Passing the Buck on Boosting the Number of Women in Local Government Leadership
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Connecting state and local government leaders
ELGL co-founder Kirsten Wyatt explains how the percentage of women in chief administrative officer roles in local governments—13%—hasn’t changed since 1984 and how the #13Percent movement aims to change that statistic.
WEST LINN, Ore. — It has been a few months since Emerging Local Government Leaders started the #13Percent conversation. The hashtag refers to the percentage of women in local government chief administrative officer (CAO) roles—a statistic that has not changed since 1984. You read that correctly—no improvements since I was toiling away in first grade, with a shaggy Captain and Tennille haircut and a penchant for Cabbage Patch Dolls and the “Little House on the Prairie” series. Today, I’m the assistant city manager here in West Linn, located just outside Portland, Oregon, with two daughters of my own.
My initial “Glacial Pace” column was a frustrated reaction to the cover story in the January edition of the International City-County Management Association’s monthly magazine, and from there, ELGL, which I co-founded, made the commitment to focus our time, energy and membership efforts to addressing the lack of women in local government leadership positions. #13Percent is one of many issues that ELGL will specifically and loudly address in 2015.
ELGL recruits guest columnists to blog each week on #13Percent topics. For example, Kim Sandoval is analyzing a data set about why people leave local government careers, in the hopes of teasing out some of the challenges that drive women from leadership. Public works employees Susie Aguilar and Christina Goodrich are bravely telling their stories about local government chauvinism in the hopes that history will not be repeated. True stories blogged in real time can make a powerful impact.
ELGL hosts Twittersations about #13Percent, and we have hosted webinars too. Along the way, we have received an overwhelming amount of support and feedback from the local government community about the need to have this conversation. And, ELGL makes sure that we do not kick this topic into a corner for only women to address.
With all of these efforts underway, I’d like to say that my frustration has been muted. But it’s not. If anything, it’s been heightened, because I’m hearing a refrain in this #13Percent conversation that has everyone passing the buck on why women are not hired into the top spots. It goes a little something like this:
Local government professionals blame the recruiters.
Recruiters blame the elected officials.
Elected officials make politically correct statements about wanting to hire the best candidate, which is a nicer way of blaming the candidate pool.
Swirling around all of these conversations are theories about confidence, readiness, institutional barriers, and work life balance. And I’ve been surprised that there is also a certain amount of worry about upsetting the recruiters and elected officials and not wanting to make them angry because the #13Percent conversation is getting louder.
The #13Percent effort is not a blame game. There is not one entity to blame for the lack of improvement in the percentage of women running our local governments. But it is imperative that all voices contribute to identifying solutions that will help us make meaningful progress. ELGL will not let the buck get passed in the conversations we facilitate. We are turning our sights for the remainder of this year to get recruiters and elected officials actively engaged in this conversation.
Some recruiters like Ron Holifield at SGR and Heidi Voorhees at GovHR stepped up quickly with their support of the #13Percent initiative. Holifield suggests that hiring report cards can very clearly distinguish gender and racial diversity in candidate pools. And Voorhees says that her “dream” city manager hiring process would be a blind process, similar to the blind orchestra auditions she referenced in an ELGL webinar.
Another goal for the next quarter is to get meaningful conversations started with the organizations that train and prepare elected officials. State municipal and county associations provide valuable connections for mayors, councilors and commissioners, and it is imperative that they begin exploring and understanding the #13Percent challenge.
ELGL is coordinating a track at the Association of Washington Cities summer conference in Wenatchee in June. ELGL will provide communications support at the women’s leadership summits in Illinois (May) and North Carolina (June). And ELGL will facilitate a public conversation about diversity in local government management at the CPBB conference in August.
During one of ELGL’s #13Percent Twittersations, ELGL member Carmen Mays tweeted that she wanted to see an all-female city manager applicant interview pool:
I'd like to see a recruiting firm put forth all female candidates and step back be like "Say somethin'? What?!" #13percent
— Carmen Mays, MPA (@CarmenMaysMPA) February 10, 2015Mays is known for her witty observations about local government management, and her tweet made all of us laugh. With ELGL’s #13Percent initiative, we are hopeful that her tweet can perhaps become a reality and not just a punchline in a theoretical conversation about local government management.
Kirsten Wyatt is the assistant city manager in West Linn, Oregon, and co-founded Emerging Local Government Leaders.
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