About the Author: Dr. Anita Manion is Assistant Professor of Political Science and an Affiliate Faculty Member in Gender Studies at University of Missouri–St. Louis. Along with Dr. Sapna Varkey, Dr. David Kimball and Jake Shaw, Dr. Manion conducted research on gender parity and racial diversity across boards and commissions in Missouri municipalities. Read the findings in our Gender Parity on Civic Boards and Commissions in Missouri Research Report.
Over the last year, I had the opportunity to study municipalities across Missouri. In partnership with United WE and my research associates, our task was to understand gender parity and racial diversity —or lack thereof — on civic boards and commissions. Together, we produced the Gender Parity on Civic Boards and Commissions in Missouri Research Report. This project in itself is unique as there are very few studies examining boards and commissions.
Lack of Research
As my co-researcher and colleague Dr. Sapna Varkey has said, “I remain surprised by the fact that researchers and public and private entities are not interested in collecting data and understanding how under-representation plays out. I have even heard some researchers say, ‘We know white men are in power, what’s the point in documenting it.’ Without effort to understand what’s going on, it will be difficult to change the status quo.”
Jake Shaw, another co-researcher said, “I remain shocked by how unavailable data on municipal boards and commissions remain across Missouri. The fact that many Missourians are unable to easily see what boards and commissions serve their community, much less who serves on them, perpetuates a cycle of disproportionate representation for women and racial and ethnic minorities. How can residents be well represented if they don’t even know a board or commission exists?”
Although we might have had a hunch that there was not equitable representation on boards and commissions, we now have the data to talk to Missouri decision makers and community members to make change.
Lack of Gender Parity and Racial Diversity
It’s true. Our research reveals a lack of gender parity on civic boards and commissions. In fact, only 36.9% of board and commission seats are filled by women. My co-researcher and colleague Dr. David Kimball says, "This is yet another domain of public service where women are underrepresented.”
That was not shocking to us, but we were surprised to see which municipalities’ gender parity lacked the most. Municipalities with populations of under 3,000 are closer to gender parity on their boards and commissions than more populous municipalities. We expected that bigger cities with larger populations to recruit from would be able to achieve higher levels of gender equity — but that did not prove to be true.
Beyond gender representation, I also wanted to dig deeper to see what representation looked like by race as well as the intersection of race and gender. Examining the disparity on stereotypically masculine ‘power boards’ as well as stereotypically feminine boards was also important to me, and an area with a lot of opportunity for improvement. When we look at the overall numbers, board members are not representative of the population, but when it comes to power boards that are particularly influential and wield financial resources, there are even fewer women, and we find that they are overwhelmingly composed of white members. This presents an opportunity for elected officials to be intentional about diversifying the power boards and commissions in particular.
What Now?
There is a lack of research and a lack of gender parity and racial diversity across Missouri boards and commissions. Is that due to a lack of interest? Perhaps. I believe it’s more likely that it is due to a lack of awareness.
I encourage Missouri municipalities to review this report and begin working towards change. United WE will be sharing the data at the Missouri Municipalities League Annual Conference in September.
The level of response that we have already seen from women in various communities gives me hope that this research can make a real-world impact on improving gender and racial parity on boards and commissions. We had great conversations with women in Springfield, Missouri, when we previewed the research, and I look forward to continuing those discussions in other communities. I am even feeling inspired to look into serving on a board or commission myself!
Like the women who came before us, we need to continue to identify where these disparities exist and to make the effort to step up and serve, and to encourage and support other women and people of color to serve. Our communities are better when we have diverse voices at the tables of power.
If you aren’t able to serve at this time, maybe you have a friend, colleague, or family member who would be a good fit to serve on a board or commission. Encourage them to apply! This is our chance to help shape the way our communities function.
Start your civic leadership journey today by joining United WE’s Appointments Project®.