Review: Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation

Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation by Grace L. Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am on the line about this book. I must have misunderstood the book's synopsis because I thought that this was going to be about the first-ever women's bank—it is not. There were so few banks that actually followed the letter of the law at that time period that you can see why something like this was groundbreaking, life-changing, and filled a great need for women.

I can't believe how far women have come, and reading this book has helped me understand just what women just a few years younger than I was at the time went through to get where we are today.

This book was quite interesting if you don't mind that it has extremely dry writing and too many primary, secondary, and tertiary characters. I know it was necessary, but I felt like I needed a spreadsheet to keep track of everyone.

It was a bit of a chore to keep up with everything, and it may have been more enjoyable if I had a degree in finance!

*ARC supplied by the publisher Little A Publishing, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS:"The galvanizing true story of a group of remarkable women in the 1970s male-run world of business, banking, and finance. They didn’t play by the rules. They changed them and made history.

In the 1970s, a new wave of feminism was sweeping America. But in the boys’ club of banking and finance, women were still infantilized—no credit without a male cosigner, and their income was dismissed as unreliable. If bankers weren’t going to accommodate women, then women had to take control of their own futures. In 1978 in Denver, Colorado, the opening of the Women’s Bank changed everything.

It was helmed by bank officer B. LaRae Orullian and the brainchild of whip-smart entrepreneur Carol Green, who forged a groundbreaking path with their headstrong colleagues, among Judi Foster, investment research whiz; Edna Mosley, unyielding civil rights advocate with the NAACP; Mary Roebling, renowned financial executive; Betty Freedman, a socialite and fundraiser; and Gail Schoettler, a formidable Denver mover and shaker for social justice. Coming together and facing their own unique road to revolution, they built the most successful female-run bank in the nation. It wasn’t easy.

Give Her Credit follows the challenges, uphill battles, and achievements of some of the enterprising women of Denver who broke boundaries, inspired millions, and afforded opportunities for every marginalized citizen in the country. It’s about time their untold story was told."