Most U.S. annual conference treasurers are White laity
by Elaine May*
There are 61 U.S. annual conferences treasurers; 67% are men (41) and 33% are women (20); 77% are lay (47) and 23% are clergy (14).
North Central Jurisdiction has the highest percentage of women treasurers (45%), followed by Northeast with 38%, then Western with 29%. In both the South Central and Southeastern 27% of the conference treasurers are women. North Central and Northeastern jurisdiction tie for having the largest number of women treasurers - five each.
Of the 41 men who are U.S. conference treasurers, 14 are clergy (35%) and 27 are laity (65%). All 20 women treasurers are laypersons (In 2005, only the Northeastern Jurisdiciton had a clergywoman conference treasurer.)
Lay people hold most of the treasurer positions amoung U.S. annual conferences. Laymen are the highest percentage of all treasurers (44%), followed by laywomen (33%), then by clergymen (23%).
Of the 61 treasurers, all but three are White (95%). All the women treasurers are White (100%) and 92% of all men treasurers are White. The North Central Jurisdiction has one Asian-American man as a conference treasurer, and the Northeastern and South Central jurisdictions each have one African-American man serving as a conference treasurer.
The number of women holding treasurer positions did not change significantly between 2005 and 2009. The percentage of women treasurers in the Southeastern Jurisdiction climbed from 20% to 27% and in the Western Jurisdiction from 25% to 29%. The number of women stayed constant in the Northeastern and South Central jurisdictions. And the number of women dropped in the North Central Jurisdiction, 50% to 45%.
Treasurers are among the most influential leadership positions of an annual conference. With the current data, they tend to be White (95%), lay (77%) and male (67%).
Currently, 61 annual conference treasurers serve across the UMC in the United States
67% (41) are men and 33% (20) are women
Among the men, 35% are clergy (14) and 65% are laity (27). Among the women 100% are laity.
77% (47) are lay and 23% (14) are clergy
Among all conference treasurers, laymen are 44%, laywomen are 33%, clergymen are 23%, clergywomen are 0%.
95% (58) are White and 5% (3) are racial-ethnic people
Of the racial-ethnic people, two are Black (men) and one is Asian (man).
-Elaine May is assistant general secretary of finance and administration for GCSRW.