March 8th is International Women’s Day (IWD), a global day that celebrates women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements.1 The day has been recognized by the United Nations since 1977 and raises awareness for the continued need to fight gender equality.
The theme for IWD 2021 was #ChooseToChallenge, so everyone would be encouraged to challenge themselves to call out gender bias and inequality.2 This year, an additional theme was added “Women in leadership: achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” This supplementary theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the gaps that remain.3 One of those gaps is the number of women in the U.S. workforce. December’s jobs report shows a stark difference from where women were just a year ago when, for the first time since 2010 women slightly outnumbered men in the U.S. workforce. Now, according to December’s jobs report, women age 20 and over have an overall unemployment rate of 6.3%, which is nearly twice as high as it was around this time last year.4 Hopefully, President Biden’s recently passed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package will help narrow this gap and get women back to work.
In recognition of IWD at CCM, our team learned about several important women in finance, particularly Maggie Lena Walker who was the first Black woman to charter a bank and serve as its president in the U.S. We also shared our 2021 report, The Women of CCM, which highlights the diverse backgrounds and experiences of the firm’s women employees. With the asset management industry reporting one of the lowest levels of representation among women, we are proud to report that as of December 31, 2020, 53% of CCM’s team are women. To download the report, click here.
1 https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
2 https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme
3 https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/international-womens-day
4https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/11/women-account-for-100percent-of-jobs-lost-in-december-new-analysis.html