The numbers have improved, but they need to be a lot better. It’s about organizational success.
By Pamela W. Antil and Tamara S. LeTourneau | Governing
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are posted for discussion purposes only.)
When it comes to the number of women at the top level of our local governments, it might seem that things have gotten better. In a sense they have: Far more local-government chief administrative officer positions — city and county managers — are held by women today than a few decades ago. That’s good news, but for our local governments to perform as well as they should, a lot more progress is going to be needed.
Back in 1974, the executive board of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) formed a task force to address the low number of female chief executives. The Task Force on Women in the Profession submitted its final report in 1976, and the numbers were eye-opening. At that time, women made up about half of the municipal government workforce but only 1.3 percent of chief administrative officer (CAO) positions. It shouldn’t be surprising that, as a result, many women, including those with advanced public-administration degrees, were leaving local government to seek more opportunity in the private sector.
