37 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com real estate Who doesn’t dream of owning her own home? Most of us take it for granted that if we work hard enough, save enough money and keep a good credit score, a mortgage is going to put us on our way to realizing the American dream. But attaining that dream wasn’t even possible for our mothers or grandmothers. That’s because until 52 years ago, it was against the law for women to obtain a mortgage. Even when women began entering the work force en masse in the 1960s, that didn’t mean they would be paid the same wage as men for doing the same job. John F. Kennedy’s Equal Pay Act of 1963 required equal pay for equal work, although in practice that continues to still be a challenge for women in many occupations. But there is even more to the story of women’s struggle on the road to home ownership than lack of income. Lyndon B. Johnson’s Fair Housing Act of 1968 addressed discrimination against certain segments of society, primarily Blacks, when it came to lending practices. In theory, it should have also benefited women, but believe it or not, women who applied for a mortgage back then had to have a male cosigner – her husband, brother or father, even if that man had poor credit or no income at all. And banks could outright refuse to lend to unmarried women. It wasn’t until the women’s liberation movement that started in the late 1960s that women would finally achieve the right to borrow money on their own to purchase a home. In 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, initially spearheaded by the outspoken Democratic congresswoman and prominent women’s movement leader from New York, Bella Abzug, made it Mortgages for Women The struggle for financial independence Bella Abzug working in her office.
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