Human Rights A Day

Muriel Siebert breaks the gender barrier at the New York Stock Exchange. When Muriel Siebert opened her firm Muriel Siebert & Co. on December 28, 1967, she became the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange – and the only woman among 1,365 men. Siebert began her career in the finance world as an analyst in 1954. A few years later, while looking to work with another firm, she was told she would have to wear white gloves and a hat in the elevator, just like the secretaries did. That likely explains why she created her own firm. In 1975, Siebert’s company became the first American brokerage house to offer discount services, something that remains a staple today. Two years later, she became New York’s superintendent of banks, with responsibility for regulating $500 billion in the banking system. During her tenure, not one bank failed in New York while others went broke in different states. Siebert carried on her work by educating women (and men) of the importance of financial independence. Se