One of the highest-paid charity heads has urged schoolgirls to take charge of their money and know their financial worth when they start work.

Rather than relying on a man as a breadwinner women should earn their own high salaries, Cheryl Giovannoni, chief executive of the Girls’ Day School Trust, told head teachers.

Ms Giovannoni, a former advertising executive, earned £273,680 last year, up from £266,400 the year before.

At the trust’s annual conference in London she said head teachers should tell girls: “Managing your money — getting it, spending it, investing it, and not relying on someone else to provide it — is a life skill every woman needs.

“Taking charge of your finances is vital if you are to have control of your own destiny.” She quoted Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 86, the US Supreme Court justice, who said: “Be the lawyer your mother always wanted you to marry.”