In 1974 women were given the right to have their own credit card. It is only in the last 50 years that women have been free to control their own spending decisions.
Although women in Canada could open a bank account without their husband's signature beginning in 1964 if they wanted a credit card they could be subjected to a battery of intrusive questions like whether they were married or planned to have children.
If a woman was married she could get a credit card along with her husband but......... if she was single, divorced or widowed she had to find another man to cosign her credit card application form.
Woman using a credit card in the 1970s- photo from IBM
Women were treated more like children who weren't capable of controlling their own money or making their own decisions about their personal finances. It was a way to keep them under a man's control.
I need to remember that within my lifetime women were excluded from having personal control of their finances. Women's current financial independence should not be taken for granted. It is a right that requires vigilant protection.
In some places in our world women's rights are moving backwards instead of forwards and we must never assume that couldn't happen in Canada too.
Other posts..........
May 24th An Important Day for Canadian Women
Complementarianism
Way Ahead of Their Time
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