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.

    世界上最大的经济增长动力不是中国也不是印度，是女性。

    根据世界银行估计全球女性的盈利能力预计到2014年达到18万亿美元--相较目前收入增长5万亿美元。那是2014年中国和印度GDP总额的两倍多。

    对公司而言，女性的经济增长力将是努力争取的可观市场。但是根据波士顿咨询集团的一项全球研究，女性感觉受到公司的低下待遇及严重的忽视。

    对女性而言，最大的冒犯是金融服务业。波士顿咨询集团对全世界40个地区的12000位女性的民意调查发现金融服务，例如投资银行、投资和保险产品及投资建议等--在与女性消费接触时是最恶劣的。

    这样做，行业风险与这个星球上最大的经济开支增长集团越走越远。无论是否在劳工中，女性是渐增的消费支出拉动者。全球范围内，女性控制每年消费支出中的20万亿美元，到2014年这个数值将增至28万亿元。

    如中国这样的新兴经济体的经济故事中同样有"工厂女孩"的故事，年轻的女性由于新的经济机遇成为了新的消费动力。尽管发生了经济危机，国内消费在本年度前九个月的仍上升了百分之十五，主要是35岁以下的女性拉动的，肖恩雷恩，中国市场研究集团的总裁这样说到。

    隐藏在近来美国劳工报告失业坏消息下的历史性统计数字强调了"女性经济"日益增长的重要性--第一次，世界这个最大市场上职业女性的数量事实上与男性的数量相当。今年底，职业女性的数量预计超过男性。

    这并不是说在美国女性获得了与男性相等的对待--同样一份工作女性仅获得男性工资的百分之七十七。女性CEO的人数仍旧寥寥无几。

    女性的麻烦是--他们作为职业女性寻求小额贷款或企业家尝试吸引风险投资--其进入和信息的获取困难重重。

    当发达国家的女性为与金融服务的"断路"哀叹时，发展中国家旨在脱贫的金融项目将目标瞄向女性。微额贷款几乎是专门为女性提供的小额短期的贷款，因为研究表明女性是最可能投资家庭福利及重要的一点--按时偿还贷款。

    即使是拥有稳定收入的移民劳工也很难从银行得到帮助。

    根据世界银行资料，去年外出打工人员汇入母国的金额达到超过3千亿，.并且即使她们平均获得报酬少于男性，但资金中的大部分来自女性劳动者。