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Government Lacks
Diversity
Monday, July 16, 2001
WASHINGTON (AP) - When it comes to minorities and women, the face
of the federal government looks more and more like America. When it
comes to promotions, it's a different story.
The numbers of blacks, Hispanics and women drop dramatically - at
times almost by half - at crucial mid-management levels where many
decisions are made.
Presidents Bush and Clinton have set good examples at the top,
civil rights advocates say - Bush leads all presidents except Clinton in
naming women and minorities to political appointments. But that
progress has not trickled down evenly.
``When the decision-makers are white males, they pick those close
to them,'' says Avis Buchanan, an attorney with the Washington Lawyers'
Committee, which has handled many class-action personnel suits against
the government. ``Call it the `similar to me' phenomenon.''
After a wave of lawsuits, settled in the past few years but
dating back through the administrations of Clinton, George Bush and Ronald
Reagan, some agencies have taken action.
The Secret Service, for example, appointed its first black woman
supervisor this month. Last year, the Agriculture Department - already
accused of favoring white farmers in its subsidy policies - introduced
staff minority advisory councils.
Colin Powell, the first black secretary of state, recently called
attention to the place of minorities in the government when he pledged
to raise the numbers of Hispanics working at the State Department.
``There will come a day when a future secretary of state will be
able to stand up here proudly and look at a more diverse work force
than we have now,'' he told Hispanic interns last month.
The government acknowledges that the numbers of Hispanics in its
ranks are low. But overall, an Office of Personnel Management report
describes the government as the pacesetter in employing minorities.
Indeed, the government is ahead of the private sector in
employing minorities, and is about level in employing women.
Blacks, 12.9 percent of the U.S. population, make up 17.6 percent
of the federal work force, ahead of the 11.2 percent in the private
sector. Women, just over half the population, comprise 43.8 percent of
federal workers, not far behind the 46.6 percent in the private sector.
But blacks are just 9.7 percent of mid-managers and 7.1 percent
of senior managers. Women hold 30.7 percent of mid-management jobs and
24.2 percent of senior management positions.
Why the gap? Minority advocates say promotion incentives meant to
reward ambitious workers are sometimes abused by managers to favor
white men.
Some recent examples:
-In December, a judge approved a $4 million settlement that said
Education Department managers had abused a system designed to give
promotions to those who assumed extra responsibilities. Those
responsibilities were assigned almost exclusively to whites, the settlement said.
-At the FBI, service in tough, SWAT-like teams was often a
prerequisite for moving up the ladder - but women were discouraged and even
blocked from joining such units, according to class action lawsuits
brought by women agents in the early 1990s. The agency headed off the
lawsuits by changing its promotion practices, said Robert Shaffer, a lawyer
for the women. FBI spokeswoman Charlene Sloan said SWAT team experience
was never a prerequisite for promotion.
-In a 1997 settlement, the Library of Congress acknowledged that
a broad exemption to standard promotions procedures introduced by
Congress to attract talented outsiders had been grossly abused to favor
whites.
-In a 1996 settlement with black foreign service officers, the
State Department - without acknowledging fault - agreed to outside
supervision of its promotions and to pay compensation. Lawyers showed that
plum posts - for instance, in Europe - were mostly given to whites.
Mid-managers are important because they decide how to fill the
gaps in broadly written legislation and where to spend money.
``Political people come and go, but those people make real
decisions,'' said William Kennard, Federal Communications Commission director
under Clinton.
During his term, Kennard told his executives that their own
careers would be assessed by how equitably they promoted women and
minorities. He said his was a lone voice, even in the relatively liberal Clinton
administration.
``The civil service is hierarchical, it perpetuates systematic
racism,'' said Kennard, who is black. ``You're not promoted on merit. You
have an old boys' network.''
Valerie Grant spent the last 16 years of her 30 years at the
Education Department just below the managerial level. She was rejected for
promotion more than 30 times, despite her consistent ``most qualified''
rating in internal department reviews.
``I wanted to do something different, exercise my abilities,
develop things,'' said Grant, who is black. ``I wanted to be creative.''
Larry Bussey, a colleague at the department who joined Grant in
the class action suit settled in December, said managers never trusted
blacks.
``It became clear there were no opportunities beyond the
journeyman level,'' he said. ``We were the worker bees, we carried the water.''
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On the Net:
Washington Lawyers' Committee: http://www.washlaw.org
Education Department's settlement agreement:
http://www.ed.gov/class-action
OPM report to Congress: http://www.opm.gov/feorp
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