Working Toward Gender Equity in California Counties
By Erin Hannigan
You may have read recently that California counties are reportedly not doing enough to promote gender equality when it comes to compensating employees. As a Solano County Supervisor and one of the co-chairs for CSAC’s Women’s Leadership Forum, I take this very seriously. And I speak for CSAC when I say that we will work with our counties and the Legislature to address issues identified recently in a report by the California State Auditor. However, I think it’s also important to put the report in context and acknowledge the progress that women have made in the county workforce.
Ten years ago, 10 of the 58 counties in California had female county administrators—the top staff position in the county structure. Today there are 19 women in this role—about 33 percent. According to a recent study by UC Davis there are only 17 female CEOs in the top 400 California corporations. That’s about 4 percent. We can do better in the public and private sectors, but women are leading our largest, most populated counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Alameda, as well as our smallest rural counties, including Alpine and Mono.