More women perceive themselves as holding the household’s purse strings in Singapore compared to a year ago.

Some 67% of the female respondents of a Mastercard survey in Singapore saw themselves as making the major financial decisions for their households, compared to 46% in 2009.

The survey was conducted with 200 women and 200 men in Singapore between 1 October and 9 November 2009.

In Singapore, the female household financial decision maker is typically aged between 31-45 years old (38% of respondents) and working (84%).

Findings from the survey also revealed that 51% of female decision makers intend to maintain the same level of savings in the first half of 2010 as in the last six months. Almost forty percent of them said they want to save more.

At the same time, 57% of these women said they plan to maintain the same level of discretionary expenditure in the first half of 2010 as in the last six months,
while 17% said they would increase their expenditure.

“Women continue to maintain strong tertiary education enrollment rates and play a key role in the labor force. Many families in Singapore are dual-income households where women share the financial responsibility of supporting the family. As such it’s only natural that more women see themselves as the major financial decision maker in their households,” said Julienne Loh, vice president and Country Manager, Singapore, MasterCard Worldwide.

In terms of their purchasing priorities, the purchase of white goods (83% of respondents) is the top priority, followed by dining and entertainment (72%) and fashion and accessories (56%).