NOW Report Finds Few Women on Key Panels : City Hall: Half of all Long Beach appointments come from the more affluent east side and Belmont Shore neighborhoods, the study also says.

Women are more likely to be appointed to city committees that deal with social services and the arts than to more powerful groups that set policy and administer funds, according to a study released this week.

The local chapter of the National Organization for Women reported that women compose 38% of the appointments to the city’s 47 committees, commissions and boards. The majority serve on advisory committees.

The study also found that nearly half of all the appointments come from the more affluent east side and Belmont Shore neighborhoods.

“The findings are dismal,” said Gerrie Schipske, coordinator for the Long Beach chapter of NOW.

“It is clear that the appointment process has to be changed in order to bring about both gender and ethnic balance,” Schipske wrote in the study that was forwarded to the City Council this week.

According to the study, the 14 committees in which women compose the majority “are those traditionally thought to be women’s issues: arts, homelessness, library and cultural affairs.” They include the Arts Advisory Committee, the Public Corporation for the Arts and the Citizens Advisory Commission on the Handicapped.

But most of the more influential groups, which can administer funds and establish rates, have fewer women and some have none. On the Long Beach Planning Commission, for example, two of the seven members are women. Both the five-member Redevelopment Agency and the five-member Water Commission have one woman each. The powerful Harbor Commission recently lost its only woman member, who was replaced by a man--a political supporter of Mayor Ernie Kell.

“When you look at harbor, redevelopment, transit, water, planning, those are considered powerful. They are supervisory groups, they determine policy,” Schipske said. “Women tend to be shuffled into advisory committees.”

Kell, who makes most of the appointments, said he looks at qualifications and not sex.

“I haven’t really tried to make it 50% men and 50% women,” Kell said. “I’ve never looked at it along sexual lines.”

“There also are certain interests that appeal more to certain people. I think there are probably more men interested in the airport than women,” said Kell, who pilots his own private airplane.

Schipske, who laughed when told of Kell’s comment, said: “Women then would not be interested in harbor and other commissions, and that’s not true.”

The mayor also argued that “all of our boards and commissions are important and they do deal with money, directly or indirectly.” He cited as an example the city’s $500,000 contribution to the arts each year.

Nonetheless, Kell conceded that “we can always do a better job.”

NOW officials forwarded to Kell and the City Council several recommendations they said will open up the political process to women and minority groups. According to the recommendations, the council should:

* Adopt a policy requiring the mayor and council to consider sex, race, sexual preference and geographical area in making appointments.

* Establish an Office of Citizen Participation to coordinate and disseminate information about city committees, and conduct biannual workshops to teach residents how to apply for appointments. Schipske said such an office could be run by the mayor’s office, which already has the responsibility of coordinating applications.

* Reimburse members of city commissions and other groups for child care and elder care, at a maximum of $15 per meeting.

* Set aside an area in all city libraries for “citizen participation” information, including announcements of vacancies and appointments, application forms and the minutes and reports of all city commissions, committees and boards.

NOW also would like officials to issue regular reports detailing the makeup of city groups, along with statistical information on the number of people who applied but were not appointed.

“The standard reply we’ve heard for years is that qualified women are not applying,” Schipske said. “We’d like them to let people know who applies.”

Kell said he would reserve judgment on the recommendations until he sees the NOW study.

Councilman Tom Clark said the council already is considering reimbursing commission members for child care at the request of the Long Beach Board of Health and Human Services, which Schipske also heads.

Kell said his appointments to several commissions are based on the recommendations of council members. Clark, however, was critical of how appointments are made in Long Beach.

“All in all, it’s very hard to get the appointment process out of the political arena,” he said, referring to the mayor’s recent appointment of developer and political supporter Alex Bellehumeur to the Harbor Commission. Kell has defended the appointment by saying Bellehumeur was the best qualified for the job.

Former Councilwoman Jan Hall said she agrees with NOW’s assessment that more women need to be appointed to the more influential groups. But Hall, whose recent departure from the council has left that elected body without a woman representative, cautioned that women should not be appointed merely on the basis of their sex. “I do not believe in quotas,” she said.

Schipske replied: “We’re not asking for quotas.”

“We’re not just saying you need to put more women in commissions,” Schipske said. “We’re saying you need to change the process and open it up to women and minorities, too. (Committees are) the entree into getting people involved in politics.”

Schipske said her group decided to conduct the study a few months ago, prior to a conference of the National Assn. of Commissions for Women, which held its gathering in Long Beach--a city without a commission to promote women’s rights in political, economic, social, civil and educational fields.

“Here we (Long Beach) are hosting it, and our city does not have one,” she said.

Schipske said that for years NOW and other groups have fought to establish a Commission on the Status of Women or a similar group in Long Beach. In 1977, the issue surfaced before a split council, which was deluged by opposition, according to Schipske. “Every right-wing person came out of the woodwork and called it a communist plot because that was International Women’s Year. They stormed the council,” she said.

Doubtful that the council would approve a women’s commission, NOW officials decided earlier this year to “see what’s there right now” by reviewing the city’s various groups, Schipske said.

“It’s 1990 and we’re no further along in terms of making sure that everyone is represented,” Schipske said. “We’re just saying ‘Look at what you have. You’re not doing a good job.’ ”

Meanwhile, there are two bills pending in the Legislature that call for substantial increases in the number of women and minorities appointed to state boards and commissions.

A bill by Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) would require the next governor to appoint women to half the positions on more than 400 state boards. A less restrictive bill, sponsored by Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), would set ethnic and sexual balance in appointments on boards and commissions as a goal for the next governor, but would not mandate quotas.

MAKEUP OF LONG BEACH AGENCIES A comparison of men and women serving on Long Beach committees, commissions and boards authorized to administer funds and/or establish rates.

Committee Men Women Airport Advisory 8 1 Belmont Shore Parking 7 0 Cal State Joint Powers 5 0 Municipal Golf Commission 6 3 Harbor Commission 5 0 Board of Health and Human Services 9 6 Housing Development Co. 10 1 Metropolitan Library 0 2 Marina Advisory Commission 8 0 Mosquito Abatement District 1 1 Neighborhood Preservation Loan Committee 3 2 Parks and Recreation 5 2 Planning Commission 5 2 Redevelopment Agency 4 1 Long Beach Transit 6 1 Water Commission 4 1 Metropolitan Water District 0 1

Source: Long Beach chapter of the National Organization for Women . BOARDS WITH 50% WOMEN OR MORE Arts Advisory Committee Public Corporation for the Arts Civil Service Commission Cultural Heritage Commission Citizens Advisory Commission on the Handicapped Homeless Services Advisory Committee Housing Authority Metropolitan Library System Committee Mosquito Abatement District Relocations Appeals Board Metropolitan Water District Sister City Committees (3*) *Long Beach sister cities are Sochi, Russia; Yokkaichi, Japan; and Valparaiso, Chile. Source: Long Beach chapter of the National Organization for Women