Austerity measures hitting women harder than men

While 41% of men feel the UK economy is in recovery, only 28% of women feel the same, as revealed in Mind the Gender Gap, JWT’s seventh quarterly report.

Almost half of women ( 46%) reported having less than £50 in their bank accounts at the end of month compared with 38% of men.

Perhaps unsurprisingly a greater proportion of women than men were dissatisfied with the government’s measures to manage the economy – 58% of women compared with 47% of men. And more than three quarters of women ( 77%) said they have to make financial sacrifices to make ends meet ( 69% of men said the same).

JWT’s Austerity Index uses five consumer metrics: standard of living; surviving, not thriving; restricting spending; difficulty saving; and six month outlook. Consumers select a score out of ten on each metric where a high score indicated greater severity. Full details of the report and methodology can be found here.