22 News WWLP.COM
By Colin A. Young
BOSTON (SHNS) – For the first time, a majority of the state’s 50 most prominent boards and commissions are chaired by women as the number of female chairs has climbed almost 65 percent since 2019, a report from the Eos Foundation’s Women’s Power Gap Initiative found.
While 28 of the state’s top 50 boards and commissions are now chaired by a woman (up from 17 when the foundation first began reporting in 2019), people of color are still underrepresented and most of the panels are still made up of a majority of men.
Of the 28 women board chairs, only four are women of color and none of the 50 boards or commissions reviewed are chaired by a man of color, the report said. And regardless of the chairperson, 28 boards or commissions are still majority male and 16 have less than 30 percent female representation.
“In three years, we’ve seen great strides for women overall and believe the Administration has been intentional in recruiting and appointing women to these influential positions,” Andrea Silbert, president of the Eos Foundation, said. “We now need to shift that intentionality to women and men of color, LGBTQ2+, trans women, veterans, and the disability communities. We urge the next Administration to build on our current success, accelerating diversity to better guide our state during these challenging times.”
This article is also reported in NewsBreak and State House News Service.
