Part polemic, part practical guide about how the world favours men financially, and what we can all do to even the balance

Money gives us freedom. It may not buy us happiness, but having it allows us to make choices…

The choice to live where you want. The choice to do what you love for work. The choice over how you spend your free time.

But what if you knew that you would earn less than your male counterparts for the rest of your life? Today, being a woman means that you will. Few of us ever talk about it, but great economic inequality still exists between men and women.

• There is no country in the world where women collectively earn as much as men. - Globally only 34% of managerial positions are held by women. - Only 1p in every e1 of venture capital funding goes to start-ups run by women. - Research has even found that financial advisors encourage female clients into lower risk, and therefore lower return, investments in the belief that they can’t handle the risk. - In many countries tampons and sanitary pads are seen as taxable ‘luxuries’. - It has been found that women ask for pay rises at the same frequency as men, but are 25% less likely to be given them.