Summit Addresses Pay Gap Through 'Equity in Money' Initiative

December 4, 2024

As published by on October 28, 2024.

COTTAGE GROVE, Wis. (WMTV) - At Summit Credit Union in Cottage Grove, the “Equity in Money” initiative works to increase financial security for everyone.

“People aren’t born with the knowledge of financial education and managing money and so we’re here to help with that,” Summit Credit Union CEO and President Kim Sponem said.

Women are at the forefront of this initiative. Summit started focusing on the unique financial needs of women back in 2007.

“That came out of the realization that many women end up in poverty during retirement and we also recognized that back then, many women felt that financial institutions were ignoring them,” she said.

Sponem is dedicated to improving women’s financial wellness. She has been the CEO of Summit Credit Union for the last 22 years.

“Women really want to know how will this help them? How will this help their families?” she said.

The initiative also aims to help women understand the gender pay gap, which Sponem says is largely misunderstood.

“There are many different factors that go into the pay gap and why women earn less over a lifetime. One, is that they choose lower-paying careers and fields. Two, women are still behind in making it into the higher-level positions.”

Sponem says the financial educators at Summit Credit Union have done a lot of research on how women and men look at money differently.

“Women tend to look at their finances as holistic, where men tend to look at it product by product,” she said.

According to the Pew Research Center, the gender pay gap has barely closed in the United States in the past two decades. American women typically earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by men.

Sponem adds, while we are making progress, there are current projections worldwide that show we will not get to closing that pay gap for another 150 years.

“So many of society’s challenges are when women and their families are stressed and so being able to move this needle and being able to help individuals reach financial security and feel really good about their financial plan when they retire is so important,” she said.