Handbook on Gender and Public Administration, 2022
This ground-breaking Handbook on Gender and Public Administration brings together leading experts... more This ground-breaking Handbook on Gender and Public Administration brings together leading experts in a rapidly growing field of study to explore the emerging contexts of gender and public administration. Capturing the many facets of this dynamic trend, the book explores gender equity and further examines masculinity, intersectionality and beyond binary conceptions of gender.
Chapters written by expert contributors provide an in-depth analysis of the history, theory and context of gender equity alongside the intersection of gender and traditional public administration topics such as budgeting, personnel, organizations, ethics, performance and representative democracy. Furthermore, it investigates gender dynamics in international, governmental, non-profit, policy and academic contexts, highlights the progress made, and identifies the ongoing challenges.
This timely Handbook will be an excellent resource for scholars in public administration who wish to explore gender and the broader questions of social equity, as well as scholars new to the field of public administration and gender. Following a growing movement to incorporate gender into public administration curriculum, this book will also prove a useful guide for faculty providing these courses.
On the Way to Tenure: Women in the Public Sector at John Jay in Reflections on Academic Lives: Identities, Struggles, and Triumphs in Graduate School and Beyond, 2017
Sex and gender are evolving identity categories with emergent public policy and administration ne... more Sex and gender are evolving identity categories with emergent public policy and administration needs. To respond to the diverse landscape of sex and gender issues in the public sector, greater competency is needed. This research will contribute to the body of work on sex and gender in public administration by asking the following questions: (a) what do graduate students in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs know about gender competency, (b) have graduate students learned gender competency in their MPA coursework, and (c) how can gender competency in MPA education be further developed and promoted? This study provides a critical analysis of one MPA program, at John Jay College, City University of New York, to begin this line of research. Our e-survey results of a nonrandom sample of John Jay MPA students demonstrate that many students do not learn about gender competency through their MPA education and that gender competency skills otherwise obtained are limited. To address this, we emphasize the need for incorporating gender competency into MPA education as the first step in equipping future practitioners with skills to promote gender competency in public policy, administrative decision making, and workplace culture. We provide practical means of achieving greater gender competency in MPA curricula and programming and articulate the importance of expanding this research to other MPA programs, MPA faculty and directors, and geographic regions.
Student engagement in institutions of higher education has become a central priority for educator... more Student engagement in institutions of higher education has become a central priority for educators and administrators. What "student engagement" means for a diverse student body is an important question for public institutions with justice-related missions. As social welfare policy shifts to allow more recipients of public assistance access to higher education, research regarding their engagement experiences remains scarce. To support a socioeconomically diverse student body, consistent with the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards, this project explores the nature of engagement among student recipients of public assistance by asking the following research questions: what forms of engagement with students on public assistance take place? Why is engaging students on public assistance important? How can we foster greater engagement with students on public assistance? To answer these questions, student and faculty focus groups are conducted. From this analysis, we highlight normative implications of engaging a socioeconomically diverse student population and present recommendations for fostering greater engagement.
This research explores the priorities of the gender equity commission in New York City over forty... more This research explores the priorities of the gender equity commission in New York City over fortyfive years. Archival commission data was organized thematically to understand the history of gender equity and suggest future possibilities for gender equity beyond New York City. In our historical analysis, we see an expansion of the definition of gender and an adoption of an intersectional approach to gender. We identify four historical gender priorities: sexual harassment and violence, pay equity and economic advancement, health and safety, and gender recognition and celebration. To address systemic issues of gender inequity, we recommend local level administrators embed an intersectional approach in their policies and programming and move away from the commission model to one of a permanent office or agency. These recommendations will better equip municipalities with the resources to increase gender equity, particularly during COVID-19 recovery.
Popular culture. It is everywhere—from movies, television, music, and literary works to other veh... more Popular culture. It is everywhere—from movies, television, music, and literary works to other vehicles for messaging like social media and celebrity influencers. Popular culture frequently provides messages pertinent to social equity, especially about inequities experienced by historically marginalized groups. This special issue explores pop culture’s social equity messaging in the context of public administration. Despite the ubiquity of popular culture’s artifacts and its messages both about and for public administration, it remains under-examined within public administration scholarship. This special issue is an attempt to bring pop culture topics and applications into the discipline. As a starting point, this collection presents seven manuscripts and two reviews that speak to different forms and analyses of popular culture’s messages about and for social equity in public administration. First, McCandless and Elias (2020) contextualize pop culture in public administration by offering a foundational definition and providing examples of pop culture’s utility for public administration research and teaching. Then, using critical discourse analysis, they demonstrate the benefit of incorporating popular culture analyses to capture the intersection of power, equity, and ethics in governance. Second, Borry (2020) explores gender identity in television. She notes how many states and localities have adjusted their policies related to gender identification, yet, many conversations about this topic make people nervous. She uses Gooden’s “Race Talk Strategies” framework to analyze these nervous conversations in two popular television series: Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy. From this analysis, she highlights the utility of these conversations in popular culture for social equity in practice. Third, Colvin and Moton (2020) extend the focus on television to include sexual orientation. Conducting exploratory research, they examine the presence and portrayal of lesbian police officers. The first portrayal of a lesbian officer occurred in 1986, and since then, their presence has increased on television. Colvin and Moton examine patterns in these portrayals
In the discipline of public administration, popular culture remains under-examined in scholarship... more In the discipline of public administration, popular culture remains under-examined in scholarship and under-utilized in pedagogy. However, the field would benefit from greater integration of popular culture to expand understandings of governance, especially in that it provides important representations of and messaging about some of today's most pressing social equity issues. To contextualize popular culture in public administration, we use critical discourse analysis as a frame to demonstrate how popular culture can inform public administration, especially regarding social equity. We argue that popular culture should be more extensively covered in public administration, because it offers a lens for better understanding intersections of power, equity, and ethics in government.
School closings during COVID-19 exposed an under-addressed gender equity issue in the United Stat... more School closings during COVID-19 exposed an under-addressed gender equity issue in the United States: child care in crisis. To better understand the child care crisis in the current U.S. context, we detail how New York City is addressing child care during COVID-19. We then connect the current approaches to the Lanham Act that was instituted during WWII as a historical parallel. Ultimately, we argue for the adoption of a universal system that is affordable, high-quality, federally-funded with local involvement and discretion, and flexible for primary caregivers seeking care support. This potential system builds on current congressional proposals and should take into account the challenges primary caregivers face in order to disrupt gender imbalances in care, and in turn, produce greater gender equity. COVID-19 is an opportunity to instill lasting change by improving the current U.S. child care model.
Our fundamental understandings and treatments of gender and gender identity within the United Sta... more Our fundamental understandings and treatments of gender and gender identity within the United States are evolving. Recently, a few countries and several U.S. states have moved away from the binary categories of male and female to include a non-binary gender option for official state documents. This third, gender-neutral option, is usually represented as "X" where "M" for male and "F" for female traditionally appeared. The purpose of this study is twofold; first, to utilize Iris Marion Young's theory of oppression to help contextualize the historical oppression of non-binary gender identity recognition by the State, and second, to analyze recent efforts by U.S. states to include non-binary gender categories. Using Young's theory for normative explanation along with the Open Society Foundations' (OSF) practical recommendations, we present a simple administrative framework for comparing proposed, adopted, and enacted non-binary gender policies across the United States. Tying each OSF best practice to one of Young's faces of oppression, we are able to assess each law or policies' effectiveness in dismantling the oppressive binary constructs of society.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities within the workplace have recently gain... more Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities within the workplace have recently gained greater attention as significant demographic categories. A key question that emerges from the limited scholarship on LGBT employment in the federal government is whether there is a distinction between the experiences of employees within federal security agencies, defined here as the five major agencies that provide civilian support to the defense and military structures of the United States, and employees of other federal agencies. Using data from the 2013 Employee Viewpoint Survey, this article addresses the following questions: How does sexual orientation and/or gender identity as self-reported in the 2013 EVS impact employee perceptions of personal safety and security, job satisfaction, and diversity issues, and how do these perceptions vary between employees of the major security agencies and other federal agencies? The article shows that across the federal government employees are reasonably satisfied with diversity issues in the workplace, with no appreciable difference between those in security and nonsecurity agencies. However, current programs and policies intended to foster and institutionalize diversity are viewed as ineffective and should be improved through new policies and programs.
Sex and gender are increasingly complex topics that prompt new policy and administrative response... more Sex and gender are increasingly complex topics that prompt new policy and administrative responses within public agencies. As the federal workforce evolves, federal employment policy must accommodate the needs of employees who do not fit traditional sex/gender categories. One emerging area of policy targets transgender employees, particularly policy that guides the employer response throughout the transitioning process. This research seeks to answer the following questions: How can transitioning policy and implementation within federal agencies affect employees? and How should transitioning policy be crafted and implemented? This work addresses organizational behavior and management issues by presenting a successful case of a workplace transition. Interviews of an administrator guiding the transitioning process and one of the first federal employees to complete a transition while in a federal field office are conducted. Ultimately, this research explores challenges with emergent policy and suggests avenues for designing and enacting future transitioning policy.
A growing number of people around the world identify, in some way, as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Tra... more A growing number of people around the world identify, in some way, as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ?); yet, these voices are noticeably absent from nonprofit research. To address issues of equity and the historic marginalization of LGBTQ? people both societally and in the nonprofit sector, this manuscript seeks to answer the following questions: Why is it important to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) survey questions in nonprofit surveys? What are best practices for including SOGIE survey questions in nonprofit research? We present LGBTQ? inclusive research strategies and suggested questions for inclusive SOGIE survey design. Though this article focuses primarily on surveying LGBTQ? populations, it can also be instructive for general population surveys.
ABSTRACTThis work explores the meaning of diversity for bureaucratic representation. In light of ... more ABSTRACTThis work explores the meaning of diversity for bureaucratic representation. In light of the United States becoming an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse society, attitudes and approaches toward diversity are likewise shifting. It is important to consider the way we think and talk about diverse representation, which in turn, contributes to different actions and policies within federal agencies. To evaluate this process of meaning-making, federal policy seeking to increase representation in the following Executive Orders: 13078, 13163, 13171, 13518, 13548, and 13585 is analyzed. Prime emphasis is devoted to the most recent and comprehensive efforts, Executive Order 13583: Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce issued on August 18, 2011 and the Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. This research demonstrates significant implications for management and governance, particularly in the text, discursive practice, and social practice surrounding the meaning of "diversity" purported for the federal bureaucracy.We must consider how our definition of 'representative' has broadened and the system has evolved. While the founders of America defined 'representative' very narrowly-including primarily the white male landowners or property owners-our understanding of the term today encompasses all people, including ethnic minorities and women. - Harry Kranz 1976, xiiiINTRODUCTIONThe United States is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse (see Appendix A). From 2000 to 2010, the total U.S. population grew by 9.7 percent, from 281.4 million in 2000 to 308.7 million in 2010. The "Asian alone" census group experienced the fastest rate of growth, while the "Black" population increased at a faster rate than the total population. More than half of the growth in the total population of the United States was due to the increase in the Hispanic population. Conversely, the "White alone" population experienced the slowest rate of growth; yet, the proportion of Whites who reported more than one race did grow by 37 percent (2010 Census Quickfacts on Race). In comparison, the racial demographics of the federal workforce are not proportionally representative of the U.S. general population (see Appendix B). This disparity raises several important normative and practical issues surrounding representation for diversity management and governance, more generally.With these demographic changes, attitudes and approaches toward representation are likewise shifting. Public administration scholarship and practice have the ability to contribute to this dynamic process of defining representation, diversity, and crafting diversity initiatives to meet the needs of the public. As such, President Obama issued Executive Order 13583: Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce on August 18, 2011. This research seeks to answer the following question: how is diversity being defined and what are the implications for a representative bureaucracy in practice? To answer these questions, a critical discourse analysis of Executive Orders 13078, 13163, 13171, 13518, 13548, and 13585 is performed. Prime emphasis is devoted to the most recent and comprehensive documents, Executive Order 13583 and the subsequent Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan.A fundamental reason for promoting diverse representation in public organizations is that a representative workforce is more reflective of the society it serves, making representation an intrinsic good. Additionally, a view of representative bureaucracy as an instrumental good may promote representation in the form of positive policy outcomes when active representation benefits the population served. For representative bureaucracy to be meaningful in both scholarship and practice, a clearer understanding of diversity in the context of bureaucratic representation and its potential for fulfilling public purposes must be undertaken. …
LGBTQ+ issues at the local level pose some of the most pressing civil rights challenges in the cu... more LGBTQ+ issues at the local level pose some of the most pressing civil rights challenges in the current U.S. context. This analysis provides insight into what is taking place in major municipalities and how these efforts can be improved to bolster equity and civil rights for LGBTQ+ populations. At a time when identity, language, and public sector values are inherently intertwined and constantly changing, the following question is ripe for analysis: how are major U.S. municipalities addressing the civil rights needs of the LGBTQ+ population? To answer this question, an analysis of government websites from the top 10 U.S. cities by population is conducted, examining the policies, programs, and services that municipalities offer LGBTQ+ residents and the language used to frame these policies, programs, and services as expressions of power, representations of identity, and the website presentation itself. Evidence for Practice • Municipalities should adopt comprehensive policies, programs, and services to promote LGBTQ+ civil rights that take into account the varied needs of their diverse populations. • The language used in LGBTQ+ policies, programs, and services should be carefully considered, because language has the potential to build inclusion and trust among administrators and LGBTQ+ residents. • Municipalities should not only develop more inclusive LGBTQ+ policies, programs, and services but also work to improve their accessibility and web presence so that knowledge of these efforts is readily available to LGBTQ+ individuals. Her forthcoming work includes two coedited volumes: Ethics for Contemporary Bureaucrats: Navigating Constitutional Crossroads and Handbook of Gender and Public Administration.
Handbook on Gender and Public Administration, 2022
This ground-breaking Handbook on Gender and Public Administration brings together leading experts... more This ground-breaking Handbook on Gender and Public Administration brings together leading experts in a rapidly growing field of study to explore the emerging contexts of gender and public administration. Capturing the many facets of this dynamic trend, the book explores gender equity and further examines masculinity, intersectionality and beyond binary conceptions of gender.
Chapters written by expert contributors provide an in-depth analysis of the history, theory and context of gender equity alongside the intersection of gender and traditional public administration topics such as budgeting, personnel, organizations, ethics, performance and representative democracy. Furthermore, it investigates gender dynamics in international, governmental, non-profit, policy and academic contexts, highlights the progress made, and identifies the ongoing challenges.
This timely Handbook will be an excellent resource for scholars in public administration who wish to explore gender and the broader questions of social equity, as well as scholars new to the field of public administration and gender. Following a growing movement to incorporate gender into public administration curriculum, this book will also prove a useful guide for faculty providing these courses.
On the Way to Tenure: Women in the Public Sector at John Jay in Reflections on Academic Lives: Identities, Struggles, and Triumphs in Graduate School and Beyond, 2017
Sex and gender are evolving identity categories with emergent public policy and administration ne... more Sex and gender are evolving identity categories with emergent public policy and administration needs. To respond to the diverse landscape of sex and gender issues in the public sector, greater competency is needed. This research will contribute to the body of work on sex and gender in public administration by asking the following questions: (a) what do graduate students in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs know about gender competency, (b) have graduate students learned gender competency in their MPA coursework, and (c) how can gender competency in MPA education be further developed and promoted? This study provides a critical analysis of one MPA program, at John Jay College, City University of New York, to begin this line of research. Our e-survey results of a nonrandom sample of John Jay MPA students demonstrate that many students do not learn about gender competency through their MPA education and that gender competency skills otherwise obtained are limited. To address this, we emphasize the need for incorporating gender competency into MPA education as the first step in equipping future practitioners with skills to promote gender competency in public policy, administrative decision making, and workplace culture. We provide practical means of achieving greater gender competency in MPA curricula and programming and articulate the importance of expanding this research to other MPA programs, MPA faculty and directors, and geographic regions.
Student engagement in institutions of higher education has become a central priority for educator... more Student engagement in institutions of higher education has become a central priority for educators and administrators. What "student engagement" means for a diverse student body is an important question for public institutions with justice-related missions. As social welfare policy shifts to allow more recipients of public assistance access to higher education, research regarding their engagement experiences remains scarce. To support a socioeconomically diverse student body, consistent with the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards, this project explores the nature of engagement among student recipients of public assistance by asking the following research questions: what forms of engagement with students on public assistance take place? Why is engaging students on public assistance important? How can we foster greater engagement with students on public assistance? To answer these questions, student and faculty focus groups are conducted. From this analysis, we highlight normative implications of engaging a socioeconomically diverse student population and present recommendations for fostering greater engagement.
This research explores the priorities of the gender equity commission in New York City over forty... more This research explores the priorities of the gender equity commission in New York City over fortyfive years. Archival commission data was organized thematically to understand the history of gender equity and suggest future possibilities for gender equity beyond New York City. In our historical analysis, we see an expansion of the definition of gender and an adoption of an intersectional approach to gender. We identify four historical gender priorities: sexual harassment and violence, pay equity and economic advancement, health and safety, and gender recognition and celebration. To address systemic issues of gender inequity, we recommend local level administrators embed an intersectional approach in their policies and programming and move away from the commission model to one of a permanent office or agency. These recommendations will better equip municipalities with the resources to increase gender equity, particularly during COVID-19 recovery.
Popular culture. It is everywhere—from movies, television, music, and literary works to other veh... more Popular culture. It is everywhere—from movies, television, music, and literary works to other vehicles for messaging like social media and celebrity influencers. Popular culture frequently provides messages pertinent to social equity, especially about inequities experienced by historically marginalized groups. This special issue explores pop culture’s social equity messaging in the context of public administration. Despite the ubiquity of popular culture’s artifacts and its messages both about and for public administration, it remains under-examined within public administration scholarship. This special issue is an attempt to bring pop culture topics and applications into the discipline. As a starting point, this collection presents seven manuscripts and two reviews that speak to different forms and analyses of popular culture’s messages about and for social equity in public administration. First, McCandless and Elias (2020) contextualize pop culture in public administration by offering a foundational definition and providing examples of pop culture’s utility for public administration research and teaching. Then, using critical discourse analysis, they demonstrate the benefit of incorporating popular culture analyses to capture the intersection of power, equity, and ethics in governance. Second, Borry (2020) explores gender identity in television. She notes how many states and localities have adjusted their policies related to gender identification, yet, many conversations about this topic make people nervous. She uses Gooden’s “Race Talk Strategies” framework to analyze these nervous conversations in two popular television series: Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy. From this analysis, she highlights the utility of these conversations in popular culture for social equity in practice. Third, Colvin and Moton (2020) extend the focus on television to include sexual orientation. Conducting exploratory research, they examine the presence and portrayal of lesbian police officers. The first portrayal of a lesbian officer occurred in 1986, and since then, their presence has increased on television. Colvin and Moton examine patterns in these portrayals
In the discipline of public administration, popular culture remains under-examined in scholarship... more In the discipline of public administration, popular culture remains under-examined in scholarship and under-utilized in pedagogy. However, the field would benefit from greater integration of popular culture to expand understandings of governance, especially in that it provides important representations of and messaging about some of today's most pressing social equity issues. To contextualize popular culture in public administration, we use critical discourse analysis as a frame to demonstrate how popular culture can inform public administration, especially regarding social equity. We argue that popular culture should be more extensively covered in public administration, because it offers a lens for better understanding intersections of power, equity, and ethics in government.
School closings during COVID-19 exposed an under-addressed gender equity issue in the United Stat... more School closings during COVID-19 exposed an under-addressed gender equity issue in the United States: child care in crisis. To better understand the child care crisis in the current U.S. context, we detail how New York City is addressing child care during COVID-19. We then connect the current approaches to the Lanham Act that was instituted during WWII as a historical parallel. Ultimately, we argue for the adoption of a universal system that is affordable, high-quality, federally-funded with local involvement and discretion, and flexible for primary caregivers seeking care support. This potential system builds on current congressional proposals and should take into account the challenges primary caregivers face in order to disrupt gender imbalances in care, and in turn, produce greater gender equity. COVID-19 is an opportunity to instill lasting change by improving the current U.S. child care model.
Our fundamental understandings and treatments of gender and gender identity within the United Sta... more Our fundamental understandings and treatments of gender and gender identity within the United States are evolving. Recently, a few countries and several U.S. states have moved away from the binary categories of male and female to include a non-binary gender option for official state documents. This third, gender-neutral option, is usually represented as "X" where "M" for male and "F" for female traditionally appeared. The purpose of this study is twofold; first, to utilize Iris Marion Young's theory of oppression to help contextualize the historical oppression of non-binary gender identity recognition by the State, and second, to analyze recent efforts by U.S. states to include non-binary gender categories. Using Young's theory for normative explanation along with the Open Society Foundations' (OSF) practical recommendations, we present a simple administrative framework for comparing proposed, adopted, and enacted non-binary gender policies across the United States. Tying each OSF best practice to one of Young's faces of oppression, we are able to assess each law or policies' effectiveness in dismantling the oppressive binary constructs of society.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities within the workplace have recently gain... more Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities within the workplace have recently gained greater attention as significant demographic categories. A key question that emerges from the limited scholarship on LGBT employment in the federal government is whether there is a distinction between the experiences of employees within federal security agencies, defined here as the five major agencies that provide civilian support to the defense and military structures of the United States, and employees of other federal agencies. Using data from the 2013 Employee Viewpoint Survey, this article addresses the following questions: How does sexual orientation and/or gender identity as self-reported in the 2013 EVS impact employee perceptions of personal safety and security, job satisfaction, and diversity issues, and how do these perceptions vary between employees of the major security agencies and other federal agencies? The article shows that across the federal government employees are reasonably satisfied with diversity issues in the workplace, with no appreciable difference between those in security and nonsecurity agencies. However, current programs and policies intended to foster and institutionalize diversity are viewed as ineffective and should be improved through new policies and programs.
Sex and gender are increasingly complex topics that prompt new policy and administrative response... more Sex and gender are increasingly complex topics that prompt new policy and administrative responses within public agencies. As the federal workforce evolves, federal employment policy must accommodate the needs of employees who do not fit traditional sex/gender categories. One emerging area of policy targets transgender employees, particularly policy that guides the employer response throughout the transitioning process. This research seeks to answer the following questions: How can transitioning policy and implementation within federal agencies affect employees? and How should transitioning policy be crafted and implemented? This work addresses organizational behavior and management issues by presenting a successful case of a workplace transition. Interviews of an administrator guiding the transitioning process and one of the first federal employees to complete a transition while in a federal field office are conducted. Ultimately, this research explores challenges with emergent policy and suggests avenues for designing and enacting future transitioning policy.
A growing number of people around the world identify, in some way, as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Tra... more A growing number of people around the world identify, in some way, as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ?); yet, these voices are noticeably absent from nonprofit research. To address issues of equity and the historic marginalization of LGBTQ? people both societally and in the nonprofit sector, this manuscript seeks to answer the following questions: Why is it important to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) survey questions in nonprofit surveys? What are best practices for including SOGIE survey questions in nonprofit research? We present LGBTQ? inclusive research strategies and suggested questions for inclusive SOGIE survey design. Though this article focuses primarily on surveying LGBTQ? populations, it can also be instructive for general population surveys.
ABSTRACTThis work explores the meaning of diversity for bureaucratic representation. In light of ... more ABSTRACTThis work explores the meaning of diversity for bureaucratic representation. In light of the United States becoming an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse society, attitudes and approaches toward diversity are likewise shifting. It is important to consider the way we think and talk about diverse representation, which in turn, contributes to different actions and policies within federal agencies. To evaluate this process of meaning-making, federal policy seeking to increase representation in the following Executive Orders: 13078, 13163, 13171, 13518, 13548, and 13585 is analyzed. Prime emphasis is devoted to the most recent and comprehensive efforts, Executive Order 13583: Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce issued on August 18, 2011 and the Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. This research demonstrates significant implications for management and governance, particularly in the text, discursive practice, and social practice surrounding the meaning of "diversity" purported for the federal bureaucracy.We must consider how our definition of 'representative' has broadened and the system has evolved. While the founders of America defined 'representative' very narrowly-including primarily the white male landowners or property owners-our understanding of the term today encompasses all people, including ethnic minorities and women. - Harry Kranz 1976, xiiiINTRODUCTIONThe United States is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse (see Appendix A). From 2000 to 2010, the total U.S. population grew by 9.7 percent, from 281.4 million in 2000 to 308.7 million in 2010. The "Asian alone" census group experienced the fastest rate of growth, while the "Black" population increased at a faster rate than the total population. More than half of the growth in the total population of the United States was due to the increase in the Hispanic population. Conversely, the "White alone" population experienced the slowest rate of growth; yet, the proportion of Whites who reported more than one race did grow by 37 percent (2010 Census Quickfacts on Race). In comparison, the racial demographics of the federal workforce are not proportionally representative of the U.S. general population (see Appendix B). This disparity raises several important normative and practical issues surrounding representation for diversity management and governance, more generally.With these demographic changes, attitudes and approaches toward representation are likewise shifting. Public administration scholarship and practice have the ability to contribute to this dynamic process of defining representation, diversity, and crafting diversity initiatives to meet the needs of the public. As such, President Obama issued Executive Order 13583: Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce on August 18, 2011. This research seeks to answer the following question: how is diversity being defined and what are the implications for a representative bureaucracy in practice? To answer these questions, a critical discourse analysis of Executive Orders 13078, 13163, 13171, 13518, 13548, and 13585 is performed. Prime emphasis is devoted to the most recent and comprehensive documents, Executive Order 13583 and the subsequent Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan.A fundamental reason for promoting diverse representation in public organizations is that a representative workforce is more reflective of the society it serves, making representation an intrinsic good. Additionally, a view of representative bureaucracy as an instrumental good may promote representation in the form of positive policy outcomes when active representation benefits the population served. For representative bureaucracy to be meaningful in both scholarship and practice, a clearer understanding of diversity in the context of bureaucratic representation and its potential for fulfilling public purposes must be undertaken. …
LGBTQ+ issues at the local level pose some of the most pressing civil rights challenges in the cu... more LGBTQ+ issues at the local level pose some of the most pressing civil rights challenges in the current U.S. context. This analysis provides insight into what is taking place in major municipalities and how these efforts can be improved to bolster equity and civil rights for LGBTQ+ populations. At a time when identity, language, and public sector values are inherently intertwined and constantly changing, the following question is ripe for analysis: how are major U.S. municipalities addressing the civil rights needs of the LGBTQ+ population? To answer this question, an analysis of government websites from the top 10 U.S. cities by population is conducted, examining the policies, programs, and services that municipalities offer LGBTQ+ residents and the language used to frame these policies, programs, and services as expressions of power, representations of identity, and the website presentation itself. Evidence for Practice • Municipalities should adopt comprehensive policies, programs, and services to promote LGBTQ+ civil rights that take into account the varied needs of their diverse populations. • The language used in LGBTQ+ policies, programs, and services should be carefully considered, because language has the potential to build inclusion and trust among administrators and LGBTQ+ residents. • Municipalities should not only develop more inclusive LGBTQ+ policies, programs, and services but also work to improve their accessibility and web presence so that knowledge of these efforts is readily available to LGBTQ+ individuals. Her forthcoming work includes two coedited volumes: Ethics for Contemporary Bureaucrats: Navigating Constitutional Crossroads and Handbook of Gender and Public Administration.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, sex and gender dynamics became a primary focus across discipl... more During the 2017-2018 academic year, sex and gender dynamics became a primary focus across disciplines. For example, central topics included: under representation of women in academic leadership and scholarship, gendered content within top journals and editorial board membership, and the #MeToo movement prompting sexual harassment and assault within academia and campus settings to come to light. This interest in gender taking form underscores the need for MPA curricula to promote gender competency for faculty, students, and future practitioners alike. Organizations such as Women in the Public Sector at John Jay College, ASPA's Section for Women in Public Administration, and Academic Women in Public Administration have taken steps to further understanding, collaboration, and fruitful projects that promote greater gender equity in the field of public administration. As we are start our summer projects, and catch up on all our reading and writing, we should take time to pause, reflect, and engage in discussion on recent research and women's roles that focus on women in academia and public administration. Here, we highlight recent scholarship that embodies these critical issues for women. We invite reflection, responses, and ongoing dialogue considering next steps for addressing these challenges and proposing new ways of thinking and taking action. Women in leadership are underrepresented across all fields, including academia. The need for more women in top management roles is discussed as part of the #MeToo movement to counter the existing power imbalances in organizations. In their 2018
This research explores the priorities of the gender equity commission in New York City over forty... more This research explores the priorities of the gender equity commission in New York City over fortyfive years. Archival commission data was organized thematically to understand the history of gender equity and suggest future possibilities for gender equity beyond New York City. In our historical analysis, we see an expansion of the definition of gender and an adoption of an intersectional approach to gender. We identify four historical gender priorities: sexual harassment and violence, pay equity and economic advancement, health and safety, and gender recognition and celebration. To address systemic issues of gender inequity, we recommend local level administrators embed an intersectional approach in their policies and programming and move away from the commission model to one of a permanent office or agency. These recommendations will better equip municipalities with the resources to increase gender equity, particularly during COVID-19 recovery.
School closings during COVID-19 exposed under-addressed gender equity issue in the United States:... more School closings during COVID-19 exposed under-addressed gender equity issue in the United States: child care in crisis. To better understand the child care crisis in the current U.S. context, we detail how New York City is addressing child care during COVID-19. We then connect the current approaches to the Lanham Act that was instituted during WWII as a historical parallel. Ultimately, we argue for the adoption of a universal system that is affordable, high-quality, federally-funded with local involvement and discretion, and flexible for primary caregivers seeking care support. This potential system builds on current congressional proposals and should take into account the challenges primary caregivers face in order to disrupt gender imbalances in care, and in turn, produce greater gender equity. COVID-19 is an opportunity to instill lasting change by improving the current U.S. child care model.
Sex and gender are evolving identity categories with emergent public policy and administration ne... more Sex and gender are evolving identity categories with emergent public policy and administration needs. To respond to the diverse landscape of sex and gender issues in the public sector, greater competency is needed. This research will contribute to the body of work on sex and gender in public administration by asking the following questions: (a) what do graduate students in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs know about gender competency, (b) have graduate students learned gender competency in their MPA cour-sework, and (c) how can gender competency in MPA education be further developed and promoted? This study provides a critical analysis of one MPA program, at John Jay College, City University of New York, to begin this line of research. Our e-survey results of a non-random sample of John Jay MPA students demonstrate that many students do not learn about gender competency through their MPA education and that gender competency skills otherwise obtained are limited. To address this, we emphasize the need for incorporating gender competency into MPA education as the first step in equipping future practitioners with skills to promote gender competency in public policy, administrative decision making, and workplace culture. We provide practical means of achieving greater gender compe-tency in MPA curricula and programming and articulate the importance of expanding this research to other MPA programs, MPA faculty and directors, and geographic regions.
Handbook on Gender and Public Administration, 2022
This open access chapter introduces the Handbook on Gender and Public Administration. It is a sta... more This open access chapter introduces the Handbook on Gender and Public Administration. It is a starting point to better understand and promote gender equity in theory and practice. As such, this volume is about capturing the multiple dimensions and evolution of gender and public administration (PA) to show how we got here and clarifying where we are heading. The 27 chapters consider PA and gender through a variety of topics such as housing and farm policy, budgeting, reform in Ethiopia, the rights of people who identify as non-binary, ethics, city government, masculinity and representative bureaucracy. These topics are imbedded in a unique organization containing three sections: Theoretical and Historical Roots, Pillars of Public Administration, and The Contexts of Gender and Public Administration. Our hope is that this Handbook provides a basis for seeing and understanding gender in new ways which establish public administration as a leader in practices that promote gender equity. Open access link https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789904727/9781789904727.00008.xml
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Books by Nicole M Elias
Chapters written by expert contributors provide an in-depth analysis of the history, theory and context of gender equity alongside the intersection of gender and traditional public administration topics such as budgeting, personnel, organizations, ethics, performance and representative democracy. Furthermore, it investigates gender dynamics in international, governmental, non-profit, policy and academic contexts, highlights the progress made, and identifies the ongoing challenges.
This timely Handbook will be an excellent resource for scholars in public administration who wish to explore gender and the broader questions of social equity, as well as scholars new to the field of public administration and gender. Following a growing movement to incorporate gender into public administration curriculum, this book will also prove a useful guide for faculty providing these courses.
Papers by Nicole M Elias
Chapters written by expert contributors provide an in-depth analysis of the history, theory and context of gender equity alongside the intersection of gender and traditional public administration topics such as budgeting, personnel, organizations, ethics, performance and representative democracy. Furthermore, it investigates gender dynamics in international, governmental, non-profit, policy and academic contexts, highlights the progress made, and identifies the ongoing challenges.
This timely Handbook will be an excellent resource for scholars in public administration who wish to explore gender and the broader questions of social equity, as well as scholars new to the field of public administration and gender. Following a growing movement to incorporate gender into public administration curriculum, this book will also prove a useful guide for faculty providing these courses.