Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz and State Comptroller Kevin Lembo issued a report today, conducted on behalf of the Governor’s Council on Women and Girls, which provides an analysis on representation and compensation equity across gender and race/ethnicity for the state’s executive branch.
Lembo’s office completed the analysis in collaboration with Mohamad G. Alkadry, Professor and Department Head of the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy.
Bysiewicz, Chairwoman of the Governor’s Council on Women and Girls, and Lembo, a member of the Council, said the goal of the analysis was to identify where each executive agency stands with regard to representation and compensation, and to help inform action plans to address any income or representation gaps that may exist.
“It is important that the Executive Branch lead by example,” Bysiewicz said. “This analysis is an exercise that every employer in our state, and across the country, should be doing – looking inward to ensure that our workforces reflect our people and our values. This analysis will give our executive branch agencies essential insight when evaluating strategic action plans to address any income or representation gaps where they may exist. We hope it will also encourage the other branches of state government and all Connecticut employers, public and private, to conduct similar self-assessments. As Chair of the Governor’s Council on Women and Girls, I am determined to do everything we can to cultivate a statewide workforce that empowers women and eliminates divisions and inequities across gender and race/ethnicity.”
Lembo said, “The people of the State of Connecticut value diversity and demand equity across gender and race/ethnicity – and so this report will serve as an important roadmap for every agency to ensure that they build the most optimal and equitable workforce possible. I am proud of the work that the Governor’s Council on Women and Girls, and particularly Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz, are doing to build a strong coalition of advocates to drive important public policy initiatives. I am hopeful that this report will help inform the Council’s work going forward.”
Bysiewicz and Lembo said the report suggests that Connecticut’s state executive branch standsout when compared to other states, as well as the federal workforce, on gender representation and equity when the population is viewed as a whole and particularly within some of the state’s highest ranking professional
categories.
However, Bysiewicz and Lembo said the report reveals that, upon closer view, Connecticut also faces some of the same challenging trends found elsewhere across the country where women largely remain segregated in female-dominated occupations and agencies and minorities, generally, remain underrepresented and earn less on the dollar. The full report can be accessed here: The Connecticut State Workforce: An Analysis of Representation and Compensation Equity Across Gender and Race/Ethnicity.