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Equal Credit Opportunities for Women!
In 1920, US women succeeded in their fight for voting right for women. They did not stop on getting equal voting rights for all US citizens, regardless of gender. They continued the campaign for women's rights. The past fifty years became a breakthrough in the US civil society in terms of equalization of men and women rights.
Now men and women can work at the same positions, get equal salaries for the same work, and have equal credit opportunities. Let's make a retrospective journey into the history of how women achieved their goals in the fight for equal rights, concerning labor conditions, wage levels and credit opportunities.
These days a woman driving a car she took out a loan for is what you can see every day. A woman paying with a bank card for goods and services is a pretty common phenomenon. Now women are free to apply for any credit offers they want - cash back cards, offers with low interest, fee free cards, etc. But it has not always been this way. Just few decades ago women could not even dream about qualifying for a credit card or some loan. What were the origins of this problem?
Income plays a crucial role when it comes to lending decision. Wage rate is inseparably linked to person's credit opportunities. Until the 1960s, women didn't have the same carrier opportunities and could not get as well-paid job as men could. This fact was the determinative factor women got rejected in loans. 1963 has become a turning point in women's right associated with sexual discrimination in the context of work opportunities.
The Equal Pay Act, ratified in 1963 abolished wage differentials based on sex. In other words women finally could get equal pay for equal work. The law accepted in 1968 forbade placing help wanted ads specifying the gender of the potential employee.
It was a big step towards men and women equality. But it did not change the situation concerning credit opportunities dramatically. Women still could not apply for credit individually. Lenders and credit companies regarded them as integral part of their husbands' creditworthiness. Women could not take out a loan or credit in their own name. All they had access to was their husbands' accounts.
When divorces became more common, more and more divorced women faced a problem of starting to live a financially independent life. But in 1974, as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act came into force, women got more credit opportunities. The act prohibited discrimination in terms of credit opportunities based on a person's marital status, age, race, religion, gender, ethnic background, and some others. But it took some time for the new law to become common practice.
The credit opportunities women have now are the result of years of fight for women' rights and the development of our civil society. Now women can just apply online for any type of bank cards, like balance transfer, airmiles cards, etc. in their own name. They just need to choose the best card to fit their needs and make sure they qualify. The fair sex can take out car loans and qualify for their own mortgages. Women these days can even take out business loans and obtain business credit cards in their name.
A modern woman can do everything - from giving birth to a baby to managing a large corporation.
Comments
thankx god! now we can have separate credit accounts and earn and spend money the way we like! actually, it's so hard to believe that some time earlier women were like slaves for their husband, without a right to even express their opinion. this is really sad..
