Independent Women: Investing in British Railways, 1870-1922
45 Pages Posted: 6 May 2020
Date Written: May 1, 2020
Abstract
The early twentieth century saw the British capital market reach a state of maturity before any of its global counterparts. This coincided with more women participating directly in the stock market. In this paper, we analyse whether these female shareholders chose to invest independently of men. Using a novel dataset of almost 500,000 shareholders in some of the largest British railways, we find that women were much more likely to be solo shareholders than men. There is also evidence that they prioritised their independence above other considerations such as where they invested or how diversified they could be.
Keywords: Gender, Investment, Stock Market, Railways
JEL Classification: G10, J16, N23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation