Gender Images in Public Administration: Legitimacy and the Administrative State

by Camilla M. Stivers and Camilla M Stivers

Book Overview

For the first time the key issues in public management are connected with the attitudes and concerns of the womens movement. Stivers describes how the various images of the public manager, such as the professional expert and the visionary leader, not only possess traditional masculine features but confer privileges on men and pose practical dilemmas for women. The author also suggests how feminist thinking might help reduce gender bias in current...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803948034
• ISBN13: 9780803948037
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

We've stil got a long way baby..but things are improving!!

Receiving my own feminist awakening during 1992's 'year of the woman', I remain interested in women's impact within and upon public policy. Because their increasing public participation can no longer seriously be treated as a 'fad', women's public policy participation is inevitable in the 21st century. They were comparatively naive about race/ethnicity, socioeconomic, and disability issues compared to our modern 'progressive' standards, but 19th century reformers (also working for women's suffrage) understood that government would only reflect women's needs if women gained access into this same system. From parks to safe milk/food, women were responsible for some of the monumental policies affecting the quality of life for all people. The 'non-partisan/non-political' current nature of these same reforms obscures the fundamental challenge the women posed to traditional constructions of the state. Because the government was not initially concerned with social welfare (and consigned related tasks to the private sector and/or non-governmental charities) this transformation had a tremendous impact on how everybody thought about public sector responsibilities. Today it is a given that the government provides/should provide pure food, schools and healthcare programs to the most vulnerable populations. Blissfully far from publicly lampooned bean-counting (which wrongfully implies feminist leaders care more about demographic numbers than administrative competence), feminist policymaking sharply differs from traditional models. We realize that the virtues ascribed in a technically gender-neutral government are 'masculine', and women attempting to enter public service in this same system (including education and social services) are accused of stepping outside their gender and attempting to be substitute men. The success of some women in this earlier system temporarily masks its harm upon all people.

Still persistent discrimination

If the government of a democracy aspires to represent its people by more than just the elected politicians, then so too should the professional bureaucracy, and specifically that of the public administration. Given that the electorate is half female, one might expect similarly of public administration. Indeed, there is no shortage of women in it. But when we look at the managerial positions, overwhelmingly they are male. The author asks why this is so. She claims that the self images of leadership and expertise is "culturally masculine", though this is not generally recognised. She dissects its history, going back to the early 20th century when the massive expansion of the federal government began. Through the lens of gender analysis, she shows that the characteristics of leadership in the administration has always had masculine undertones. Not surprisingly, few females were thus promoted. This legacy of resultant career discrimination against women persists; all the more pernicious because it is mostly subliminal and scarcely acknowledged.The author has done us a great service by raising these issues.