Perception vs. Reality: Women and Change in The CDFI Industry
FUND Community Institute
First published January 2019
FUND Community Institute continues to engage in dialogue and analysis around data from its landmark study, Perception versus Reality: Women and Change in the CDFI Industry (available at www.fundci.org). This month, we examined the prevalence of women as leaders of CDFIs, and how this role may have changed since the founding of the industry. The findings suggest that women are playing leadership roles in large numbers (although not at all sizes and types of CDFIs) and that the organizations they head up may be leading the way in fostering more inclusive, family-friendly work environments.
Survey findings include:
- 46% of respondents identified the leader of their organization as a woman; 27% of whom are women of color.
- 45% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that women are equally represented as leaders of CDFIs.
- Of the 29% who disagreed or strongly disagreed that women are equally represented as leaders of CDFIs, 100% indicated women are underrepresented as leaders of CDFIs.
- 90% of respondents indicated they see themselves as leaders.