This is an interesting study. Well, at least it is to me!
The study has the following key findings:
- Statewide, women make up about 29 percent of elected and high-level appointed offices in federal, state, tribal, county, city and school district governments in Wisconsin, but only about 10 percent of leadership positions such as mayor, council president and county board chair.
- Among elected governing (policy) bodies, women make up about 18% of County Board members, 19% of City Council members and 37% of School Board members.
- Women make up 70 to 90 percent of elected (administrative) offices such as Clerk, Treasurer, Clerk of the Courts and Register of Deeds – except in Wisconsin’s largest counties where men are up to three times more likely to hold these positions.
- The number of women serving as Mayors of Wisconsin cities increased from 18 in 2005 to 21 in 2007. Though the net increase is small, there has been increased activity in women seeking the office of mayor.
- Many communities still have no women in local government. Thirty-nine of the 190 cities in Wisconsin (21 percent) have no women City Council members, including the City of Milwaukee. Combined, about nine percent of Wisconsin’s county boards, city councils and school districts have no women members—representing over one million Wisconsin residents.
- When it comes to leadership, size matters. Governing bodies with a greater share of women members are significantly more likely to have women in the top leadership positions. Among city councils and school boards, for example, the likelihood of having a female board president increases markedly only when women hold 40 percent or more of a board’s seats.
