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Description
Background
In Los Angeles, city departments and bureaus are led by general managers. Some departments are either governed or supervised by a board or a commission whose members are usually appointed by the mayor and subject to confirmation by the council. These appointed officials oversee many aspects of life in Los Angeles, from affordable housing or airports, to cultural heritage or the harbor.
These positions are held by many individuals with diverse ethnic backgrounds and lives. As stated in the city’s charter, the mayor shall “strive to make his or her overall appointments to appointed boards, commissions or advisory bodies established by the Charter or ordinance reflect the diversity of the City, including, but not limited to, communities of interest, neighborhoods, ethnicity, race, gender, age and sexual orientation.”
This report was commissioned by the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti to provide a data-based analysis of representation (by sex and race/ethnicity) in mayoral appointed positions of leadership in the City of Los Angeles.
Methodology
There are currently 38 general managers leading departments and 286 commissioners serving on 51 boards or commissions in the City of Los Angeles. To conduct this analysis, StudyLA received a database of those individuals who have been appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti. In addition to their position, StudyLA also received variables to identify appointees’ sex and race/ethnicity to be able to analyze the data by these demographics.
These data were compared to race/ethnicity and sex data of the city’s total adult population to determine parity. For this analysis, data were pulled from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey using the 2021 1-year estimate data profiles released September 2022 (see the detailed methodology at the end of the report for more details). We acknowledge the reductive nature of labels, however, for purposes of analysis we use the categories of female, male, Latina/o, Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, Native American, and White throughout this report.
Please note, total percentages in the data visualizations may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Why This Matters
Diverse leadership is one indicator of an administration’s commitment to equity in its priorities and practices. Diversity means that a greater depth and breadth of experiences, perspectives, and values are reflected in decision-making processes. Diverse leadership also expands the ways leaders can relate to individuals internally and externally. What’s more, the collective perspectives of those in leadership roles allows for broader awareness of new opportunities (economic or otherwise) and encourages more inclusive decision-making overall. Furthermore, diverse leadership attracts talent and promotes retention, as (future and current) employees and partners can see themselves and their values reflected in the leadership.
Many studies have been conducted over the years that document representation, explain how the representation occurred (usually using data over time), and discuss why representation is significant and important. This report only documents representation in 2022. It is a snapshot – not a trend analysis – but our hope is that this will be the start of an ongoing study of representation moving forward with an added element that builds a database of the past.
Publication Date
2022
Disciplines
Political Science
