The U.S. Federal Senior Executive Service (SES) and Gender Diversity: Would Proposed Legislation Enhancing the Representational Diversity of Selection Panels Necessarily Increase the Number of Female Appointments to the SES?

Abstract

The number of women in senior government positions has steadily increased over the past 30 years, but the percentage of women in the Senior Executive Service (SES) of the federal government continues to lag behind the percentages of women in both the civilian labor force and the federal government workforce. During 2007–2008, congressional leaders introduced the SES Diversity Assurance Act to increase the number of women and minorities in the SES. This Article discusses whether the provisions of the proposed legislation that address initial selection into the SES, as presented, would achieve the intended result of increasing gender diversity in the SES.