# Women? With credit cards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331 "2021-01-24T00:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ALOHA\_HATER](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@ALOHA\_HATER](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALOHA_HATER)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/1 "2021-01-24T00:28:23Z")
I understand in the past it was common for the wife/homemaker to hold the purse strings, manage the budget, write the checks. Man went to work, wife handled money. Husband complained about his “allowance.” But apparently women weren’t able to get a credit card easily or on good terms until the 70s. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/2 "2021-01-24T00:34:28Z")
The wife had a credit line at the local stores - she bought stuff and an individual bill from each store came to the household for the husband to pay at the end of each month. For stores that didn’t provide credit, the wife had cash (from her allowance for expenses). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/3 "2021-01-24T00:36:22Z")
And yes, it was an administrative hassle for the stores that provided credit - which is why they liked the idea of credit cards, once they existed (credit cards weren’t common for anyone to have, man or woman until the 1970s). ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/4 "2021-01-24T00:55:28Z")
What year was it when Wilma and Betty were shown with credit cards? (Chhaaarrge It!) (Oh, I remember, it was 26,560 BC. Thanks!) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/5 "2021-01-24T01:07:28Z")
I don’t think those were credit cards (general purpose cards that could be used in many stores) - they were “charge plates” - one per store [https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-collectible-coins-charge-plate-1264/](https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-collectible-coins-charge-plate-1264/) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/6 "2021-01-24T01:16:52Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > (credit cards weren’t common for anyone to have, man or woman until the 1970s). Late '60s to very early '70s, but yes. What we’d recognize as a “use it anywhere” credit card, on which you could carry a balance, started in 1958, when Bank of America launched BankAmericard in California. But, the idea didn’t take off nationally until the latter part of the 1960s, when BofA licensed BankAmericard (which eventually became Visa) to other banks in 1966, the same year that the competing Master Charge (which became MasterCard) was launched. Both brands grew rapidly, in part due to “unsolicited drops” (i.e., mailing people credit cards for which they had not applied), and by 1970 (when those unsolicited drops were outlawed), there were apparently over 100 million such cards in the U.S. > **[Credit card | BankAmericard and Master Charge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card#BankAmericard_and_Master_Charge)** > > Until 1958, no one had been able to successfully establish a revolving credit financial system in which a card issued by a third-party bank was being generally accepted by a large number of merchants, as opposed to merchant-issued revolving cards accepted by only a few merchants. There had been a dozen attempts by small American banks, but none of them were able to last very long. In 1958, Bank of America launched the BankAmericard in Fresno, California, which would become the first successful re... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/7 "2021-01-24T01:45:04Z")
To get back to the OP’s question: > [@ALOHA\_HATER](#): > > I understand in the past it was common for the wife/homemaker to hold the purse strings, manage the budget, write the checks. Man went to work, wife handled money. Husband complained about his “allowance.” I’m not certain how accurate or widespread this actually was. While many married women were, certainly, responsible for managing household expenses, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they controlled the checkbook; my understanding is that, in many cases, it was the husband who had the ultimate control over the family’s finances, and he was the one who gave his spouse an “allowance” to spend on household necessities. The reality, as I understand it, is that, up until the 1970s, not only did most married women not work outside the home, but most banks would not deal with them on their own – the base assumption that banks used was that, for a married couple, it was the husband who not only made the money, but was in charge of it. [This article](https://www.oneadvisorypartners.com/blog/the-history-of-women-and-money-in-the-united-states-in-honor-of-womens-history-month) notes that: > [@](#): > > In the 1960s women gained the right to open a bank account. Shortly after, in 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed which was supposed to prohibit credit discrimination on the basis of gender. Before its passage, many banks granted credit cards to women only with their husbands’ signatures and outright refused to issue them to unmarried women. We had a recent thread here, in which several women noted their own difficulties in dealing with banks in the 1960s and 1970s, even to the point that a single woman buying a home needed to have a man (presumably, her father) to act as a co-signer. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/8 "2021-01-24T07:05:53Z")
[This commercial](https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/set/item/155) from New Zealand is when I first learned about credit cards. It came out in 1981 when I was 11. Before then, though I’m sure they were around, they were somewhat mysterious and I guess intended for business people, which was not my family. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/9 "2021-01-24T09:46:26Z")
According to an article by the BBC, " The first credit card was the Diners Club Card, created by businessman Frank McNamara in 1950, after an occasion when he did not have enough cash to pay for dinner". In the 70s Barclaycard started actively promoting credit cards for women. I clearly remember this ad… .[(1) Bikini Barclaycard, 1960’s - Film 18783 - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gDnVFi2Uig&ab_channel=HuntleyFilmArchives) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/10 "2021-01-24T16:50:38Z")
Both Diners Club, and the American Express card, which was introduced in 1958, weren’t technically credit cards — they were _charge_ cards. The terms get used interchangeably sometimes, but the distinction is that, with a charge card, you are expected to pay off the entire balance every month. (In that way, they were similar to the retailer-specific charge cards of that era.) With a credit card (the term “revolving credit” was often used back then), the cardholder can carry a balance over billing periods, on which interest is charged. Diners Club and AmEx were originally targeted towards businesspeople, for them to use during business travel, and for entertaining clients — they were (and are) sometimes called “T&E” (travel and entertainment) cards for this reason. It wasn’t until BankAmericard and Master Charge became widespread in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s that many people had access to revolving-credit cards which were accepted by multiple retailers. ---
**Author:** ![FriendlyCurmudgeon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friendlycurmudgeon/32/5786_2.png) [@FriendlyCurmudgeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendlyCurmudgeon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/11 "2021-01-24T16:57:17Z")
> [@ALOHA\_HATER](#): > > But apparently women weren’t able to get a credit card easily or on good terms until the 70s. What gives? That was about the time in history where reliable and safe birth control was available, which allowed women to enter the work force. That’s what gave. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/12 "2021-01-24T17:07:31Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > According to an article by the BBC, " The first credit card was the Diners Club Card, created by businessman Frank McNamara in 1950, after an occasion when he did not have enough cash to pay for dinner". I knew I read this somewhere: The Executive Vice President of Diners Club was Matty Simmons of “National Lampoon” fame. I believe he was on board from the start. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/13 "2021-01-24T17:40:12Z")
When did grocery stores start accepting credit cards? I seem to remember it being quite late (like fast food places). If not using cash, a married woman would use checks with both her name and her husband’s name on them. Until electronic verification came into wide use, cards were largely the domain of department stores and gas stations. (I remember the carbon paper and bad card number booklets from my days as a pump jockey in the early 1980s.) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/14 "2021-01-24T17:45:55Z")
In 1987 some grocery stores in the Washington DC area accepted credit cards and others did not. Five years later they all did. I don’t know what the situation was earlier than 1987 because I lived on the other side of the world. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/15 "2021-01-24T19:45:27Z")
I grew up in the 60s. My mother wrote checks for the groceries (and often overdrew the account, but the bank didn’t bounce them. My father had a business account there, so they just honored the check and billed him (not sure of if there were fees). She also had charge plates for the big department stores, thought they were too far away to go to often. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/16 "2021-01-24T20:15:43Z")
> [@ALOHA\_HATER](#): > > I understand in the past it was common for the wife/homemaker to hold the purse strings, manage the budget, write the checks. Man went to work, wife handled money. Husband complained about his “allowance.” But apparently women weren’t able to get a credit card easily or on good terms until the 70s. What gives? I have heard about a similar stereotype in Japan: [http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/drink/sneaky-salarymen-how-japanese-office-workers-scheme-skim-and-deceive-their-wives-847104/](http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/drink/sneaky-salarymen-how-japanese-office-workers-scheme-skim-and-deceive-their-wives-847104/) > **[Why Salary Men Get An Allowance From Their Wives](https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/okozukai)** > > Where salary men get their money. But as far as I can tell, paying with plastic is not a problem in Japan anymore like it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/17 "2021-01-24T21:43:07Z")
I remember asking my mother why she didn’t always use a credit card, because then she wouldn’t have to pay for something. (I think I was five or six.) When she got through laughing, she explained how credit cards worked. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/19 "2021-01-24T23:26:39Z")
When I was a teenager in the early 60s my mother would, effectively, shop online - the telephone line that is. She would phone her orders to the butcher, the greengrocer and the grocer and the goods would be delivered by bicycle. They would send a monthly bill and father would settle (after much complaining) by cheque. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/20 "2021-01-24T23:28:42Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > But as far as I can tell, paying with plastic is not a problem in Japan anymore like it used to be. The linked articles reflect Japan how it was in the years I was there. Plastic was unheard of in the early 80s when I was first there, as well as checks. Cash was used for everything. Things have changed! ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331/21 "2021-01-25T00:53:44Z")
> [@FriendlyCurmudgeon](#): > > > [@ALOHA\_HATER](#): > > > > But apparently women weren’t able to get a credit card easily or on good terms until the 70s. What gives? > > That was about the time in history where reliable and safe birth control was available, which allowed women to enter the work force. That’s what gave. These rules seem antedeluvian to us today. But it’s just a reminder of how much progress was made by society in only the past 50 years or so. What “gave” was what we term today “second wave feminism”, which kicked off in 1963 with the publication of the popular book “The Feminine Mystique”. What I describe now will be a bit of a simplification, but "first wave feminism, I.E. the women’s rights movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries, did not (at least not across the board) focus on achieving absolute and total equality of men and women. It campaigned for, and to a greater or lesser exent achieved, the right of women to vote and hold public office, and to be free of at least the heavier aspects of dominion by their husbands (basically, to get the right to control their own earnings and property, and not to be physically abused by their husbands; also the right to custody of at least younger children in the event of divorce, rather than the father automatically getting custody). Second wave feminism, which kicked of in 1963, attempted to get rid of all the remaining inequalities between men and women, including the right to work in jobs hitherto normally reserved to men, to complete legal equality with their husbands, and also to an end to any related disabilities and discrimination. This would include getting the right to open a bank account without a man countersigning it. Third wave feminism is more recent and includes campaigning for the rights of homosexual and transgender women, as well as for greater awareness of inappropriate sexual conduct towards women. Yes, it’s shocking sometimes to realize the kind of limitations to people’s freedom that still existed well within living memory. I like to say that I wouldn’t want to be alive as a human being anytime before the year 1968. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-with-credit-cards/931331.md?page=2)