Women and money- chalk and cheese or peas in a pod?

The demographic I am part of, and the geographic area I live may be skewed, but every couple I know (our age), the women are in charge of household finances. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule, but in the circumstances where finances have joined, it seems to be the girls in charge of the everyday cash, bills, and banking**.
This is in contrast to times gone by when the "men" were the dominant financial force in the home, being the breadwinner.

However, women are still facing domestic issues such as "Should women keep a secret money Stash?"
In our situation I would say M is more in need of one than I am LOL. But perhaps for some women it would be an idea?
A key concept in this article, Financial Questions Couples Should Ask, is that sole responsibility or anything in the home should not fall to one person. Should that person die unexpectedly, their spouse should have an idea of how that affects their finances.
Unfortunately, while a good article, it focuses on retirees, one example being of a woman whose husband dies, leaving her with no idea how to manage the money. This is precisely what I DON'T think will happen with our generation of women.

Perhaps I'm the one who looks after our money simply because I had more of an idea of how to run a "budget" going into our relationship. The book I'm reading right now, Your Money, Starting Out and Starting Over, by Anita Bell (in the sidebar) is actually the second in a series. Several years ago I read the pre-cursor to it, which is called Your Mortgage, How to Pay it off in Five Years (by a woman who did it in Three). It would be as many as 5 years ago, and I was working at Coles at the time, a little worker bee plodding along wasting my money. It was recommended to me by a friend, even though neither of us had mortgages, nor would we in the forseeable future, because it was a great starting block.

I read it, worked out a budget, filed the information I think, and promptly blew through probably more than $70, 000 in three years (I was living at home, few expenses, lots of clothes, shoes eventually and jewelery when I worked in a Jewelery store)
I always had the money lessons in the back of my head, but didn't really think they were hugely relevant for the most part.

Then I decided to move out, and decided to get serious with managing my money, as I didn't want to be the kind of person that didn't have money for rent. That was when my budgeting lessons really hit their stride, and I've been operating with them every since. I just had to tweak my spreadsheet to include M's income, add a few more expenses etc etc, but its essentially the same. I never ever worry about paying our bills, loans, or mortgage, having money to buy gifts at Christmas, getting my hair done or the car needing a service.
The only thing I worry about is we *should* be saving more of the bit thats left over.

In fact its so easy now, I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it this way!?!

**...this of course does give rise to the idea of the boys being "under the thumb" as they have to ask their WAG's for or about money. Which is of course ridiculous. Mostly it seems to happen because they never know how much money the couple have for the week/month!