Meanwhile, 33% of men are opting to use pensions, compared to just 24% of women.

In the research, of 2,600 UK adults, long-term savings were defined as thinking longer than five years ahead, such as saving for retirement, a deposit on a property or starting a business.

The Family Finance Tracker, commissioned by Scottish Friendly and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), sets out to track how UK consumers are managing their short, medium and long-term financial goals and priorities.

The Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to hold the base rate in September, but with speculation that it could still be cut gradually before the end of the year is out raises the spectre that compounded inflationary drag is likely to disproportionately negatively impact women.

The real term value of money held in savings accounts will be eroded with increasing pace with each cut.

Official government data shows that women are still being paid just 91p for every £1 their male counterparts earn, so are already at a disadvantage when it comes to making their money work for them.

Scottish Friendly’s savings specialist Kevin Brown says: “Women are already having to work harder for their money so it would be a travesty that they then lose out on further building up their hard-earned savings through tax-efficient wrappers and jeopardising future plans as rate cuts start biting.

“Whatever sits at the root of what appear to be gender choices, as an industry and as a socially responsible modern mutual, we need to ensure parity of savings’ growth opportunities.”