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The survey found that 77 per cent of women surveyed would prefer a new plasma television to a diamond solitaire necklace and 56 per cent prefer it to a weekend trip to Florida.

'People make the assumption that women are not as advanced as men when it comes to technology and I was surprised at the parity men and women now have in terms of technology," Geraldine Laybourne, chairman and chief executive of Oxygen Network, told Reuters.

Gadgets and gizmos have traditionally been considered as 'boys' toys', but that no longer appears to be the case. Of the 1,400 women and 700 men aged 15 to 49m questioned, women were found on average to own 6.6 electronic devices while men owned 6.9.