Management, women millionaires will outnumber their male counterparts by 2020. The report indicates that by then 53 per cent of millionaires will be women, as the number of female entrepreneurs and business people continues to grow
More than four fifths of women with investable assets of more than £100,000 have generated their wealth from earnings and business ownership, while inheritance and divorce are becoming less important sources of wealth.
"While the more traditional drivers of wealth still play a part, they are no longer the dominant forces they once were," said Amy Nauikas, managing director of Barclays Wealth.
The survey reveals that female investors are more risk-averse than men, who are more likely to invest in hedge funds, derivatives or private equity. "Women are more thoughtful and purpose-driven when it comes to investing, whereas men tend to look for income and growth," she said.
Many British banks have started to court the new breed of rich women, whom they claim have different investment needs than their male counterparts.
Royal Bank Coutts is running fashion evenings and networking events to attract women, while the fund manager Nicola Horlick launched a brand specifically for women in 2005.
The Barclays survey also showed that the old cliché that money can't buy you happiness could be wide of the mark - 80 per cent of women with assets of more than £500,000 agreed that money had bought them greater happiness; plus more leisure time, better health and even greater job satisfaction.
Women's growing economic power is reflected in the increase between 2006 and 2007 in the number of women featured on The Sunday Times Rich List, which grew from 81 to 92.
A recent study from Datamonitor, an independent research company, found that the gap between the wealth held by male and female millionaires was narrowing significantly. In 1998, the average male millionaire in the UK was worth £2.71 million, while the average female millionaire came in at £1.28 million.
By 2006, women had caught up considerably, with the average female millionaire worth £1.97 million compared with £2.96 million for men.
A recent list of the top 100 entrepreneurs in Management Today magazine showed that record numbers of women were making multi-million-pound fortunes from starting their own businesses.
One in four of the people on the list were women, a 25 per cent increase on the number included when it started in 2004. If this trend continued, the magazine said, women could beat men to be becoming the most successful entreprenuers in Britain over the next few decades.
Many women have succeeded in business after giving up work to become mothers and then founding "kitchen table" companies that fit in better with their lifestyles. These "Kitchen Table Tycoons" have set up businesses with annual sales of nearly £4.5 billion, according to the London School of Economics.
A famous example is Friends Reunited, the website dreamed up by Julie Pank-hurst in 1999 when she was expecting her first child. She set up the site because she was wondering what her old school friends were doing. The business was recently sold for £175 million.
Nearly three quarters of those who started a business after they gave birth did so when their child was less than two years old. These "mumtrepreneurs" often start baby-related businesses such as childminding or baby goods businesses. Other popular sectors include marketing, accounting and web design.
Emma Harrison, 43, founded the training and skills company A4E 20 years ago. It now has revenues of more than £100 million, while her personal fortune is estimated at £55 million.
She says being a woman in business can be difficult. "I've faced incredulity in the past and I've faced sneers, especially from the City boys," Mrs Harrison says. "It is getting better, though.
"When women go into business they often do it because they are following an utter passion, or they do it just to survive. None of them do it expecting to make any money. Money is what comes when you follow the passion and do it right."
Mrs Harrison, who lives in the Peak District and has four children, says that having money has given her "opportunities and choices".
"I always say that I could still make a bad choice," she says. "It has given me the chance to do things. I have choice and flexibility, and we have a nanny. Of course that gives me happiness."
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