Equity at the Intersection: Public Administration and the Study of Gender

• Published date: 01 May 2009
• Author: Domonic A. Bearfield
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2009.01985.x
• Date: 01 May 2009

Equity at the Intersection 383

Domonic A. Bearf‌i eld

Texas A&M University

Equity at the Intersection: Public Administration and the

Study of Gender

Senior–Junior

Exchange: The

Concept of

Social Equity

Reconsidered

Domonic A. Bearf‌i eld is an assistant

professor in the George Bush School of

Government and Public Service at Texas

A&M University. His research interests include

patronage, representation, and reform.

Email: dbearf‌i eld@bushschool.tamu.edu

While gender has emerged as an important research

subject, the development of a feminist theory has

been slow.  is paper calls for a commitment to

the development of a feminist theory of public

administration. As part of this development, the author

argues that the f‌i eld also must embrace research focused

on the intersection of multiple identity categories such as

race and class.

In her essay “ e Pursuit of Social Equity in the

Federal Government: A Road Less Traveled?”

Professor Norma M. Riccucci begins with a quota-

tion from the novelist James Baldwin and the familiar

metaphor of a glass that can be perceived as half empty

or half full.  e Baldwin quote captures the frustration

felt by many Americans con-

cerning the country’s struggle

for full equality and civil rights.

 e glass metaphor asks wheth-

er, at the midpoint, one should

be pleased by the progress we

have made or disappointed that

we have not accomplished more.

As the reader begins to grap-

ple with the idea of pleasure,

disappointment, and patience

in the context of social equity,

as if by sleight of hand, Riccucci

presents the usually homog-

enized category of “people of

color” as individual groups organized by race and

gender, turning what appeared to be a single glass into

many, with levels of progress

that range from optimism to

despair. Even the very question

of progress is a lot less clear.

 is is particularly true for

female federal employees.

According to Hsieh and Win-

slow (2006), although women

have made gains in overall

representation, inequality exists

among women of dif‌f erent racial and ethnic groups.

 e information presented by Riccucci supports

this observation. In her section on “Social Equity in

Leadership Posts,” she reports that during the period

from 1985 to 2007, women showed a 22.4 percent

gain in the number of Senior Executive Service

(SES) appointments, with white women increasing

16.3 percent. However, all other women showed

much more modest gains. African American women

increased their total by 2.7 percent, while Asians,

Latinas, and American Indians improved by less than

1 percent each. Although all female racial and ethnic

groups continued to trail their male counterparts

in terms of total SES appointments, an argument

can be made that one would expect, among African

Americans, to see more women

in the SES than men because of

the fact that they are the only

group for which the number of

female federal employees was

substantially greater than the

number of male employees in

both 1984 and 2007. While

one should be careful about

how much is inferred from

descriptive statistics alone,

an examination of the rest of

Riccucci’s essay, particularly the

section on “Social Equity across

Agencies,” does suggest that

gender, as well as race, af‌f ects the employment experi-

ences and opportunities of federal workers.

 e study of race, gender, and

representation is not a new idea

to our f‌i eld. However, ref‌l ecting

on the information presented

by Riccucci, one is inclined to

believe that the future of social

equity research lies in questions

that address the intersection of

race and gender as opposed

to approaches that deal with

…one is inclined to believe

that the future of social equity

research lies in questions that

address the intersection of

race and gender as opposed to

approaches that deal with them

as separate categories.

…Riccucci presents the usually

homogenized category of

“people of color” as individual

groups organized by race and

gender, turning what appeared

to be a single glass into many,

with levels of progress that

range from optimism to despair.

Even the very question of

progress is a lot less clear.

PUAR1985.indd 383 9/4/09 4:52:07 PM