By the numbers
40 Percent of women on Chattanooga city boards, commissions 23 Percent of all board seats on the Fortune 100 biggest U.S. companies held by women 11 Percent of women on the Chattanooga City Council 10 Percent of women on the boards of publicly traded companies based in Chattanooga
Chattanooga is the only major Tennessee city to have never had a woman or a minority elected as mayor, and with four white men running in the March 7 mayoral election this year, that won’t change for at least the next four years.
But those running for mayor have pledged to promote more diversity in city leadership.
And the public sector appears to be doing far better for female leadership than the private sector in Chattanooga, at least in the make-up of boards of directors.
Chattanooga boards and commissions are gaining a bigger share of women members with female directors comprising more than 40 percent of the 37 city boards and commissions that recommend and enforce a variety of municipal ordinances and policies. But without two of those boards – the Head Start Policy Advisory Board and the Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board – women represent only 34 percent of the board members for the other 35 city boards and commissions.