Silent Partners: Corporate Ownership, Risk, and the Gender Asset Gap in Antebellum New England

Little is known about corporate ownership, personal wealth, and the composition of investment portfolios by gender during early US industrialization. A sample of 42,500 shareholders in over 200 corporations highlights women's increasing contributions to capital mobilization in banking, manufacturing, and transportation. Female investors assumed significantly higher risk than men in several dimensions. Equity ownership accounted for a larger fraction of women's total assets, their portfolios were not as diversified across firms, and their propensity to hold shares altered less over the life cycle. Such patterns suggest that women's economic decision-making was likely more constrained than that of their male counterparts.