Why are so few people talking about the massive wealth transfer to women?

Rita McGrath
6 min readFeb 13, 2024

Until astonishingly recently in the sweep of human history, women in the United States had little control over their financial assets, and despite the reality that they make fundamental spending decisions, many sectors of our economy continue to cater to men. If McKinsey is to be believed, that is all about to change and in a big way, very soon.

Have a guess at when women in the United States legally had the same decision rights over property as their spouses?

What would you think? The 50’s? 60’s? What if I were to tell you that it wasn’t until the 1980’s that some fundamental cases were settled that would change women’s rights to their own property forever.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act was passed in 1974, but its implementation was glacial. Indeed, a 1977 New York Times article describes a young engaged couple inquiring about obtaining a mortgage, only to be told by the banker they were consulting with that the woman’s income could not be counted in the application, “because she was of child-bearing age.” At the time there was no prohibition against this.

It wasn’t until the following year, 1978, that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed, a law that was “so riddled with loopholes that pregnancy discrimination remained rampant”…

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Rita McGrath
Rita McGrath

Written by Rita McGrath

Columbia Business School Professor. Thinkers50 top 10 & #1 in strategy. Bestselling author of The End of Competitive Advantage & Seeing Around Corners.

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