It has become common in financial histories to refer to nineteenth century bankers with he/she pronouns. But rare is a woman that is identified as a banker in the literature. Is this because women bankers have been overlooked or are these 20th and 21st century pronouns of respect covering up the exclusionary misogyny of 19th century American finance? This paper uses a variety of sources to discover if women of this era had anything beyond a minuscule role as managers, owners, employees or customers of financial institutions. I find that only a handful of women managed banks and if they were employed it was usually in menial positions.But, they accounted for a third of the national bank shareholders, owning a quarter of the stock.Women only had a slightly larger presence on the frontier and at the OCC (the federal regulatory agency), which slowly promoted them to more senior positions.
In the context of the Visiting Professorship of Financial History* at Goethe University, currently held by
Eugene N. White (Distinguished Professor of Economics, Rutgers University), we would like to invite you to his lecture on:
Women Bankers in Nineteenth Century America?followed by a discussion.
The Lunch Lecture is jointly organized by the Institute for Banking and Financial History (IBF), the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, the House of Finance (HoF) and Women in Economic History (WIEH) and will take place as a
hybrid event.
You can join
- in person in room E.01 (Deutsche Bank) at the House of Finance, Campus Westend, Goethe-University Frankfurt,
- or virtually via Zoom (the link will be provided after registration).
PD Dr. Friederike Sattler, member of Women in Economic History, will moderate the event.
Please note that a registration is required. The attendance is free of charge.
Please register >>HEREWe are looking forward to welcoming you at our event!
*
The Visiting Professorship of Financial History is endowed by Metzler Bank and the Friedrich Flick Förderungsstiftung.House of Finance, Room E.01 (Deutsche Bank), Campus Westend, Goethe-University, Frankfurt