The largest growing economic force in the world isn't the China or India -- it's women.

    The earning power of women globally is expected to reach $18 trillion by 2014 -- a $5 trillion rise for current income, according to World Bank estimates. That is more than twice the estimated 2014 GDP of China and India combined.

    For companies, the growing economic power of women would seem an obvious market to capture. But according to a global study by the Boston Consulting Group, women feel at best underserved by companies, and at worst ignored.

    For women, the worst offender is the financial services industry. The BCG survey of 12,000 women in 40 regions around the world found that financial services -- such as providing ibanking, investment and insurance products and advice -- are worst at connecting with female consumers.

    In doing so, the industries risk alienating the greatest growing spending bloc on the planet. Whether in the workforce or not, women are increasingly the drivers of consumer spending. Women globally control $20 trillion in annual consumer spending; by 2014 that could climb to $28 trillion.

    The economic story of burgeoning economies such as China is also the story of "factory girls," young women who have found new spending power as a result of new economic opportunities. Despite the financial crisis, domestic spending in the first nine months of this year was up 15 percent, driven in large part by women under the age of 35, said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group.

    Hidden in the bad news of unemployment in the most recent U.S. labor report was a historic statistic that underlines the growing importance of "womenonics" -- for the first time, the number of working women in the world's largest market was virtually equal to the number of men. By the end of the year, working women in the U.S. are expected to outnumber men.

    That is not to say women have reached workplace parity in the U.S. -- women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar men do. And the ranks of female CEOs are still thin.

    The trouble for women -- be they working women seeking small loans or entrepreneurs trying to attract venture capital -- is a problem of access and information.

    While women in developed markets bemoan disconnect with financial services, in the developing world financial programs aimed to lift families out of poverty are focused on women. Microfinancing gives small, short-term loans almost exclusively to women, because studies show women are most likely to invest in the welfare of the family and -- importantly -- pay loans back on time.

    Even immigrant workers who have a steady income have trouble getting help from banks.

    Last year, cash remittances to home countries from migrant workers was more than $300 billion, according to the World Bank. And even though they make on average less than men, the majority of the cash was from female workers.

    世界上最大的經濟增長動力不是中國也不是印度，是女性。

    根據世界銀行估計全球女性的盈利能力預計到2014年達到18萬億美元--相較目前收入增長5萬億美元。那是2014年中國和印度GDP總額的兩倍多。

    對公司而言，女性的經濟增長力將是努力爭取的可觀市場。但是根據波士頓咨詢集團的一項全球研究，女性感覺受到公司的低下待遇及嚴重的忽視。

    對女性而言，最大的冒犯是金融服務業。波士頓咨詢集團對全世界40個地區的12000位女性的民意調查發現金融服務，例如投資銀行、投資和保險產品及投資建議等--在與女性消費接觸時是最惡劣的。

    這樣做，行業風險與這個星球上最大的經濟開支增長集團越走越遠。無論是否在勞工中，女性是漸增的消費支出拉動者。全球范圍內，女性控制每年消費支出中的20萬億美元，到2014年這個數值將增至28萬億元。

    如中國這樣的新興經濟體的經濟故事中同樣有"工廠女孩"的故事，年輕的女性由于新的經濟機遇成為了新的消費動力。盡管發生了經濟危機，國內消費在本年度前九個月的仍上升了百分之十五，主要是35歲以下的女性拉動的，肖恩雷恩，中國市場研究集團的總裁這樣說到。

    隱藏在近來美國勞工報告失業壞消息下的歷史性統計數字強調了"女性經濟"日益增長的重要性--第一次，世界這個最大市場上職業女性的數量事實上與男性的數量相當。今年底，職業女性的數量預計超過男性。

    這并不是說在美國女性獲得了與男性相等的對待--同樣一份工作女性僅獲得男性工資的百分之七十七。女性CEO的人數仍舊寥寥無幾。

    女性的麻煩是--他們作為職業女性尋求小額貸款或企業家嘗試吸引風險投資--其進入和信息的獲取困難重重。

    當發達國家的女性為與金融服務的"斷路"哀嘆時，發展中國家旨在脫貧的金融項目將目標瞄向女性。微額貸款幾乎是專門為女性提供的小額短期的貸款，因為研究表明女性是最可能投資家庭福利及重要的一點--按時償還貸款。

    即使是擁有穩定收入的移民勞工也很難從銀行得到幫助。

    根據世界銀行資料，去年外出打工人員匯入母國的金額達到超過3千億，.并且即使她們平均獲得報酬少于男性，但資金中的大部分來自女性勞動者。