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LexisNexis: Women in Politics Progressing Faster Than Women in Business
Database search finds huge lag time in high-level appointments
DAYTON, OH, October 01, 2004 - The White House track record of appointing women to high-level political positions is always noted, tracked, counted and recorded (and often given an abysmal record by advocacy groups), but when compared to corporate America, women in politics hold positions in higher echelons than women in business, according to analysis of information sources in LexisNexis® databases. LexisNexis U.S. is a leading provider of legal, news, and business information services.
What also is noted, in addition to the types of political nods women get, is the speed with which such nominations are made and confirmed by the Senate.
President Bush’s White House holds the record for greatest amount of time needed to push nominations through final Senate confirmation and into an executive branch agency job -- an average of 8.7 months following inauguration. That's up from 2.3 months in John F. Kennedy's day. The average was 8.3 months for the Clinton and previous Bush administrations and 5.2 months for the Reagan White House.
Women make up more than half of the managerial and professional labor pool but account for just over 1 percent of all Fortune 500 chief executives. In 1995, women held just 8.7 percent of Fortune 500 corporate officer positions; by 2002, the percentage had nearly doubled to 15.7 percent.
In Washington, names are floated on and off lists to fill upwards of 15 cabinet-level posts and literally hundreds of sub-cabinet political positions in the executive branch of the presidency. Nominees are needed to fill 500 or so executive branch positions that require Senate confirmation. Presidents typically must fill nearly 1,000 vacated positions throughout the administration.
The Bush Administration thus far has sent 104 male nominees and 30 female hopefuls (28.8 percent), to the Senate for confirmation. Meanwhile, 27.4 percent of the names sent by the Clinton administration for confirmation were women. George H.W. Bush attempted to confirm women for 20 percent of his administration while Ronald Reagan introduced 11.8 percent women nominees. The Carter years saw 13.5 percent of top-level position filled by women.
To sidestep the senate confirmation process, some presidents have used recess appointments - the nomination of an person during a Congressional recess. That person must be confirmed by the Senate after the next election, but sports the title incumbent and has proven his or her ability. During his two terms, President Clinton used the power 140 times; George H.W. Bush made 77 recess appointments in four years; and President Reagan made 240 in eight years. President Bush used his recess power to appoint a new transportation security agency head to more quickly fill the job.
President George W. Bush is most noted for selecting one of the most diverse 14-member cabinets in American history, including two African-Americans, two Hispanics, three women, an Arab-American and an Asian-American. His appointment of women to cabinet posts bests any other Republican president. While national security advisor is not a cabinet post, Condoleeza Rice is high on the Bush roster. President Bush’s diverse cabinet picks rival that of the original cabinet of President Clinton, who in 1993 appointed three blacks, three women and two Hispanics. His cabinet increasingly included women as his years as president progressed.
Clinton far outpaced previous administrations by placing 148 women in half of the Defense's total appointed civilian posts that do not require senate confirmation. His appointments of nearly 34 percent women, a historic high, to his administration were most notable in Madeleine Albright as the nation’s first woman secretary of state; Donna Shalala as secretary of Health & Human Services; Attorney General Janet Reno; Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg; Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner; and Council of Economic Advisers Chair Laura Tyson.
Previously, President Carter appointed three women to his cabinet and 14 percent to senior positions; Reagan put 12 percent women in senior posts and three in his cabinet; and, George Bush, the elder, appointed 20 percent women in senior positions with two in his cabinet.
President John F. Kennedy, alongside Richard Nixon, was the first since Herbert Hoover to have no women in his Cabinet while Presidents Eisenhower and Ford each had one female Cabinet member.
President Kennedy only made 10 appointments of women while Truman made 15 and Eisenhower made 14. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first to appoint a woman to a position of political power; Frances Perkins became secretary of labor.
Despite all the political positing jockeying, constant turnover, a high rate of turndowns and a slow appointment process has made vacancies a familiar and frequent component of the Washington landscape. During the spring of 1997, at the start of Clinton's second term, nearly 250 of the U.S. government's 726 most senior jobs were not filled.
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