the WOMEN WHO INFILTRATED THE EXCHANGES

26th April 2022

While our campaign is celebrating 50 years of women in investing, we all know that the reality of our relationship with the industry goes far beyond this. Even before they were granted the vote, women across the world were still finding ways to impact the world of investing. Here is a look at some of the women who made history, from the early innovators to the modern women transforming the world stock exchanges.    

The early pioneers

Stockbroking and séances

 In 1870, Victoria Woodhull became the first female stockbroker through an interesting source – spiritualism. Both Victoria and her sister Tennessee Claflin were raised by faith healing parents who proclaimed their daughters to be mediums capable of speaking to the dead. The sisters connected with railroad mogul Cornelius Vanderbilt, and under a pretext of a ‘séance’ with the dead, offered him investing advice based on insider information. Vanderbilt was so impressed, he offered them financial help to open Woodhull, Claflin, & Co., the first for-women-by-women brokerage firm in the U.S. Previously women were only able to invest via men – who in turn pocketed a healthy commission. Clearly a woman determined to make changes, two years later and having cemented her status as a millionaire, Woodhill went on to use the profits from the firm to run for the US Presidency.

A stock exchange away from the stock exchange

Frustrated at being blocked from traditional investment venues like the New York Stock Exchange, Mary Gage decided to do it herself, and in 1880 started her own female only exchange. The exchange cut out the middlemen, slashing the high commissions men had been collecting to invest on women’s behalf, whilst also giving women the power to make their own investing decisions. At the time, stockbroking was widely seen as an immoral career, even for men, so the prospect of women entering the fray left many enraged. Critics tried hard to discourage people from investing in these exchanges, claiming that women were too emotionally unstable to handle market fluctuations.  

The Witch of Wall Street

Dubbed the richest woman in America during the Glided Age, Hetty Green was known for her strategy of buy and hold investing over the long run, a method also used by Warren Buffet. However, while Buffet is universally praised for his investment savvy, Hetty received quite the opposite response. She was heavily criticised for her wealth, her ‘miserly attitude’ and her alleged propensity for swearing profusely. This all contributed to her derogatory nickname ‘The Witch of Wall Street.’

The overlooked pioneer

The rarely talked about Maggie Walker was the daughter of a former slave who founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. Launched in a sea of hostility and segregation at a time when most banks would not even lend to Black borrowers, St Luke’s offered loans of as little as $5 and famously opened late six days a week to accommodate labourers working long hours. While her endeavours were far away from the relative glamour of Manhattan and the NYSE, Maggie's enduring legacy speaks for itself. St Luke’s operated as the US’s longest black run, independently owned back until it was bought out in 2005. 

The New Wave

The First lady of Wall Street

Even after women were allowed onto the investing floor in the 1940s, it took another two decades and nine rejections for Muriel “Mickey” Siebert to become the first woman to purchase a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1967. Muriel’s admittance into the NYSE was dependent on payment of a $445,000 fee, $300,000 of which had to be secured via a bank loan, a task no previous occupant had ever been asked to fulfil. After securing a loan from Chase Manhattan Bank, Muriel made history and went on to be known as The First Lady of Wall Street. She remained in her role right up until her death in 2013 aged 84. 

The North American history maker

Canada’s Jean Davey was the first ever female licensed stockbroker in North America in the 1960s. Davy began her career stuffing envelopes at General Motors, then became a secretary for the President, before moving on to sales and then into investing. By the time she retired in 2004, she was a Vice President and Director of Scotia McLeod, a division of the multinational Scotiabank.

The modern mavens

NYSE’s youngest female trader made history in more ways than one

Lauren Simmons made history herself in 2017 when aged 22 she became the NYSE’s youngest and only full time female trader, and only the second African American woman to work as a NYSE trader in its 226 years. 

Hong Kong’s 50/50 model

Having appointed its third consecutive female CEO in 2021, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Bank, the creators of the Hang Seng Index, the flagship index for stocks traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange appointed Irene Lee Yun Lien as the first ever female chair in 2021. The board of the bank is currently 50% female. 

The ‘lean in’ exchange

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange appointed its first female CEO Nicky Newton King in 2012. Three years later the JSE was winning awards and acclaim for boasting a female Chair, CEO and Chief Financial Officer, and a board that was 50% female.  The JSE has since been dubbed the 'lean in exchange' for its gender balance. 

Brazil’s women focused challenger bank

With the Brazilian gender gap for financial services widening, academic researcher Dr Vanise Zimmer set up Elas, a challenger bank made specifically for women in 2020. The bank bases itself on financial inclusion in the investment market, and aims to capture the specific needs of female employees and entrepreneurs alike, helping women get onto the investment ladder.

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Image credits: Business Insider, We Rise Financial, Black Enterprise, Fintec Futures, History.com