Although women play a key role in the economy through their household finances and consumer spending habits, they do not trust banking institutions as much as men do. In the United States, this distrust is closely intertwined with women’s sociopolitical positions and experiences.
It wasn’t until 1963 that the Equal Pay Act was enacted, banning same-sex wage discrimination. Nearly 60 years later, the gender pay gap still exists, and is even more pronounced for women of color. In 2024, the United States celebrates 50 years since women gained the right to open credit cards and other lines of credit in their own names without a man’s signature. Other laws on reproductive rights and family law have been enacted since, making it more feasible for women to remain in the workforce on their own terms.
Most of these legal, social, and political milestones for women happened so recently that they’re still fresh in people’s minds, and the problems they were designed to solve still persist, to varying degrees. In fact, research from the Financial Health Network shows that women’s economic progress has plateaued since the turn of the century. Female labor force participation has stagnated, the gender wage gap remains at 82 cents on the dollar, and the gap is even wider for women of color. And wage gaps exist across 98 percent of occupations.
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