Клуб Путешественниц - Moneta - Women & Money in the past and present time

Moneta - Women & Money in the past and present time
A project of the Women’s Museum Bonn

The initial situation
Women accomplish two third of all work in the world, but they possess less than 5% of the wealth. The income of women is much less than man’s earning (in Germany 23 % less), and the average-pension of women is terrible low. Women often get a worse consultation when they want to invest money. So many women have a negative attitude towards money and don’t dare to make financial transactions. Therefore we think it is a political need that they become engaged in finances.

Content of the exhibition
On the occasion of 100 years of the Women’s Bank in Berlin (1910-1916) we will make an exhibition about women & money. In the exhibition we want to show role-models: women who were / are bankers and who dealt successfully and for granted with money in former century up to the present time. In the 19th century money become an affair of men. In Germany until 1958 married women had to ask their husband for permission when they wanted to open an account or when they wanted to have their legacy at their own proposal. But never the less women began to found charitable foundations making politics by this way and they still do today. We will present women’s foundations for women, women’s financial services and women’s banks. In the so called undeveloped countries micro-finances are allocated almost only to women because they work more credible with the credit and pay it punctually back. But alternative financing models for women also exist in other parts of the world. We want to inform about fanciful handlings of money.

Aim
The aim of the exhibition is to allay the fear of many women towards money and financial matters. They should dare to protest when we get a bad financial consultation and worse income than men. We want to break a (German) taboo and speak about money. Women should not shy away from demanding a fair share of the general wealth. We want to initiate a discussion about a gender-equitable handling with money.

Presentation
The presentation focuses both on single women and projects. The exhibition will offer facts and information presented in the form of photos, political posters and personal objects, coins, art or video films. In the Women’s Museum works of art play an important role. It is a tradition of the house to round off historical exhibitions with contemporary art dealing with the subject at hand. Artists will participate in the exhibition creating a work that shows their dreams, hopes, fear or vision about money.

Schedule
The opening of the exhibition at the Women’s Museum in Bonn is planned for December 2010. It will be available from May 2011 to go on tour to other cities and countries.
Address
Im Krausfeld 10
53111 Bonn, Germany
0228 691344
Metro: Stadthaus
Web-site: http://www.womeninmuseum.net/blog/

The Women’s Bank in Berlin – a project run by the „old“ women’s movement
The idea of founding a women’s bank came into being in 1908 when women were given legal rights and could get involved in political activities. The bank’s aims were to grant credit to women and to teach them “how to manage their money on their own.” Thus their financial transactions could be conducted without involving men. The bank took charge of women’s assets without the approval of their husband or father and vowed to treat the transactions with discretion.
In 1910 the „Genossenschaftsbank selbstandiger Frauen“ (cooperative bank for independent women) was opened and in 1913 renamed the Women’s Bank. Their main goal was not to make profit but to help the members to help themselves. A board was elected to carry out the transactions, a supervisory board was in charge. All the women who were clients of the bank had to join the cooperative and buy shares to the value of 100 marks.
Management was exclusively female though the women may have been rather inexperienced in the banking trade. In 1914 the women’s bank had 60 female and male employees. Apart from usual transactions, women were also offered legal advice free of charge, political lectures and seminars. Moreover the bank issued its own journal “Women’s Capital – Power in the Making”.
Round 1914 voices criticising the women’s business methods became louder; they censured advertising expenses that were considered too high, lack of business acumen, risky real estate transactions, incorrect documentation and excessive honoraries paid to the board. It is not known whether these complaints were justified.

In October 1914 the Women’s Bank declared insolvency, in November 1915 bankruptcy proceedings were initiated. Legal charges were brought against three bankers, their leader Anna Hoffmann was the main defendant.
Apart from the bankers being a little ‘naive’ there is no indication that they maintained contacts to leading women’s rights activists, to the banking world or to other cooperatives. There were also only few contacts to more wealthy women. The clients were mainly small-time savers and the bank only disposed of limited financial means.

Christine Licci (*1964) – The first bank manageress in Germany and the first drop-out

„I want to be a free agent and use my creativity, not just be a well paid marionette.”

Christine Licci was born into a family that ran hotels in South Tirol and dreamed of becoming a pianist. Instead she studied economics in Milan and began her career with the Dresdner Bank. In 1996 she transferred to the Citibank in Frankfurt, was promoted to the board at the age of 34, and in 2001 she became chairwoman of the board for Citibank Privatkunden AG. In banking circles she was regarded as a shooting star and won several awards. In 2003 she was the first woman to be named “manager of the year” by the magazine “Wirtschaftswoche” and the Wall Street Journal called her the most important business woman in Europe.
In spite of the economic downturn and against current market trends, Citibank made record profits three times in a row during the first few years of her leadership. She also managed to improve the working atmosphere and reduce the rapid turn-over in staff within a short space of time. Her principle was to put each person in a post which would be appropriate to his/her abilities and not to demand anything of anyone that she wasn’t prepared to do herself. For Christine Licci motivating others is her greatest strength.
The manageress dashed from one meeting to another and even when sitting in a taxi made various telephone calls and gave interviews in foreign languages. She had power and money but no private life. That was the price to be paid for climbing the ladder of success so quickly.
In 2005 she managed the private customer business of the HypoVereinsbank. When the Italian bank Unicredit started making moves to take over the bank, she was thought to have good chances of becoming the new manager in Germany. However, no sooner had the fusion been arranged, than she surprised everyone by resigning as she hadn’t been able to force through her ideas. Many of her colleagues thought this was just a regrettable accident within the firm. Others regarded it as the proof that women are more straight and principled than men. She herself criticised the fact that the bank only follows the instructions of an international financial group.
After changing her job, her husband and her home country, she now works as an art dealer and has time to herself.