AFP Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer

Women have overtaken men and now control more than half of all U.S. wealth and will likely take an even bigger piece of the pie in coming years, a new study has revealed.

About 51 per cent, or $US14 trillion, of American personal wealth is now controlled by women, according to the Bank of Montreal’s Wealth Institute. The Canadian bank also expects them to control about $US22 trillion by 2020.

“Women have made incredible strides in the past fifty years and the wealth and power they hold will only increase in years to come,” Mary Jo Herseth, National Head of Banking, BMO Private Bank, said in a release touting the study.

This sea change has come as women have also moved to fill 52 per cent of management, professional and related positions in the country, according to BMO.

Moving up the ranks has made women the primary breadwinners in 40 per cent of U.S. households yet they only earn 78 cents for every dollar when compared with men, according to the study.

Women-owned businesses now account for 30 per cent of all privately-owned enterprises, employing 7.8 million Americans, BMO found.

The rise in female wealth has also come as major stock indices have recently traded at all-time highs while the rest of the country struggles to recover from the wreckage of the Great Recession.

The S&P 500 is up over 200 per cent since 2008, Bloomberg noted in a recent report. The index’s growth has outpaced wage gains, especially in an economy where McDonald’s raising hourly pay to $US9.90 an hour generated headlines.

NOW WATCH: 5 Things Women Do Wrong When Asking For A Raise



Business Insider Emails & Alerts Site highlights each day to your inbox. Email Address Join

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.