A reported uptick in women in the funeral director industry has been brought to the national forefront.
An uptick in women in the funeral director industry was brought the national forefront via the Associated Press in 2017. At that time, the national wire service reported that nearly 65 percent of all students in funeral director programs offered at colleges and universities across the country were female.
The AP wasn’t the only organization that noticed an uptick in women as morticians, embalmers, and funeral home directors. In fact, Service Corp. International – the premier mortuary company in the United States – has indicated that as many as 50 percent of the funeral professionals on their roster are women.
Not only are there more women in the funeral home business, but they earn more on average, too. According to 2016 U.S. Census data, nearly 30 percent of the more than 34,000 morticians, embalmers, and funeral home directors were women, who earned a little more than $1,000 a year more than their male counterparts.
And, the experts say this trend is expected to continue well into the future. That’s because the average age for females in the funeral home industry are younger on average, which means that they will be able to—at least in theory—work in the field longer.
Industry insiders say the uptick in women in the industry has also influenced the likelihood businesses to hire a female to fill positions at funeral homes across the country. Women, they say, are natural nurturers, and are often adept at showing compassion and kindness – offering support to clients in their time of grief.
Many of these female funeral home leaders have also turned to technology to help them help others – another industry trend. These women funeral home directors understand the value of technological tools such as funeral home management software, obituary software, and funeral home software.
For these women and other pioneers in the industry, funeral home management software, obituary software, and funeral home software are more than just bells and whistles—they are a way to help streamline their operations, allowing them to spend more time doing what they do best which is to provide personal services to clients at their greatest time of need.
Osiris Software is already celebrating this trend with Kara Gray Ludlum and Jayna Mannen presiding over key leadership positions in the Osiris Management Team. Ludlum is our CFO, who has extensive experience in the funeral home industry. She is a licensed funeral director and embalmer, and her family owned and operated funeral homes in several Oklahoma cities. Mannen, on the other hand, serves as the senior accountant at Ludlum and Mannen Accounting Services, PC, and supervises operations for our funeral industry accounting services here at Osiris Software.
These ladies understand the unique challenges faced by funeral home industry, and continue to help elevate and innovate our products—from funeral home management software to cemetery software to cremation software—all in the name of helping those in the business more efficiently navigate it. Read more of their story in the Magazine of the Oklahoma Society of CPAs.
