Women’s financial freedom: How money has changed in 50 years

From covering living costs to meeting financial goals like getting on the property ladder, money is an essential part of our lives. In 2025, we often take the ability to open up a savings account or have the same earnings as men as a given, but it wasn’t long ago that women were having to fight for these rights.

As we celebrate the 115th International Women’s Day, MoneyWeek takes a look at how money has changed for women, as well as some of the wealth gaps we still face.

Women and money over the years: a timeline

Saving and spending

1975: Bank accounts and credit

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With so much choice when it comes to banking, it’s hard to even comprehend being unable to open a bank account in your own name. Shockingly, this was an obstacle women faced until just 50 years ago.

The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 banned discrimination against women seeking to obtain goods, facilities or services, including loans or credit. Before then, single women would need a signature from their father if they wanted to apply for a loan or credit card.

1982: Be refused service in a pub

Spending your own money at the pub could prove to be a challenge as a woman for much of the 20th century. It was perfectly legal to refuse to serve women in English pubs until 1982, when solicitor Tess Gill and journalist Anna Coote ensured this law changed.

They had been barred from a wine bar for standing with their male colleagues, rather than being confined to the tables. They took the matter to the Court of Appeal, where the ban was overturned in a landmark ruling.

Mortgages

1975: Women were finally allowed to get a mortgage of their own thanks to the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975. Before then, they would often need a man to sign the mortgage application.

Equal pay

1975: It’s been illegal to pay men more than women for doing similar work since December 1975, when the 1970 Equal Pay Act came into force.

Now: Despite equal pay legislation, women in the UK, on average, earn less than men – a phenomenon known as the gender pay gap. Despite slowly declining over time, the gender pay gap for all employees stands at 13.1%, the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data shows.

The pay gap varies by factors such as occupation, region and age – it's larger for employees aged 40 years and over than those under 40, for instance.

Retirement

1986: The Sex Discrimination Act (Amendment) in 1986 allows women to retire at the same age as men.

2024: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) highlighted failings in the way the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) communicated changes to the state pension age for women.

The report recommended 1950s-born women who have been affected by state pension age changes should get compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 each. However, the government subsequently announced a compensation scheme could not be justified.

Now: The gender pensions gap stands at 30%, according to Scottish Widows.

Women retire with £136,000 less than the average man (£205,000), research by NOW: Pensions and the Pensions Policy Institute shows. Women, who retire with £69,000 in pension savings on average, would need to work and save for an extra 19 years to keep up with men.

On average, women spend 10 years away from the workforce to take on caring responsibilities, which amounts to an average of £39,000 in lost pension savings, NOW: Pensions said. Meanwhile, 79% of workers earning less than £10,000 are women. This is the automatic enrolment earnings threshold, which means 1.9 million women in employment aren’t automatically enrolled into a workplace pension, denting their pension wealth.

Maternity leave

1975: The UK introduced its first maternity leave legislation through the Employment Protection Act 1975. For the first 15 years, only around half of working women were eligible.

1993: Maternity leave legislation was extended to all working women in 1993.

Now: Employees must take at least two weeks after giving birth (or four weeks if they are a factory worker) and eligible employees can take up to 52 weeks.

Statutory maternity pay (SMP) can be paid for up to 39 weeks. This is usually 90% of their average weekly earnings (AWE) before tax for the first six weeks, then the lowest out of £184.03 or 90% of their AWE for the remaining 33 weeks.

Despite maternity laws in place, there has been a sharp increase in the number of women who are potentially pushed out of their job when pregnant, during or when returning from maternity leave.

Up to 74,000 women each year now lose their job during these periods, an increase of 37% from 54,000 in 2016, according to new analysis from Pregnant Then Screwed and Women In Data.

A nationally representative sample of 5,870 was extracted from a survey of 35,800 parents to create the State of the Nation report, which found 12.3% of women are constructively dismissed or made redundant whilst pregnant, on maternity leave or within a year of returning from maternity leave.

Joeli Brearley, founder of charity and campaign group, Pregnant Then Screwed, said: ‘’We have long suspected things are getting worse, not better. Our free advice line is ringing off the hook, it has reached a point where we simply cannot cope with demand.”