If it’s any consolation, and it isn’t, at least we can say Lancaster County is doing as well or better than the Fortune 500.

A local report, “A Place at the Table: An Update,” indicates that women continue to be underrepresented in local politics, on boards, elected offices, government commissions and task forces.

Based on surveys conducted between July and September,  the report updates the 2003 Lincoln-Lancaster Women’s Commission’s report on women’s participation.

Of the 2,420 possible seats on the community’s 219 leadership boards surveyed in 2006, men occupied 70.7 percent of the seats and women 29.3 percent, according to the report.

Female representation among elected officials has jumped 11.9 percent since 2003, but the overall female participation rate dropped 0.6 percent.

That overall rate is is not where we want this county to be headed. And it isn’t because of the fundamental issue of equity, which ought to be enough. 

It’s also because local government is not being served best if it isn’t being served by a representative array of its constituents.

How do we know this? Here’s an example: Catalyst, a research and analysis nonprofit that works on gender equity issues did a study of the aforementioned Fortune 500, the largest corporations in the United States, many of which are represented on Catalyst’s board. Lots at stake there, financially, legally and equitably,  and no tolerance for error.

Catalyst’s 2005 study showed, women held 16.4 percent of corporate officer positions, up just 0.7 percentage points from 2002. At the estimated growth trend for the past 10 years (0.82 percentage points per year), it will take 40 years for women to reach parity with men in corporate officer ranks, the Catalyst study showed.

So what?

Another study by Catalyst showed that Fortune 500 companies with the highest percentages of female corporate officers experienced, on average, a 35.1 percent higher return on equity and 34.0 percent higher total return to shareholders than those with the lowest percentages of women corporate officers.

Not proof, Catalyst acknowledged, but a strong correlation between companies that have diversified their senior management and companies that performed well financially.

“That’s about as bottom line as I can get you,” said Bonnie Coffey, executive director of the local Women’s Commission.

We agree.