Study: Women hold only 29.1% of executive positions in Utah's municipal governments
KUTV — A new study reports that women hold only 29.1% of executive leadership positions in Utah's municipal governments, which is considerably lower than Utah counties or state governments.
The research and policy brief recently released by the Utah Women & Leadership Project is the first in a three-part series.
It stated in part:
Many decisions that have the greatest impact on the everyday lives of Utah residents do not happen in Washington DC or even in Utah’s State Capitol. They occur in the chambers of city councils and town meeting halls, where community members have much more access to their local elected government leaders than those at the state and national levels.
(Click here or below to read the entire study.)
The study stated that Gallup recently found that 72% of Americans have a “great deal or a fair amount of trust in their local government,” which is strikingly different from trust in state and national governments. Yet, for local governments to run efficiently, the oversight of day-to-day operations is most often delegated to administrative professionals.
In total, there are more than 25,850 municipal employees working for Utah’s 247 cities and towns, the study determined. Its analysis reflects the information received (or found through city websites) on the 4,544 leadership positions for which gender representation was available.
In attempting to locate comparable national statistics, the study found that this is one of the first statewide studies of its kind and therefore groundbreaking. In fact, the only comparable data found was national data from 2009 that reported women were represented in 30% of township administrations and 28% of city administrations. Of course, these data are outdated and represent only top administrators or executives, while the Project research included those positions as well as supervisory and managerial positions.
Research shows that communities and organizations increasingly thrive when men and women work together in leadership roles. Gender inclusivity benefits not only businesses, churches, schools, and state legislatures, but also state and local governments - including the thousands of government professionals who run the daily functions of municipalities within the state of Utah.
Dr. April Townsend, Rep. Candice Pierucci, and Brooke Smith co-authored the study. KUTV 2News did not commission or participate in this study and could not verify its results or findings.
