A study of the advancement of women in municipal government bureaucracies:Persistence of glass ceilings?

If women's advancement to the highest-level decisionmaking positions in gov ernmental bureaucracies is to be enhanced, a better understanding of the co ntinued impediments to such progress is essential. This study employs a lar ge, previously underutilized national data set obtained from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to answer two questions. To what extent are women represented in the top-level administrative positions in m unicipal governments? And, are the impediments to women reaching the highes t-level administrative posts in municipal governments related to the policy outputs and/or organizational cultures of these agencies? We find that (1) the underrepresentation of women in top-level administrative positions in distributive and regulatory agencies is pervasive across cities, suggesting that women continue to be confronted by the presence of glass ceilings in such agencies; and (2) even though women are well-represented among adminis trative in redistributive agencies in many cities, their full representatio n at the uppermost administrative levels is still an elusive goal. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-8 00-342-9678. E-mail address: getinfo@haworthpressinc.com <Website: http://w ww.haworthpressinc.com>].