The White House issued this press release after President Gerald Ford signed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974. The Act prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex and marital status in the granting of consumer credit.
Ford noted that an “extremely important provision in this legislation prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status in the granting or denying of credit. While there has been a voluntary improvement in credit procedures in recent years, women are still too often treated as second-class citizens in the credit world. This legislation officially recognizes the basic principle tha [sic] women should have access to credit on the same terms as men.”
