True Stories #418 - The Women's Bank

The 20th Century saw banks often denying womens accounts and loans, but a group of groundbreakers and history-makers built something new in the Man's World.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm Seth Andrews, and what you're about to hear is
a true story. The majority of the twentieth century saw
the United States having conversations about women in the workplace.
Should they have equal access, equal pay, and respect in

(00:26):
what was so long considered a man's world. And oh yeah,
the banking world was definitely a boys club. Financial resources
for women were pretty pathetic. The stereotype was that women
were too delicate. They were simple homemakers and baby makers.
They could not properly navigate the complex financial world. In

(00:48):
so many ways, it was a whole lot harder for
women to do the basic stuff open a bank account,
apply for a credit card, get alone. It was not
uncommon for banks to require that a woman doing banking
transactions or making financial decisions had to do so in
the company of a male. Of course, these rules were

(01:11):
made by men, and the women who worked for banks
were usually what you would expect, tellers and secretaries. Nineteen
seventy four, Congress passed the landmark Equal Opportunity Act, which
made it illegal to discriminate, including in matters of banking
and credit. But as we all know, ink on paper

(01:33):
does not end discrimination. The New York Times did an
article chronicling cases where women were denied credit because they
were pregnant. Oh, if they had to take maternity leave
from an employer, they wouldn't be making money to pay
the loan. Some bankers would actually ask for verification that
the woman was on birth control. Men Still, men'splained and

(01:59):
manipulated the banking world in their own favor. The first
financial institution, begun by and catering two women, opened in
nineteen seventy five in Manhattan. It was chaotic and its
tenure was brief because the leadership of the bank had
difficulty with vision and mission. Was it an ideology first

(02:22):
institution or was it a money making commercial business. Sure,
the bank did open the doors to women, treat them
as equals, and give accounts and loans to qualified applicants,
but often it would also overcompensate with high risk loans
to unqualified people who would default, costing the bank a

(02:45):
tremendous amount of money. Behind the scenes, there were arguments, resentments, alienations, resignations.
The Manhattan Bank never really found its footing. History would
soon see this rocky start as a growing pain. Manhattan
had cracked open the door yet another enterprise in Richmond,

(03:06):
Virginia was started with a stronger mission, stricter requirements, and
better results. And then, in nineteen seventy eight, a group
of female incorporators, including a businesswoman and the first president
of the Women's Association, Carol Green, and Bonnie and Recopolis,
who was a lobbyist for the National Organization for Women.

(03:29):
They and others started the Women's Bank of Denver, and
the Denver group had learned a lot from the mistakes
of Manhattan. There were hard conversations about those who could
and could not qualify for accounts and loans regardless of gender,
and there were spirited discussions about how to cater to

(03:50):
women without alienating men. Men were a huge part of
the customer base. Discrimination laws applied both ways and fairly.
There were a lot of men who were excited to
be a part of this endeavor to save and transact
and invest through a bank founded by women but meant

(04:11):
for everyone. The institution did have targeted programs for females,
education and investment programs, but the bank was a commercial
business first. To help fund the opening of the Women's Bank,
organizers held a stock sale in April of nineteen seventy eight.
They sold one hundred thousand shares at twenty dollars a share.

(04:34):
They sold out, and only three months later the doors opened.
By the end of its first year, the Women's Bank
of Denver had cemented its place in the city's financial scene, succeeding, flourishing,
surpassing all expectations. As banking would soon become deregulated in

(04:55):
the nineteen eighties, the whole idea of a women's bank
started to fade, aid from public enthusiasm. A whole lot
of people thought, well, the ceilings have already been effectively broken,
there's no longer a need, and so the Women's Bank
would eventually get renamed to Colorado Business Bank. But even today,

(05:17):
inequality is with us. In twenty twenty three, Goldman Sachs
settled a class action lawsuit with two eight hundred women
plaintiffs over discrimination on pay, evaluations, and promotions. And that's
just one recent example. Yet still, for two decades, the
Women's Bank of Denver educated, supported and promoted women, and

(05:41):
its influence continues today. Oh and on that first day
in July of nineteen seventy eight, the day the ribbon
was cuts and the doors initially opened, the first day
deposits at the Women's Bank totaled one million dollars, which
is about five million in today's money. That's big business.

(06:06):
I am reminded of that quote from the late Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Dey O'Connor. She said, as women achieve power,
the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do.
As women see what women can do, there will be
more women out there doing things and we'll all be

(06:27):
better off for it. And the history of the Women's
Bank is a true story. True Stories podcast dot com