How Do Female Members and CU Executives Move Forward after the Pandemic?

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect how people think and approach life for years to come. Women have been greatly affected by the pandemic, and the way they see their finances has been drastically altered.

A recent study from Capital Group that surveyed 500 American men and 2,000 women found that more women lost their jobs and remained out of work for longer than men. Credit unions can be a place where women can take the steps necessary to recover financially, but credit unions themselves still must work through DEI issues regarding female representation.

Worries of Female Credit Union Members

The Capital Group survey also brought to light concerns and problems women are most likely to face after the pandemic. While 25% percent of men surveyed said they were not concerned about their finances, around one-third of the women surveyed said they were thinking about their finances to the point of anxiety. Millennial women were hit especially hard, as they out of all generations were more likely to apply for unemployment and less likely to have received a stimulus check. The focus shifted toward saving money, especially if disruptions related to the pandemic continue into the summer of 2021.

One key reason for this shift in mindset is the question of being able to retire. Many women had to postpone putting away funds for retirement, and they also believe that the damage done to their finances in 2020 will mean that they will have to delay retirement altogether.

Another shift in the minds of women is an openness to talk about their finances. Around half of the women surveyed reported that they had talked with other women about their personal finances and learned that other women were going through a similar situation. They were also seeking out more financial advice, but the sources they turned to differed by generation. Older women were more likely to reach out to financial institutions, while millennials took to social media for advice – another great reason to get your brand out in social!

Credit unions are seen as a place where the community can get help, and they have the power to help women in, and trying to get back in, the American workforce. However, there is work to be done within credit union leadership to better understand the needs of all their female members.

Not Many Women in Credit Union Leadership

Credit unions are ahead of the general corporate world in terms of diversifying and including women and minorities in their workforce. In fact, most credit unions today are run by women, however, female leaders represent most of those credit unions with less than $100 million in assets, while the complete opposite is true for larger ones. The average size of a male run credit union is $167 million. Female-run credit unions have an average size of around $9.3 million. Room for improvement remains.

Sam Brownell, CEO of CUCollaborate, recently shared data on the makeup of credit union leadership across all asset ranges, and he found that many credit unions are led by primarily one gender. Currently, there are a total of 305 credit unions with a male CEO and boards that are entirely male, while a mere 84 credit unions are run by female CEOs and entirely female boards.

So not only is there still a divide in who is being put in charge of running a credit union, women are not being fully represented by credit unions that manage a greater amount of assets and typically serve more members. Brownell found that among the highest asset groups, women make up 16.8% of CEOs and 30.93% of board members of credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets, and in the $500M-$1B range, 18.38% of CEOs and 29.55% of board members are women. Research has shown that women make 75% of the financial decisions in the household; credit union leadership must be representative of whom we are serving.

Women must have a seat at the table during the conversations about how to best serve their members and community at large. As the female members of credit unions across the country continue to struggle with their finances now, and perhaps for many years to come, there isn’t enough female leadership to make those needs known and to ensure that women are not left behind as credit unions continue their mission.

What Do Credit Unions Need To Do To Move Forward?

What is clear is that women need more support than ever to get their finances back on track and begin to build wealth. They also must have the same leadership development and networking opportunities as their male counterparts. Credit unions need to know and understand the general state of working women and work toward minimizing this inequality. Larger credit unions, in particular, need to put more work into diversifying their leadership so women and minorities are not left out of the equation.

More to come on this topic from our leading lady, Sarah Snell Cooke.