Gender and Careers in City Management: A Case Study of the Career Paths of One Department's MPA Graduates

This article adds to the body of knowledge about city managers and council-manager form cities by determining why so few women are found in the ranks of city managers. Using graduates of the University of Kansas master of public administration (MPA) program as our sample, we find that women interested in city management careers face a paradox: Married women have a greater probability of becoming city managers. But if they marry and have children they face issues of relocation, child rearing, and parental care—all of which make it more difficult to get a city management job, not to mention doing that job with its typically higher time demands.