There was a time when married women were formally addressed by their husband’s name, as “Mrs. John Smith,” for example. Women couldn’t get credit, or mortgages, or even dinner reservations in a nice restaurant under their own names.
None of that is true today, though apparently this is not clear to everyone.
Right in the middle of “Women’s History Month,” Gov. Gavin Newsom turned the clocks back to 1950 and signed an executive order “to expand women’s access to capital, savings and investment opportunities” and also “expand opportunities for women and their families to build wealth and fully participate in California’s world-leading economy.”
Ladies, we are so lucky to live in a state with such a progressive governor. In Texas they still have to ride sidesaddle.
A closer look at this wealth-building initiative reveals that it belongs in the political category known as “the wife’s project.”
“Whereas in 2025,” the executive order states, “the First Partner launched the California Women’s Wealth Advisory Council…”
Here we go.
“… to advance strategies that increase capital flow to women-led funds, founders, and businesses…”
Strategies?
“…expand pathways for women and families to build and sustain wealth…”
Pathways?
“…and position California as a national leader in inclusive capital formation.”
Huh?
“Effective immediately,” Newsom’s executive order directs the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, to “provide recommendations” on “strategies to close the wealth gap and expand full participation for all in California’s investment ecosystem.”
These “recommendations” are to be developed “in coordination with the chair of the Women’s Wealth Advisory Council.” That’s the aforementioned project launched last October by the “First Partner,” the governor’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“When women control capital, they strengthen communities and expand opportunity,” Siebel Newsom said at the time, according to the press release. “The work ahead is to redesign systems that decide who has access and who benefits, so our growth reflects the values and potential of all our people.”
That brings to mind the words of another woman, Isabel Paterson, who memorably wrote of “the humanitarian with the guillotine.” Paterson’s masterpiece, “The God of the Machine,” was published in the 1940s. She described the “humanitarian” as the person who finds it impractical to allow others to decide for themselves how much they should give or what they need to receive, concluding that they, the humanitarian, should decide for everybody. That’s when the guillotine rolls out.
Siebel Newsom said the “Women’s Wealth Advisory Council” will bring “the best and brightest minds together to meet this moment of historic wealth transfer and shape the foundations of a more equitable economy.”
Now we’re getting to it.
The press release goes on to explain, “The United States is entering the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in modern history, with an estimated $84 trillion expected to change hands over the next two decades.”
And sticky fingers in California are stretching out to get some of the management fees for handling the loot.
Women “remain underrepresented in asset management,” the press release declared. It also noted that “California is home to the nation’s largest public pension systems.”
Bad news for taxpayers. The severely underfunded but taxpayer-guaranteed California public pension funds could be pressured to accept investment “recommendations” from the governor’s wife’s Women’s Wealth Advisory Council.
Gov. Newsom’s executive order calls for studies and recommendations, so it’s mostly decorative, but it does direct state agencies to “publish success stories highlighting inclusive investment opportunities” and to “maintain a resource hub including organizations that support women-owned businesses and funds.”
If you do business in California, you don’t need a house to fall on you. Want the governor on your side? Check that resource hub for a list of places to send money. The governor’s favor is more likely to be incurred by supporting whatever his wife wants. This is no time to apply what the U.S. Supreme Court calls “strict scrutiny.”
That seems to be the dynamic driving Newsom’s steady fundraising for another one of his wife’s endeavors, the California Partners Project. Since 2020, the governor has raised more than $3 million by asking for contributions to his wife’s “Project” for the “charitable” purpose of supporting her “work.” These donations are called “behested payments” (made at the behest of the elected official) and must be publicly reported if they exceed $5,000 in a year from one source.
On February 23, Newsom “behested” $10,000 out of a Washington, D.C., outfit called “Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice.” The money went to the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that operates like a slush fund to pay for Newsom’s high-profile international travel. The purpose of the $10,000 payment was reported as, “To support the First Partner’s Belonging Initiative.”
The California Women’s Wealth Advisory Council, according to the press release from the governor’s office, is the “next chapter” building on the First Partner’s other initiatives, such as the California Equal Pay Pledge in 2019, which persuaded “hundreds of companies, organizations and municipalities to commit to “annual gender pay analyses” and “equitable promotion practices.” The fact that her husband was the newly elected governor, with power over state budgets, laws and regulations for at least four years, may have made the pledge pitch extra persuasive.
Siebel Newsom next released “The Equal Pay Playbook,” a guide that “helps employers implement fair pay strategies.” Then she unveiled the “Board Diversity Playbook” and the “Board Culture Playbook” to explain to companies that they should “increase and retain” diverse women on their boards of directors.
And now her husband has gifted her with an executive order that will give her a say over who collects management fees for handling potentially trillions of dollars in wealth.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom is acting out the pre-feminist stereotype of “the boss’s wife” to run a nice little operation. She instructs California companies and organizations about their biases, and they reach into their pockets, at the governor’s behest, to support her “work.”
The proper title isn’t “First Partner.” It’s “Mrs. Gavin Newsom.”
Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley