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Gender equity is a complex concept that can be viewed from many different angles and
using a variety of lenses. Of particular interest to scholars of public administration are questions
dealing with equity in representation. A starting angle of analysis is often one of basic
comparison: are women represented within governmental institutions to the same extent as men?
Additionally, however, supplemental lines of inquiry are often pursued – in particular, ones
focused on equity from demographic, political, and economic perspectives. First, a demographic
inquiry poses the following question: Does the number of women in an institution parallel the
proportion of women in the general population? Second, a political investigation often focuses
on power relationships and policy outcomes, querying the following: Can women complete
goals or act with the same authority as men? Does greater representation of women lead to more
female-friendly policies? Finally, an economic viewpoint considers equity in terms of monetary
rewards and compensation: Do women earn as much money as men when positioned in similar
levels of employment?
In this paper, we use these multiple lenses and angles to investigate equity in American
state and local government employment via both descriptive and preliminary explanatory
analyses. We rely primarily on the literature of representative bureaucracy to formulate our
expectations. Our results point to notable variation in equity across the American states in both
representation and compensation, as well as to the importance and utility of a multifaceted
framework for understanding equity and equality.
Avenues of Representation and Equity
The concept of representative bureaucracy – a topic that, in recent years, has gained
increased prominence in the public administration literature – is the most common theoretical
framework from which to describe and explain equity across genders within government.
Convention