Simon Read: Women may be more sensible with money, but why?

Last week the charity Debt Advice Foundation warned that more women than men are likely to apply for personal insolvencies this year.

Women accounted for only 30 per cent of insolvencies in 2000. By 2011 (the latest figures available) that number had risen to 49 per cent.

There could be several reasons for that massive jump, but chief could be the continuing gender pay gap with women consistently being paid less than their male counterparts.

So I was interested to read research from Equifax which suggested that women worry more about their finances than men as well as being more concerned about losing their job and the impact it could have on their finances.

Because women have smaller average incomes, are they being forced to focus more on their finances to eke out their comparatively paltry wages? Or is there a gender divide over approaches to money? I'd be interested to hear your view.