California Government Still Favors the Same Old White Men
When it comes to diversity, California is on a different plane. It's a state where minorities compose the majority, where women like Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris are national leaders, and where the mayor of its biggest city speaks Spanish and touts his Mexican heritage.
Yet new data from the nonprofit Reflective Democracy Campaign finds that California and Los Angeles have a long way to go in ensuring that elected officials reflect the diverse demographics of the Golden State.
Though only 19 percent of the state's population is composed of white men, 55 percent of its elected leaders, down to the county level, are white men, according to the campaign. Women of color in the Golden State are the least represented, the data shows: While 31 percent of the state's population is composed of minority women, they occupy only 8 percent of elected seats. Minority men compose 30 percent of the population but have about 16 percent of public offices.
White women are slightly overrepresented in elected offices: While their population fraction is 20 percent, they have 22 percent of elected positions, the campaign found. Women as a whole, however, including whites and minorities, hold just 30 percent of elected offices in California.
Read more: http://www.laweekly.com/news/white-men-still-dominate-politics-in-california-8798745
