State Department

Minorities and Women Are Underrepresented in the Foreign Service Gao ID: NSIAD-89-146 June 26, 1989

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Foreign Service's merit personnel system, focusing on recruitment, appointment, assignment, and promotion of minorities and women.

GAO found that: (1) minorities and women were underrepresented in the Foreign Service work force when matched against comparable civilian labor force statistics; (2) the Department of State increased minority representation from 7 percent in 1981 to 11 percent in 1987, but the percentage of white women has remained essentially unchanged at about 24 percent; (3) State has nearly eliminated entry-level underrepresentation for Foreign Service officers, but underrepresentation continues to exist in mid- and senior-level and specialist positions; (4) State has not had an effective affirmative action plan for overcoming underrepresentation problems; and (5) State has not adequately reviewed some aspects of its personnel processes for possible barriers to the hiring of minorities and the advancement of minorities and white women.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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