Financing For Women: The Long Road Towards Equal Opportunity

 by Mary C Wise

 Though nowadays one might think that women and men have the same opportunities when it comes to obtaining credit, truth is that it has not always been so and even today there are still some differences that can put a question mark after the terms: equal opportunity. Nevertheless, a long journey towards equal financing access has been traveled so far and following is a brief history of how women have advanced and obtained almost the same credit opportunities as men.

The Previous Situation

Before the first steps of this journey the women situation on the credit market was null. Not so many years ago, the destine of a woman was attached to her parent till she got married and then to her husband all through her life. In terms of credit there was nothing available for women. The head of the family was the man and only he could request financing from banks and financial institutions. With the appearance of credit cards the situation had already changed but as regards of the rest of the common financial products like personal, mortgage loans and lines of credit, there was a time when these products where not available for women at all.

But it is important to understand that women did not participate of the workforce either and without a legitimate and provable income, credit was and is impossible to obtain. With the industrial revolution and the great wars, this situation changed dramatically and women became part of the workforce thus earning a salary like men. However, they still could not get proper financing because the income of a woman was sometimes lower than half the salary of a man performing the same tasks.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act

Though this situation changed with time, legislation remained the same for many years. The legal and social acceptance of divorce would create the need for credit for women and thus, a new niche for financial institutions. With time more and more women had the need for credit and as usual the financial industry responded accordingly given the possibility of obtaining more revenues. This was also boosted by the fact that more and more women joined the workforce and started obtaining higher salaries that would let them afford the payments on loans and lines of credit.

However, it was not till 1974 with the approval of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that gender discrimination (as well as many other discrimination actions) was completely banned from the financial industry by law. This act states that under no circumstances gender can be taken into account when assessing a person's credit worthiness.

Pending Solutions

Though legislation may have improved, there are still unfair situations that remain unsolved. One of the most important problems as regards to credit access for women is the fact that much of credit qualification depends on the applicant's income and there are still differences between the wages obtained by women and men. Though since 1963 the law guarantees equal pay for equal work, the actual fulfillment of this requirement is still a matter of discussion because it is very difficult to control.



Mary Wise is a Bad Credit Loan consultant and has more than thirty years of experience in finances. She has helped a lot of people to obtain Bankruptcy Loans, home loans, car loans, personal loans and many other products regardless of their credit situation. Learn more about Personal Loans at http://www.badcreditloanservices.com

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