Race and Gender Representation in Presidential Appointments, SES, and GS Levels, During Clinton, Bush, and Obama Administrations

Abstract

Achieving a representative bureaucracy that reflects the attitudes, values, and policy choices of women and racial minorities is imperative, as the gap in the representation of those groups in the federal workforce is growing. We examine to what extent female and minority representation in political appointments, Senior Executive Service (SES), and General Schedule (GS) 1-15 levels reflect presidents’ commitment to diversity. We use data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to compare the tenures of presidents William J. Clinton (1993 to 2000), George W. Bush (2001-2008), and Barack H. Obama (2009-2013), and examine the employment trends from 1993 to 2013.

Weakening the glass ceiling: does organizational growth reduce gender segregation in the upper tiers of Danish local government?

“…1991;Guy, 1993;Reskin and McBrier 2000). For example, and as emphasized by the theory of representative bureaucracy, increasing numbers of women within organizations can build momentum for change, while also widening the talent pool from which future senior managers are selected (Bullard and Wright 1993; Crum 2000; Smith and Monaghan 2013), although we note that not all studies report evidence consistent with this argument (see Anestaki et al 2016;Wilkins and Williams 2006).…”

“…Public and private organizations have attempted to reform their internal systems, processes, practices and behaviors in response to concerns regarding gender segregation, although in the absence of quick fixes, progress has been slow (Anestaki et al 2016;Johnston 2017). Prominent within studies of the glass ceiling and gender segregation is an advocation for the 'deliberate' and 'purposeful' recruitment of women to agencies and departments where segregation has been identified (Connell 2006).…”

Equal Access to the Top? Representative Bureaucracy and Politicians’ Recruitment Preferences for Top Administrative Staff

“…Moreover, empirical research suggests ideologically driven heterogeneity in the extent to which women and minority groups are represented across public organizations (Anestaki et al 2016;Brewer and Selden 2003;Clark, Ochs, and Frazier 2013;Kim 2003;Lewis and Nice 1994;Llorens, Wenger, and Kellough 2008;Naff and Crum 2000). However, since this research is based on observational data that does not allow researchers to distinguish between different causes of this pattern, it remains unclear why citizen ideology correlates with women and minority group representation.…”

“…Studying the composition of US federal bureaucracy, Meier (1975), for instance, finds that citizens from lower social classes are underrepresented at the upper levels of the US federal bureaucracy. More recent research adds that women and ethnic minorities tend to be underrepresented in leadership positions (e.g., Anestaki et al 2016;Choi 2011;Clark, Ochs, and Frazier 2013), although women less so in agencies responsible for so-called feminine issues (Smith and Monaghan 2013). On the US state and local levels, in two studies on gender and ethnicity representation, Sigelman (1976) and Sigelman and Karnig (1977) found that women and African Americans were underrepresented in upper-level management.…”

Representative bureaucracy, role congruence, and Kenya's gender quota

“…Our theory revolves around perceptions of role congruence by the managers in an agency in charge of hiring. The perceptions of these elites, in and of themselves, matter for the diversity of an agency (Anestaki, Sabharwal, Connelly, & Cayer, 2016). But given our focus on frontline bureaucrats, we are concerned more with managers' perceptions of local communities' role congruence across the different localities in which a frontline bureaucrat may be employed.…”