This article is dedicated to my grandma who started her own tax business in the 1950s.
When I set out to create this blog, I knew that I would be taking up space as a woman in an industry that not only is dominated by men but that women were intentionally kept from participating in for most of history.
During World War II, over six million women started working outside the home in the U.S., making up 37% of the workforce by 1945. However, a woman couldn’t have her own bank account until the 1960s, and even then, women didn’t have the ability to fully control their own finances until 1974 with the passing of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Before that, women’s access to money was almost entirely through men—their husband or, if they weren’t married, their father.
In 1967, businesswoman Muriel Siebert was the first woman trader to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and she went on to also be the first woman in charge of an NYSE member company. Often called “the first woman of finance,” Siebert criticized white men for relying on the way things had always been done. She said, “men at the top of industry and government should be more willing to risk sharing leadership with women and minority members who are not merely clones of their white male buddies. In these fast-changing times, we need the different viewpoints and experiences, we need the enlarged talent bank. The real risk lies in continuing to do things the way they’ve always been done.”
Geraldine Weiss, otherwise known as “the grande dame of dividends,” started an investment newsletter in the 1960s called “Investment Quality Trends.” Like many women writers before her, she concealed her gender by publishing the newsletter under the name G. Weiss so she could ensure that it would be taken seriously by men. It wasn’t until 1977 when she appeared on the talk show “Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser” that her identity as a woman was revealed (what a badass!). AAII created the Weiss Blue Chip Dividend Yield screen from the strategies outlined in her 1988 book “Dividends Don’t Lie.” You can read more about Weiss’ investing strategy and how the screen works here.
Fast forward to today, 51% of women are now in charge of their household’s finances, but 63% still wish that they could know more about investing and financial planning. The wealth and income gaps between men and women still exist (and are even worse for minority women, with Black women holding a college degree making 38% less than white women without one), and along with them comes the historical burden of the financial literacy gap. Women made up only 24% of finance leadership roles as of 2021.
Source: “2021 Women and Investing Study,” Fidelity Investments.
Though women of any age or career stage can be judged based on their gender, young women likely get the most resistance when trying to enter the world of finance. I stumbled across an article about Lauren Simmons, who just out of college at age 22 became the youngest woman trader on the NYSE. She was also only the second Black woman to have such a position. She went on to start a streaming series called “Going Public” that chronicles the journeys of several company founders as they raise money for an initial public offering (IPO).
Despite everything working against women when it comes to money, women are often touted as better investors than men. An article by Lara Coviello and Daniel Crosby states, “In a nutshell, women tend to exhibit more self-control in their spending and have a more disciplined approach to investing, while men are more likely to invest based on gut instinct, and therefore make less rational decisions when it comes to managing their assets.”
Of course, not all women and men will fit this bill, but the numbers don’t lie! In the same article, the authors note that “Women trade 23 percent less frequently than men, but, on average, women outperform men by 1.3 percent more during bear markets.” An article from Merrill cites other advantages women have when it comes to investing including being patient, choosing a “balanced investing approach” and not being afraid to ask questions.
To any women who haven’t started investing yet, the odds are stacked in your favor. Just occupying space in the world of finance as a woman is an act of protest against systemic oppression, the rest is up to you!
More financial resources for women:
- Financial Feminist podcast
- Ellevest
- The Budgetnista
- Clever Girl Finance (read my book review here)
- Women’s Institute for Financial Education (WIFE)
- Women’s Bond Club
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