“A slow and progressive journey”, according to Sylvie Gautier, historian

Women have long been excluded from the world of money. For what ?

We have to go back to the Napoleonic Civil Code which instituted the economic inferiority of the married woman. This was struck with civilian inability, in the same way as minor children. However, the condition of women at the time is to be married. In the eyes of the law, the man is the head of the family and he holds financial power. It has long been the only reference for the bank.

How did the law of July 13, 1965 disrupted this order?

By allowing married women to work and open a bank account without the authorization of their husbands, this law potentially changed the lives of non -active wives, or around 43 % of women aged 15 to 64 at the time. Recall that in 1966, the date of the entry into force of the law, less than one in five households had a check account or a banking book. In the 1970s and 1980s, banking accelerated, and that of women follows. In 1980, 77 % of women, all matrimonial regimes combined, had a bank account, personal and/or joint.

What was the role of banks in this financial emancipation of women?

It is to be put into perspective. What banks want is to collect deposits, not make women autonomous! At the end of the 1960s, their advertisements targeted the housewife, who took stock in the management of the family budget. But she remains confined to the photo of the housewife when it is no longer reality: almost half of the French people are already working. In 1985, twenty years after the law vote, banks recognize that women are part of the professional world and that they earn their own money. The journey is slow and progressive.