GENDER EQUITY SERIES UPDATE: STARK TREASURY AND STARK RECORDER "BEST OF THE BUNCH" OF ALL STARK COUNTY DEPARTMENTS OF GOV'T?

While the Stark County auditor and the commissioners haven't fared that well in improving the pay and the opportunity of Stark County women in government employment, it is a strikingly better picture that one sees in looking at the numbers during the period April, 2014 through June, 2015 for the Stark County recorder (Rick Campbell) and the Stark County treasurer (Alex Zumbar).

 

The foregoing graphic for the recorder's office has an imbalance of women to men.  Ideally, for these types of mostly administrative jobs there is no reason why one gender should predominate over the other. 

When it comes to engineering jobs (e.g. Stark County Sanitary Engineer and the Stark County Engineer) an imbalance of men over women is understandable given America's socialization and education infrastructure that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) type jobs will largely be filled by men.

But for out-and-out administrative jobs, there should be no difference.

One has to believe that any significant disparity between the genders is a conscious effort by a succession of department heads to focus on one gender over another to hire.  And that focus has nothing whatsoever to do with education/socialization or competence but rather is in the order of arbitrary employment decisions by department heads.

Moreover, who gets hired for higher paid positions.

In the recorder's office, although women outnumber men by a large number, the average salary of men (fulltime positions) is at $40,220 whereas women on average come in at $31,184.

Alex Zumbar has done much better than Campbell on overall pay equalization and providing opportunities for women to be more equally sprinkled throughout the various pay grades of the department.

Zumbar has his fulltime men employees at an average of $35,345 as compared to the women being at $35,103.

Quite an achievement, no?

Another thing too.

Remember that in the case of the auditor's office and in some of the administrative and facilities positions under the commissioners' watch, men were brought in as new hires at substantial salaries over and above any women currently on staff or promoted disproportionally to women.

Not so with Zumbar.

In fact, from April, 2014 through June, 2015 Jaime Allbritain was rewarded for a 20% increase ($50,003 to $60,008) for her outstanding work in the treasurer's office.

Stark Countians would do well to recall that for a short period during the period that local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley calls "Zeiglergate," Allbritain was installed as "the" Stark County treasurer.  And she vied with Zumbar for the Stark County Republican Party nod to be the party's candidate for treasurer in the November, 2012 election.

In June of this year, the SCPR will once again visit the gender employment record of both Campbell and Zumbar.

A Hats Off! to Alex Zumbar for the gender employment balance he has achieve as Stark County auditor!