"Economists give two reasons: One is based on employment," reports Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "The employment situation has really been better recently for women, and especially single women, and also women tend to spend a higher percentage of their income.

"And what this does is create a greater demand for the things they buy, and that greater demand tends to push up prices faster," he explains.

"Secondly the specific kinds of products that are geared more toward women -- like jewelry, cosmetics, appliances and housekeeping -– they have been rising faster in price than other kinds of products and services," he adds. "So we can say that the inflation rate has been higher for women, and it's really a matter both of demographics and of economics."