'Pregnancy discrimination across corporate America is still rampant,' author says

To understand why women are still fighting to catch up to men economically, author Josie Cox turns to the past. She doesn't have to look too far back.

The Women's Business Ownership Act, which allowed women to obtain business financing without a male co-signer, didn't pass until 1988, Cox, a financial journalist, writes in her new book, "Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality." Women weren't admitted into Ivy League colleges before 1969, and could be fired from their jobs for getting pregnant as recently as 1978.

"Pregnancy discrimination across corporate America is still rampant," Cox said.

Here's a look at more coverage in CNBC's Women & Wealth special report, where we explore ways women can increase income, save and make the most of opportunities.

Cox's book traces the centurieslong battle by women to gain their economic equality to men, bringing many fascinating characters out of the shadow of history along the way. Speaking with CNBC this month, she said it is clear that the quest for justice has a long way to go.

(The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

Annie Nova: You give so many examples of how women, in the past, needed men to even engage with the economy. Why was our society set up that way?

Josie Cox: In societies that are set up around the principles of capitalism, money is a gauge of power. And women have historically just not had as much power as men.

In my book, I write about the concept of "coverture."

Coverture is a legal practice rooted in English law that dictated that no woman or girl had an independent legal identity. At birth, a girl was covered by her father's identity, and, when she married, by her husband's. Under the laws of coverture, a woman didn't even have