Empowering the Female City Manager to Succeed: What Role Does Mentoring Play in the Personal Development and Preparation of Women for this Leadership Position?

• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Author: P. Edward French,Robert D. Eskridge
• Date: 01 July 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13332

704 Public Administration Review • July | August 2021

Abstract: How does mentoring impact the personal work-related attitudes of female city managers in the United

States? Data from a survey of female city managers from cities of 5,000 people or more show that mentoring

relationships often have a positive impact on the participant’s self-confidence and preparation for her position in terms

of understanding work processes, responsibilities, and relationships. Mentoring is especially important to females who

are employed in their first city manager position as survey data indicate that nonmentored female managers perceive

more personal challenges with several activities including general administrative duties, developing and managing the

budget and policies, and preparing and implementing a strategic plan, as well as a healthy balance of their work and

personal life.

Evidence for Practice

• Adequate mentoring increases city managers’ confidence regarding their personal preparation for the

position, and this is especially important for female administrators.

• Female city managers who have been mentored exhibit a greater shared understanding between themselves

and the city council regarding the political goals of the council and the responsibilities of the chief

administrative officer position.

• Traditional city management activities are less challenging personally to female managers who believe that

they have been adequately mentored.

Females comprise almost 52 percent of those

individuals employed in all public and

private sector management positions and

46 percent of the total workforce for management

and nonmanagement positions classified under the

public administration field (U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics2020). While numerous initiatives aimed

at creating a more diverse workforce have resulted in

the development and promulgation of multicultural

organizations in both the public and private

sectors, the advancement of women into executive

leadership positions in federal, state, and especially

local government has not evolved as precipitously.

The International City Management Association

(ICMA) notes that 29.7 percent of ICMA members

who work for U.S. local governments full time are

female (ICMA2017). Recent data suggest that city

management continues to be a male-dominated

profession as only 15.7 percent of city managers

(compared to approximately 11 percent in 1997) and

37 percent of assistant and deputy chief administrative

officers are female, while almost 47 percent of ICMA

members employed in other local government positions

are women (ICMA2017). The statistics suggest only

minimal progress for females in local government in the

twenty-first century even though public administration

scholarship and practice have devoted considerable

efforts to evaluating and implementing plans dedicated

to advancing the integration of women into the top

executive posts in federal, state, and local governments.

Thus, questions arise as to why females who are

prepping for these top positions are either hesitant to

make the transition or not getting the jobs and what

else can be done to close this gap? This research intends

to evaluate the role that a mentoring relationship can

play in the personal development and preparation of

women for the city management position.

The experiences of women in public service have

been fundamentally different from that of their

male counterparts since the beginning of the

administrative state (Stivers2002). The dynamics

of gender have shaped organizational structures,

organizational practices, and numerous realities

that females endure in public service. Gender

issues have continued to be defined by patterns of

Empowering the Female City Manager to Succeed: What

Role Does Mentoring Play in the Personal Development and

Preparation of Women for this Leadership Position?

P. Edward French Robert D. Eskridge

Mississippi State University Appalachian State University

Robert D. Eskridge is an Associate

Professor of Public Administration in the

Department of Government and Justice

Studies at Appalachian State University.

He specializes in local government

management, ethics, and budgeting at the

local level.

Email: eskridgerd@appstate.edu

P. Edward French is a Fellow in the

National Academy of Public Administration

and currently serves as Department Head

and Professor for the department of Political

Science and Public Administration at

Mississippi State University. He specializes

in local government management and

public sector human resource management.

Email: efrench@pspa.msstate.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 81, Iss. 4, pp. 704–714. © 2020 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13332.

Research Article