Pioneering Advocate Virginia Littlejohn Recalls Fight for Women’s Access to Business Loans
Even after the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974, women entrepreneurs faced significant hurdles in securing funding for their businesses. Virginia Littlejohn, a long-time advocate for women’s economic empowerment, recalls a time when a male co-signer was often a prerequisite for women seeking business loans. Her decades of work with organizations like the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) were instrumental in changing that reality.
Littlejohn’s involvement with NAWBO dates back to its early days. According to a recent profile on nawbo.org, her “journey with NAWBO is a testament to the power of mentoring, leadership and collaboration.” She served as NAWBO’s national president from 1984 to 1985 and has remained deeply involved in the organization ever since, playing a role in many of NAWBO’s “firsts.”
Living in the Bay Area during the burgeoning women’s movement of the 1970s, Littlejohn was a founding member and later president of San Francisco Women Entrepreneurs. She also advised the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Women’s Business Enterprise, contributing to recommendations for President Jimmy Carter’s Interagency Task Force on Women’s Business Enterprise. It was during this period that she connected with Susan Hager, NAWBO’s first national president, and both women participated as delegates to the first White House Conference on Small Business in 1980.
Recognizing the strength in unity, Littlejohn spearheaded efforts to bring together independent women’s business associations. In June 1979, she chaired a meeting in San Francisco bringing together leaders from these groups and NAWBO representatives. This collaborative spirit continued after she moved to Washington, D.C. Following the 1980 White House Conference, where she immediately joined NAWBO and began actively recruiting independent associations, including the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO).
Littlejohn’s efforts culminated in a pivotal moment for women entrepreneurs: the 1988 Women’s Business Ownership Act, also known as H.R. 5050. According to a recent interview, Littlejohn recalls the strategic planning that went into securing the passage of this crucial legislation. The act aimed to address the systemic barriers women faced in accessing capital, building on the foundation laid by the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which, despite its promise, hadn’t fully eradicated discriminatory lending practices.
The need for H.R. 5050 stemmed from the persistent reality that women were still being denied business loans or required to obtain male co-signers, even after the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. As noted in a recent article on womenshistory.si.edu, the ECOA “did not do away with discrimination in banking overnight.” Littlejohn and others understood that legislative action was necessary to truly level the playing field.
Littlejohn’s leadership extended beyond NAWBO. She currently serves as a co-coordinator for the W20 Women’s Entrepreneurship Working Group, according to Forbes, and is the founder of the women’s entrepreneurship advocacy organization Quantum Leaps. She also judges the Women in Business Awards for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and previously chaired the North American Jury for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards for five years.
Her continued dedication to women’s entrepreneurship reflects a lifelong commitment to creating a more equitable and inclusive business landscape. As she expressed in a recent statement, she hopes NAWBO will continue to offer “values-based, global leadership” for the next 50 years, building on its history of “visionary thinking, impactful advocacy and global collaboration.”
