This year as we celebrate March as Women’s History Month, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of when women could get credit cards in their own names for the first time. The Fair Credit Opportunity Act was passed in 1974.
Under this law, it became illegal for financial institutions to discriminate on the basis of gender, as well as race, religion, and national origin. Lenders could not ask women if they were married. Women had the right to get checking accounts, bank loans, even credit cards.
Today women have more credit cards than men. Experian tells us that women average 4.5 credit card accounts compared to men with 3.6. There is no significant difference in credit scores.
Research from American University shows that women tend to use debt like credit cards to buy necessities, especially when they have financial downturns. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to buy luxury items with their cards.
Credit cards and banking rights haven’t been the only financial hurdles women have faced in America. Prior to 1848, a woman could not sign legal documents like contracts. She could not own property, even if it was inherited. Her assets belonged to her father, and then transferred to her husband when she married.
In 1848, Congress passed the Married Women’s Property Act, which allowed women to enter into contracts. Women could also receive inheritances and keep that money separate from husbands’ financial obligations and debts.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott’s call for social and legal changes led to the passage of the Married Women’s Property Act. The two met in 1840 at an anti-slavery convention in London. They were excluded from the proceedings – as were all women. They became great friends and, in 1848, organized the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. This is considered the beginning of the women’s rights movement.
Fifteen years ago, Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear Tire, where she worked as a supervisor for nineteen years. When she neared retirement, she learned that she was being paid thousands less than male colleagues in the same position with similar seniority and experience. She filed a sex discrimination case against Goodyear, and initially won her case. The lawsuit eventually was appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled against her because she did not file suit 180 days from the date of the discriminatory policy that led to her being paid less. Therefore, in 2009, Congress passed legislation that restarted the 180-day clock every time a discriminatory paycheck was received.
Even after the Lilly Ledbetter Act was passed, women in the United States who work full time, year-round are typically paid only 84 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts, according to the National Women’s Law Center. This gap means women on average earn $9,990 less per year. This has improved significantly over the last two hundred years, but the fight for women’s financial rights is still ongoing.