Gender Analysis of Commissions, Boards, and Task Forces

 

This report is a gender analysis of Commissions, Boards, and Task Forces requested by the Commission on the Status of Women.

 

I. Methodology and Limitations

This gender analysis was conducted using data collected from the Board of Supervisors

Rules Committee, entity websites, and direct follow-up with individual Commissions, Boards, and Task Forces to confirm information on the gender breakdown of their entities.

There are approximately 68 Commissions, Boards and Task Forces. There are an additional 25 committees, councils and other types of appointments (e.g., caucuses).

These numbers are approximations because in a few cases the data sources did not all verify the current existence and makeup of these bodies. This report focuses on Commissions, Task Forces, and Boards because of the difficulty in obtaining confirmed statistics on appointments to other types of bodies.

Boards and Task Forces include Mayor, Board of Supervisors, and Commission appointed and created entities. Commissions and Boards include San Francisco's city-based bodies as well as Northern California and California statewide bodies (e.g., the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District Board). These groups have a certain number of seats reserved for City and County of San Francisco appointees.

The Commission on the Status of Women requested information on both gender and racial diversity in Commissions, Boards, and Task Forces. Unfortunately, San Francisco does not maintain official records on the racial breakdown of appointments. Appointees are asked to voluntarily self identify their race. Within the data provided to the Department on the Status of Women by the Board of Supervisors, the overwhelming majority of appointees did not self identify their race. Therefore, a racial breakdown is not included in this report.

 

II. Findings

According to the 2005 U.S. census 49.3% of the population of San Francisco County is female. ¹ Commission appointments in San Francisco are generally reflective of the gender breakdown of San Francisco County. The percentage of women in Board and Task Force positions though is less representative of the female population of San Francisco.

Synopsis of Findings:

There are a total of 293 Commission seats. 284 are currently filled: 48% of appointees are female and 52% are male.

There are 22 Boards in San Francisco, but appointment numbers could only be verified for 18. Within the 18 there are 143 seats. 132 are currently filled: 38% are female and 62% are male.

There are 8 Task Forces with a total of 100 seats. 91 are currently filled: 42% are female and 58% are male.

A detailed analysis of the data can be found in the appendices.

 

III. Conclusion and Next Steps

The data available shows that the gender breakdown of Commission appointments generally mirrors the City and County’s population distribution. However, the percentage of female Task Force appointments is 7.3% lower and Board appointments 11.3% lower than the percentage of women in the population.

The Commission can address the gender disparity in Boards and Task Forces by encouraging the appointment of women to fill current Board and Task Force vacancies. These include vacancies on the Western SOMA Citizens Planning Task Force, Single Room Occupancy Task Force, Local Homeless Coordinating Board, Mental Health Board, and Unreinforced Masonry Building Appeals Board. In addition, there are openings on several Commissions, such as the Small Business Commission, an entity critical to economic development for women.

The Commission should also consider sending this report to each body to inform them of the gender disparities which still exist in appointments as well as commend those entities which have over 50% female appointees. Pending staffing, the Commission could update the Commission’s June 1999 booklet “Road to Leadership: How to get that Appointment” and conduct a workshop for women on the appointment process.

Finally, the Commission should encourage the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, and Commissions to ensure that appointments to Commissions, Boards, and Task Forces are reflective of the population of San Francisco. Special emphasis should be placed on appointing women to serve on entities where women are not traditionally found.

Within Commissions the number of appointees is evenly distributed among the different types of Commissions. The lack of women appointees to Boards and Task Forces is relatively standard across the types of entities as well.

 

Commission	Total Number of Commissioners	Number of Filled Seats	Male Commissioners	Female Commissioners	% Female Commissioners
Access Appeals Commission	5	5	3	2	40%
Aging and Adult Services Commission	7	6	2	4	67%
Airport Commission	5	5	2	3	60%
Arts Commission	16	15	8	7	47%
Asian Arts Commission	27	27	13	14	52%
Bay Conservation and Development Commission (Regional comm'n, 1 SF member)	1	1	1	0	0%
Building Inspection Commission	7	7	6	1	14%
Children and Families' Commission	10	9	1	8	89%
City Hall Preservation Advisory Commission	5	5	1	4	80%
Civil Service Commission	5	5	3	2	40%
Commission of Animal Control and Welfare	7	7	1	6	86%
Elections Commission	7	6	3	3	50%
Entertainment Commission	7	7	6	1	14%
Environment Commission	7	7	4	3	43%
Ethics Commission	5	5	1	4	80%
Fire Commission	5	5	4	1	20%
Health Commission	7	7	4	3	43%
Human Rights Commission	11	11	3	8	73%
Human Services Commission	5	5	3	2	40%
Immigrant Rights Commission	15	15	10	5	33%
Juvenile Probation Commission	7	7	3	4	57%
Library Commission	7	7	4	3	43%
Local Agency Formation Commission	7	4	2	2	50%
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (Regional comm'n, 1 SF member)	1	1	1	0	0%
Planning Commission	7	7	4	3	43%
Police Commission	7	7	4	3	43%
Port Commission	5	5	2	3	60%
Public Utilities Commission	5	5	4	1	20%
Recreation and Park Commission	7	7	5	2	29%
San Francisco Film Commission	11	11	7	4	36%
Small Business Commission	7	6	4	2	33%
Southeast Community Facility Commission	7	7	4	3	43%
Status of Women Commission	7	7	0	7	100%
Taxi Commission	7	7	5	2	29%
Telecommunications Commission	5	5	3	2	40%
Veterans Affairs Commission	15	15	12	3	20%
Youth Commission	17	16	5	11	69%
TOTAL NUMBERS	293	284	148	136
TOTAL PERCENTAGES			52%	48%

Confirmed data is unavailable for the following Commissions:

Delinquency Prevention Commission

Fine Arts Commission

BOLD = 50% or more female commissioners

 

Board	Total Number of Board Members	Number of Filled Seats	Male Board Members	Female Members
Assessment Appeals Board No. 1	8	8	6	2
Assessment Appeals Board No. 2	8	8	5	3
Backstreets Business Advisory Board (14 members but only 8 are appointed)	8	8	8	0
Bay Area Library and Information System Advisory Board (Regional Board, 1 SF member)	1	1	0	1
Board of Appeals (Permit Appeals)	5	5	4	1
Developmental Disabilities Area Board V (Regional Board, 2 SF members)	2	2	1	1
Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Board (Regional Board, 5 SF members)	5	5	2	3
Health Service System Board	7	7	4	3
Local Homeless Coordinating Board	9	7	2	5
Mental Health Board	17	12	5	7
Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors	7	7	5	2
Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (regional board, 3 SF members)	3	3	2	1
Relocation Appeals Board	5	5	4	1
Rent Stabilization Board	9	9	6	3
Retirement Board	7	7	6	1
Treasure Island Development Authority Board of Directors	8	8	6	2
Treasure Island Development Authority Citizens Advisory Board	25	25	13	12
Unreinforced Masonry Building Appeals Board	9	5	3	2
TOTAL NUMBERS:	143	132	82	50
TOTAL PERCENTAGES:			62%	38%
Confirmed data is unavailable for the following boards:
Drug Abuse Advisory Board	11	11	7	4
Graffiti Advisory Board	25
Public Utilities Commission Rate Fairness Board	1	1	1	0
Citywide Alcoholism Advisory Board	15	14	13	1

ITALICS=33% or less female board members

BOLD=50% or more female board members