Credit Market Said Unfair To Women
By DEBI BLACKMON
At a time when a woman can
ompete equally with a man for
college degrees and jobs, she can’t
break into the credit market.
Discrimination of women in the
child-bearing age group, whether
single or married, is proving to
be a hardship to women and their
marriages, not so much here in
Bryan-College Station as over the
entire country.
A self-supporting woman get
ting into the business world finds
she must have a brother, father,
husband sign for her to get
any loan as large as a car loan.
Struggling young couples,
where the wife works and the
husband goes to school, find they
cannot get the loan on a home
they are hoping to buy. The same
loan would be easily accessible if
he were working and making the
same salary, and she were going
to school. What do they do?
Another woman, an attorney
with the U.S. Labor Dept, earn
ing $14,000 a year, was denied a
credit card in her own name after
she married. The card was issued
in her husband’s name, although
he was an enlisted man in the
armed forces with an income
barely exceeding $1,000 a year.
What can anyone do?
In Colorado, a woman has to
display a driver license and two
credit cards to cash a personal
check.
Cases like these are the rule,
not the exception. At the present
time, there is not any legal rem
edy to lean on, according to the
foremost consumer defender,
Ralph Nader.
“Whether they’re married,
single, or divorced, women are
faced with the reality that credit
is a man’s right,” Nader said in
a recent interview concerning the
Public Interest Research Group
(PIRG), an organization he
founded in 1970.
“If the woman is divorced or
separated, she finds it almost im
possible to get credit because she
has not been able to establish a
credit rating in her own name,”
Nader said.
“She is just in bad shape,” said
Mrs. Della Marshall private, ac
countant for Oceanography Inter-
Political Women’s
Meets Saturday In
Caucus
Houston
The National Women’s Politi
cal Caucus will hold its first na
tional convention Feb. 9rll at the
Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas.
Three female members of the
United States Congress will speak
at the opening session Feb. 9,
9:30 a.m. Congresswomen Shir
ley Chisholm (D,N.Y.), Bella Ab-
zug (D.,N.Y.) and Pat Schroeder
(D., Colo.) will participate in a
program entitled “See How We’ve
Run.”
Liz Carpenter, former press
secretary to Lady Bird Johnson,
will moderate the program. Oth
er speakers include Gloria Stei-
nem, editor of Ms. magazine, Bet
ty Friedan, author of The Femi
nine Mystique and a columnist
Alpha Lambda
Inducts Women
Alpha Lambda, national honor
society for freshmen coeds host
ed a reception, Sunday, Jan. 28
for coeds eligible for member
ship.
To be eligible for membership
into the national society, a coed
must post a 3.5 GPR or better for
the semester. She must also car
ry at least 12 hours to qualify for
membership.
A coed is only eligible during
her freshman year or have a total
of less than 29 hours to her credit.
Tapping ceremonies were held
during classes on Wednesday, Jan.
31. Eighty-one new members were
tapped.
Two faculty members were rec
ognized as honorary members of
the society. They are Dr. Meta
S. Brown of the Soil and Crop
Science Department and Dr. Bar
bara J. Cox of the Marketing De
partment.
The initiation for new members
was held Sunday in the Memorial
Student Center Ballroom. Guest
speaker for the occasion was Dr.
Mattie Bea Medford from Sam
Houston State University. A re
ception was held after the cere
mony.
This is the second initiation
held by the honor society, as the
organization was begun on the
A&M campus last fall.
for McCall’s magazine, Ethel Al
len, a member of the city council
in Philadelphia, Penna., Texas
State Senator Barbara Jordan and
Barbara Mikulski, a member of
the city council in Baltimore, Md.
Also speaking will be Justice Mary
Coleman, the first woman to serve
on the Michigan Supreme Court,
Helen Delich Bentley, Chairwo
man of the Federal Maritime
Commission, Rhea Mojica Ham
mer, a candidate for Congress
from Chicago, 111., and Jill Ruckel-
shaus, spokeswoman for the NW-
PC at the 1972 Republican Na
tional Convention.
The welcoming address at the
first plenary session of the con
ference, Feb. 10, 1:30 p.m., will
be delivered by Frances “Sissy”
Farenthold of Houston. Business
sessions will be chaired by Repre
sentative Gwen Cherry, chairper
son of NWPC and the first black
woman elected to the Florida leg
islature.
The three-day conference is the
first national convention of the
NWPC. Priority items on the
agenda will be adoption of a per
manent structure, establishment
of goals and priorities for 1972
and 1974 and election of a na
tional goveming body.
“Also prominent on the agenda
are a variety of action-oriented
workshops which will provide in
formation and ideas for political
strategy for women who will be
attending the convention as dele
gates from more than 500 state
and local caucuses from around
the country,” according to Repre
sentative Cherry.
Workshop subjects scheduled
for the convention include topics
ranging from lobbying, credit dis
crimination and child care to rape,
abortion and the politics of wel
fare and health care.
“Although voting in the plen
ary sessions will be open only to
approved state or at-large dele
gations, the convention is open to
anyone who wishes to attend and
participate,” said Helen Cassidy
of Houston, chairperson of the
Texas Women’s Political Caucus.
“All Texas women are welcome
and we urge them to attend and
become actively committed to po
litical issues that affect their
daily lives.”
Since its inception in July 1971,
the NWPC has worked actively
to pass the Equal Rights Amend
ment to the U.S. Constitution, to
increase the number of women
delegates at the Democratic and
Republican conventions, to change
party rules and platforms to re
flect women’s issues, to encourage
and aid women to run for public
office and to obtain the appoint-
ment of women at the federal,
state and local levels of govern
ment.
national Corporation in College
Station and presently working on
her master’s degree at TAMU.
T paid the bills for 17 years and
when I was divorced, I was with
out any kind of credit.”
“My banker just told me to
struggle along,” Mrs. Marshall
said. “But if it had not been
for a dress shop giving me per
sonal backing, it would have been
impossible.”
“You have to take into consid
eration that it’s not a cash econ
omy any more — it’s a credit
economy. Without that card,
you’re up the creek, and for
women it’s a little worse,” Mrs.
Marshall added.
“It’s really bad,” she said.
Generally, credit cards and
charge accounts, along with long
term loans are virtually always
issued on the grounds of estab
lished credit, and on the name of
the husband, not taking into con
sideration the woman’s individual
financial qualifications. Some as
sociations consider part of the
woman’s income.
According to the PIRG, lending
agencies veil their discriminatory
policies in vague language, such
as “insufficient references,” but
some are explicit.
This kind of policy can mean
hardship and tight money to a
young widow who finds herself
trying to carry on her husband’s
business affairs in a manner like
she had been taught by her hus
band. The same applies to the
divorcee. Recent efforts to study
the problems women have in
obtaining credit, being done by
Congressional committees, reveal
Pam & Jan
THE LAST WORD
Change has arrived at the women’s desk of the Battalion. This
editorial and those to follow will constitute a new approach to the
women’s page. Discussions of current events from a feminine viewpoint
will be presented. And we will have “The Last Word.”
The Student Senate will vote on a resolution urging the adoption
of lower cost residence halls for women at its meeting Thursday night.
The university, in becoming coeducational, also became equally
responsible to its female students. The responsibility lies not only in the
student’s interests but in the parent’s as well. The anxiety caused by a
daughter leaving home is only increased when she must be allowed to
live in the \ cold, cruel world without the partial protection a dorm
provides. In addition to this, most parents finance their daughter’s
education and for many, a more economical dormitory is the only
solution to the problem of their daughter’s desire to attend A&M.
Why, if economically feasible, does the university not provide low
cost housing as do other coeducational institutions? The paradox of
male dormitories remaining unfilled while females remain on waiting
lists is not only discriminatory but unfair. The number of male students
wishing to live off-campus increases, due to the forced occupation of
male housing facilities.
Perhaps proper location proves to be a problem in the conversion
of a male dormitory into a female residence hall. Why should this
provide a stumbling block when a coeducational dormitory was
established in the Kreuger-Dunn complex? No visible problems have
arisen from this arrangement and the conversion of balcony dorms
amidst male halls would prove plausible. Suite arrangements could even
provide coeducational floors.
Potential women students are turned away from A&M because
inadaquate, economical living facilities are not provided as the female
enrollment increases. If the university is to truly provide an institution
condusive to female students, economical housing should be provided.
Certainly, support of the issue is both desired and needed.
that the bias against women is
extensive, and oddly enough, is
affecting men too.
Discounting or ignoring the
working wife’s income in comput
ing the total family income can
shut an average young family, or
the average poor family, out of
the new house market completely.
Reflecting the bias of the mort
gage industry, the Federal Na
tional Mortgage Association,
(FNMA) issued initial guidelines
for its new home mortgage pro
gram two years ago, stipulating
that lenders count no more than
50% of the wife’s income.
To a young student couple
where the wife earns most of the
family income, it is very difficult
to get loans on any long-term
basis.
Bryan Building & Loan Associ
ation (BB&L), the principal loan
association in the Bryan-College
Station area, still goes by this
restrictive requirement.
“Only 50% of the wife’s income
is considered if she is in the child
bearing age group,” Eileen Brog-
don, executive vice president of
BB&L, said.
“I don’t think that it’s discrim
inatory to women per se,” she
said. “It’s just a matter of good
business. We don’t discriminate
against any woman or man—no
matter their creed or color.”
“We make as many loans to
women as their money status can
warrant. The fact remains that
we are lending other people’s
money and every safeguard that
can be added is good.”
When asked if ever discrimi
nated against, she said no.
A telephone interview of loan
officers of the other savings and
loan associations in the Bryan-
College Station area gave the fol
lowing results:
—Community Savings & Loan
Assn, said they had no strict
policy concerning the matter. A
loan officer said he usually takes
in consideration a “fair amount,”
depending on how long he thinks
the woman will keep the job.
—Farm & Home Savings Assn,
replied that it tries to look into
the stability of the income.
“We may give the whole credit
or down to 50%, depending on if
the woman can return to a degree
job after children.”
—First Federal Savings &
Loan stated that it couldn’t
answer that question concerning
its policies.
“There are no hard facts to
back the generally accepted lend
ers’ hypotheses that women are
poor credit risks just because
they are women,” Nader said.
This information should be
passed on to: Student Senators
working with the Student’s Busi
ness Relations Committee; our
representatives in Congress; to
the National Organization for
Women (NOW), National Press
Building, Washington, D. C.
20004; and to the Center for
Women Policy Studies, 803 Na
tional Press Building, Washing
ton, D. C. 20004.
THE
Wednesday, February 7, 1973
BATTALION
College Station, Texas
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