Why Don’t More Women Apply for the Planning Commission?

It's been over 10 years since a woman has served on the Concord Planning Commission.

And yet only three of the 19 applicants the City Council will be considering for appointment to the Planning Commission next Tuesday night are women. Why? [Link to staff report.]

The issues coming before the Planning Commission over the next two years are important and include both policy questions about the Base Reuse Project and the Citywide standards in the new Development Code. On those two matters alone the Planning Commission recommendations to the City Council will help shape the future of Concord for decades.

Here's my advice to the Council:

Ignore those who tell you not to put possible opponents (future Council candidates) on the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is a training ground for future Council members. Putting someone on the Planning Commission tests their abilities and gives them a small dose of the reality of serving in public office. It is the best kind of succession planning. And if ultimately the voters decide someone should serve on the City Council – I'd certainly prefer they have this experience.

Your staff is stretched thin. Bringing new commissioners up to speed on the important, pending matters will take staff time and effort. While you are now filling 3 of the 5 Planning Commission seats, you have one "open" seat created by Ron Leone's election to Council last November. Think carefully before making more "change" than that. Now is not the time to discard the institutional knowledge and experience of Commissioners Bob Hoag and Kevin Costa.

Appoint a woman.

Edi Birsan

I seem to recall women being at the Planning Commission interviews while you were on the Council, Guy. By the way does being married to a woman for 37 years count?(He says with a smile and ducking thrown brick a brack)
Should we fire one of our Federal Senators because both are of the same gender? In all seriousness, there has got to be a point where gender issues are not a factor in a selection process. Isn’t this what we fought for, for last few generations?

I concur on the point of combining city service with future training for leadership and that there should not only be no fear of such an appointment but that there should be a welcome of it and that we need to take the process of replacement and training of leadership in a more systemic manner. However, the matrix of politics and conflicting civic goals as well as a host of other issues get in the way as they have in appointment processes typically.

However, you did not answer your question of Why more women don’t APPLY for the Planning Commission. Instead you seem to have shifted to suggesting that they be appointed in priority because they do not apply in numbers as maybe the conclusion of your third statement.

First we need to address the issue of getting them to apply. In that regard we need to do a better job in recruiting throughout the other commissions and bring in a concerted effort at highlighting community service. I was on the last of the Leadership Academies (along with Robert Hoag and Ron Leone in the same class) that the city ran and there were plenty of women in that class. As there were in the last of the City’s Citizen Police Academies. However, the city did not follow up with new classes because of budget restraints and I have to ask did the staff follow up by trying to actively recruit the class into city service? I seen to recall that we were more or less left on our own ambition.

So to answer part of the question, there are not more women applying because there is not more women being recruited by the recruiters (be they the less obvious hands of the old guard or some other leadership profile that you may prefer) as a partial answer. The attractiveness of the Planning Commission to women in general may need further investigation. However, we could also be in a simple statistical bump considering that there have been women in the past and women on the council and elsewhere in staff positions of power that there is not an obvious bias going on.
http://profile.typepad.com/guybjerke Guy Bjerke

Thanks for your comments, Edi.

I think there’s a difference between hiring someone for a job – where the best qualified should get it regardless of gender and choosing someone to represent a community – where gender may help improve the overall perspective of the group.

I asked the question because I’m perplexed that more women don’t apply and I don’t know why. I don’t think it hinges on poor “recruiting” but it might.

During the three or four opportunities I had to vote on Planning Commission appointments I’m pretty sure I was the only Council member to vote for a woman. (Carolina Salazar)

I also think – had you been elected last November – you would probably be voting to put a woman on the Planning Commission next Tuesday.
Edi Birsan

If I had been elected to the City Council there might not be an opening on the Planning Commission other than the two incumbents.

I wonder if there was a discouragement factor in the application process because of the election? Has it been historically accurate to say that women have as a per centage been excessively low in the application process? (I think so but I do not recall 10 years ago what the pool was- though I do remember there being a Nun on the board-if the title is right). Of course Helen Allen was on the board are one time as well.

Do you recall the stats on application ratios?
http://profile.typepad.com/guybjerke Guy Bjerke

No I don’t recall the stats or the ratios. It’s possible Sister Marygrace was the last women to serve on the Planning Commission. The fact that we can’t remember makes the point.

I do recall that the Concord AAUW and the League of Women Voters played a large part in getting women appointed and then elected to public office in Concord.

Former City Clerk and Planning Commissioner Lynnet Keihl has written a “herstory” worth reading that can be found at: http://www.contracostaherstory.org/Stories/Keihl.doc
Kathy Gleason

Guy,

You wonder why more women don’t apply for the Planning Commission? Look who the City Council appointed tonight. Let’s face it, unless you are blessed “by those who influence the City Council”, you will never be appointed to an influential position in Concord.
http://profile.typepad.com/guybjerke Guy Bjerke

Kathy-
While I am disappointed that a woman was not appointed, I am confident that Ernie, Tim and Bob will do a good job. The bigger question may be when will groups supportive of women candidates regain their influence? They have clearly had influence in the past. Now, not so much.