How the Equal Credit Opportunity Act Transformed Women’s Economic Power

The Need for Legislation

When was the last time you pulled out your credit card? Since the 1950s, Americans have increasingly used credit to accomplish their economic goals, whether purchasing goods and services, starting a business, or buying a home. But until the 1970s, women had far less access to credit than men. Before 1974, in fact, if you were a single woman, you almost always needed your father, brother, or other male relative to co-sign loans for you, even if you made more money than they did. If you were a married woman, you could not obtain credit cards in your own name—you could only get a card as Mrs. Your Husband’s Name. And then, no matter how carefully you paid the bills and managed the account, the credit history accrued only to him. As a result, if your husband died or you divorced, it was nearly impossible for you to obtain a loan. If a couple applied for a mortgage, the bank often ignored the woman’s income in deciding how much they could afford; the bank’s assumption was that if the wife became pregnant, she would leave the workforce and lose her income. Shockingly, to include the woman’s income in the loan application, some banks required couples to produce “baby letters,” in which the woman’s doctor attested that she’d had a hysterectomy or was on birth control and would not get pregnant.

In the early 1970s, women’s organizations gathered thousands of letters from women around the country decrying their experiences with banks and began to ratchet up public pressure. They secured hearings in front of the new National Commission on Consumer Finance in May 1972. New York Democratic Representative Bella Abzug, an outspoken feminist, introduced legislation in the House, but it stalled partly because she was not on the banking committee. Then, a determined Congressional fellow named Emily Card convinced Senator William Brock to take up the call for federal legislation. As a result of her efforts, Congress passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) on October 28,1974, making it illegal for banks to discriminate in lending based on sex or marital status.

The ECOA did not do away with sexist and racist discrimination in banking overnight. As activists pointed out, the relatively weak fines associated with breaking the law and other regulatory decisions made it less effective than some had hoped. In 1976, Congress strengthened the law by adding protections against discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, or receipt of public assistance. Of course, women’s economic concerns—then and now—encompass more than just access to credit. For some women in the 1970s, access to credit was not the most critical financial concern—for instance, on most Indian reservations, there were no banks at all, and like other women grappling with poverty, Native American women were focused on immediate economic needs. Nevertheless, the ECOA represented a significant turning point and a major legislative win for those who sought to address inequities in access to credit, making it easier for American women to exercise financial independence and to build their financial power.

Understanding the Equal Credit Opportunity Act Through Oral Histories

As part of a larger project exploring the concept of independence, oral history interviews were conducted with Emily Card, Jeanne Hubbard, Stephanie Lipscomb, and Rosemary Reed, whose stories show how the ECOA came to be and its impact on women and their relationship to the banking industry. Each of these women discussed the messages they received about women and money growing up, how they came to understand the notion of financial independence, and what steps they took to advance their own and other women’s financial power. Emily Card was uniquely instrumental in the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, funneling the women’s movement’s fury over inequity into pragmatic legislation. Jeanne Hubbard and Stephanie Lipscomb worked at one of the country’s first women’s banks—institutions that set out to help women take advantage of their newfound access to credit. Rosemary Reed relied on that support for her new small business and flourished as an entrepreneur. Each of these remarkable women offer compelling insights into the critical relationship between women, access to credit, and financial independence.

Emily Card

Emily Card arrived in Washington, DC, in 1973 as a legislative fellow in the office of Senator William Brock, a Republican from Tennessee. Not long before, as a young married woman working full time as a university professor, Card had been frustrated when a bank refused to give her a credit card except in her husband’s name—even though he was a graduate student with no income. After arriving in DC, speaking with a staff member at the FDIC, and connecting with the women’s organizations that were organizing around women’s access to credit, Card set out to convince Senator Brock that he needed to lead the way in calling for federal legislation. Using her networks, research, and political skills, Card overcame Brock’s reluctance, helped write the legislation, and was on the Senate floor when it passed. She then went on to run for Congress, write books, articles, and host a television show on women and credit, as well as set up research projects on the topic at Harvard and the University of Southern California. For many years she was considered one of the leading experts on the topic.

Jeanne Hubbard

Jeanne Hubbard grew up in Kansas City, Missouri with her grandmother and aunt, who taught her about the importance of saving and managing her money. She started working in the back office of a bank as a young woman in the 1970s and worked her way up. At the time, she recalls, she would never have been considered for the role of lending officer because “women didn’t do that.” She remembers lobbying bank management to let women staff wear pantsuits instead of short skirts—and winning.

In the 1990s, she became involved with the Abigail Adams National Bank, which had originally been known as the Women’s National Bank in Washington, DC, one of the earliest and most successful women’s banks in the country. Hubbard first served on their board, and eventually becoming the president. She recalls that Emily Womack, the first president of the bank, felt strongly that her first priority was to be a profitable business, and her second priority was to educate women—and men—so that they felt comfortable dealing with their own finances and communicating with bank employees. Barbara Bloom, the second president, also emphasized making the bank a hospitable place for working mothers. Hubbard takes great pride in following in Womack and Bloom’s footsteps and considers women’s banks an underrecognized piece of women’s history.

Stephanie Lipscomb

Stephanie Lipscomb’s father did not want his wife to work. But, while Stephanie’s mother loved caring for her children, she also had a strong desire for some financial independence and defied her husband’s wishes. Stephanie noticed her mother’s attitude, and as a young woman, she, too, enjoyed the freedom that having her own money brought. When Stephanie started working at the Adams National Bank in Washington, DC, she appreciated the flexibility they gave her as a working mother and the ability to bring her children to the bank, where there was a special room set up for employee’s children.

Stephanie became known for her generous and effective counseling to bank customers who came to her for advice, and she saw herself as a connector, helping people, especially women, get access to the kinds of resources they needed. Seeing recently widowed or divorced women who didn’t understand how to manage their own finances shaped her understanding of the importance for women to be educated and competent when it came to money. Stephanie’s father taught her not to give her business to anyone who treated her—whether due to her race or her sex—with anything less than respect. As a banker, she took that seriously, teaching her staff that “in banking, it doesn't matter how much money people have, you treat everybody the same. If they have a dollar, if they have a million dollars, they get the same treatment.”

Rosemary Reed

In the 1980s, Rosemary Reed lost her job when management cancelled the long-running and popular television program she had been producing. With an entrepreneurial spirit, she started her own business and soon was earning more money than she had before. When she needed to upgrade from a typewriter on her kitchen table, she approached a bank in Washington, DC to get a loan for a computer and other new equipment. The bank turned her down, and Reed was infuriated by the poor treatment she received as a single woman, despite her hefty income. Undeterred, Reed used her credit card to buy what she needed. Soon thereafter, a friend advised her to try Adams National Bank, where she was amazed by the number of women who worked there and the supportive reception she was given. Over the years, Reed benefitted from Stephanie Lipscomb’s sound advice and developed a longstanding relationship with her and the bank. Today, Reed pays forward the support she received by mentoring other young women and making sure to pass along all she has learned about managing your money and ensuring your own financial independence.

These four women’s stories offer a glimpse into how central the issue of financial independence is in women’s lives. By sharing their life histories so generously, they show how the ability to exercise agency in one’s life—whether at the beginning or height of a career; whether married or single; whether with great resources or limited income—is profoundly shaped by one’s ability to exercise control over money and make financial decisions. We are deeply grateful to them for all they have done to make a difference in women’s lives and in American history and for letting us listen and learn from their experiences.

Explore the history of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and women’s banks in the United States through podcasts, suggested reading, and more.

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Rachel F. Seidman | READ MORE

Curator of Women’s Environmental History, Anacostia Community Museum