INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT 2024: AN INTERVIEW WITH LEAGUE CO-FOUNDER PAMELA ANTIL
By Katherine Barrett, Greenebarrett.com
Encinitas City Manager Pamela “Pam” Antil
As of 2023, some 23% of city managers, county managers, and chief administrators in the US were women according to the International City and County Management Association (ICMA) database. While there’s plenty of room for more progress, the number demonstrates an improvement over many decades. Back in 1974, a study by ICMA found that 1.3% of people in those top-appointed positions of local government were women. A major ICMA Task Force update of that study, released in 2014, put the percentage at 14.4%, with the percentage moving to 19% in 2019.
The 2014 task force was chaired by Pamela Antil, a well-known member of the ranks of women who currently serve as city managers. Motivated by the findings of the task force, the following year she co-founded the League of Women in Government with Bonnie Svrcek, a now-retired city manager from Lynchburg, Virginia. Its mission: Bring more women to the top of local government administration. Antil, who is the city manager in Encinitas, California, continues to serve as the volunteer chief administrative officer of the league. In the following Q&A, we talk with her about the path forward for young women and the investments needed to help them reach the top of their profession.
Q. Beyond the data, what were the most significant conclusions of the 2014 study?
A. We started with the premise that we needed to get more women in government at the highest levels given the number of women in local government agencies across the country. In theory, if local government agencies were being run well, why should anyone care if it is a man or woman at the helm? To support more women at the top, we learned that we needed to make a strong business case that an increase of women at the executive level would result in better organizational outcomes.
