The NYSE's First Female Member Joins Exchange On This Day In Market History

Benzinga takes a look back at a notable market-related moment that happened on this date.

What Happened?

On this day in 1967, Muriel Siebert became the first female member of the New York Stock Exchange.

Where Was The Market?

The S&P 500 was trading at 95.89 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at 897.83.

What Else Was Going On In The World?

In 1967, surgeons completed the world’s first heart transplant, and the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs played in the first Super Bowl. A movie ticket cost $1.25.

Breaking The Gender Barrier

Siebert earned the nickname “The First Woman of Finance” for her pioneering career on Wall Street. In 1967, at the age of 39, she founded Muriel Siebert & Co, a financial research firm. The same year, she applied for a seat on the NYSE and officially joined the exchange’s 1,365 male members on Dec. 28.

Reportedly only one of the 10 men she asked to sponsor her application agreed to do so.

Roughly 10 years after her groundbreaking entry to the NYSE, the state of New York named Siebert as superintendent of Banks. Not a single bank failed during her tenure.

Siebert went on to run for Senate in New York in 1982, coming in second place in the Republican primary to Florence Sullivan. In the 1990s, Siebert & Co. merged with furniture company J. Michael & Sons and became the publicly traded Siebert Financial Corp. SIEB, which is listed on the Nasdaq.

Siebert died in 2013 at age 84 of complications from cancer. The NYSE named Siebert Hall in her honor in 2016.

Related Links:

This Day In Market History: The First Balanced US Mutual Fund

Why Women Can, And Should, Take More Control Of Their Investments

Image credit: Muriel Siebert, First Lady of Wall Street (Makers)